31 LAW FIRM
OF THE YEAR AWARD
SPONSORED BY GRANT THORNTON WINNER Shoosmiths
Above: The Shoosmiths team receives the Law Firm award from sponsor Grant Thornton
Nominations for Law Firm of the Year, sponsored by Grant Thornton, saw four top contenders go head to head for the award.
Shoosmiths hoped to scoop its second award of the night as it stood alongside Paris Smith, Blake Lapthorn and the new-look Bond Dickinson – each firm having received multiple nominations in a closely fought category.
A long list of deals completed by Shoosmiths‘ Solent team demonstrated the firm‘s strength and depth and it was described as having an “incredibly busy“ year. Transactions ranged from sub-£1 million acquisitions to a £4.5 billion deal for the building and servicing of new trains for Hitachi, considered the “largest transport and infrastructure deal in Britain“.
Other deals included the acquisition of Groupama Insurance Company, the sale of the Lifeways Group, the complex two-stage Inventif RMA deal, the disposal of PIMS Pumps and the MBO of Lyndhurst-based energy supply business Zenergi.
With one of the leading corporate teams in the south, Blake Lapthorn saw a diverse range of transactions across the year. These included the refinancing of FJ Church & Sons and the sale of IGT Industries to Stadium Group, where the team received plaudits for its “professionalism and sheer hard work and effort“.
May saw the merger of Dickinson Dees and Bond Pearce to form Bond Dickinson and the audience heard that the firm‘s corporate team had completed more than 25 major deals in the qualifying period, across a range of sectors.
The firm has a particularly strong reputation in the energy arena, where it worked with clients including Renewable Energy Generation. Among others were the complex joint venture between Accsys Technologies and INEOS to develop Tricoya wood technology, and other deals in real estate, corporate and finance.
With its own claim to fame for acting on probably the largest and most complex deals in the Solent region over the past 14 months, Paris Smith was nominated for its work on clients including RB Sport and Leisure Holdings, Cope Allman Jaycare, Bowman Power and the $305m sale of Uteron Pharma to Watshon Pharma, one of the biggest deals of the year.
One nomination said the firm had gone “from strength to strength“ in 2012, completing over 40 high-profile, high-value transactions in the region and beyond.
Announcing the winner, Trudi Amy, tax director at Grant Thornton, read out Shoosmiths‘ name for the second time to loud applause.
Head of Shoosmiths‘ Southampton- based office Chris McClure said: “What a tremendous result; we‘re delighted,
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – JULY/AUGUST 2013
www.businessmag.co.uk
especially considering market conditions, which remain challenging.
“Shoosmiths has continued to work hard to keep our clients‘ needs and best interests at the forefront of everything we do, delivering the best client experience possible, and we‘re grateful that our efforts have been recognised.
“We‘ve managed to build some wonderful relationships with a number of new clients over the past 12 months, and have enhanced the quality of those that already exist.
“On that note, I‘d also like to congratulate the management team of the PIMS Group (winner of Deal of the Year over £25m). I know from our corporate team how much they enjoyed working with Charlie White, Mike Bell and the other members of the management team on this particular deal – another wonderful result.
“Thanks also to The Business Magazine for running these annual awards – it‘s a fantastic event and the perfect opportunity to showcase the very best of the local region and the expertise we have to offer to future clients.“
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48