Herbert Smith Freehills has won the prestigious Firm of the Year Award at the 18th annual Australian Law Awards held in Sydney on Friday 31 August.
The Awards, run by Lawyers Weekly magazine, recognise the best law firms, in-house counsel and individual legal practitioners across Australia.
The firm received the top award in recognition of its exceptional transactional and disputes work in FY17-18, its strong commitment to pro bono and the community, and its relentless focus on client service and innovation.
During the period, Herbert Smith Freehills delivered outstanding client results on some of the most significant matters of the year, including work advising Tabcorp, Melbourne Metro Rail Authority, Yancoal, AGL, Gilead and Treasury Wine Estates.
In what was a busy year, the firm also opened a second Sydney office at Macquarie Park, and significantly expanded its ALT business offering – moving to include claims assessment and corporate, M&A, transactional and real estate work. along with traditional eDiscovery and document review work.
The firm also invested significantly in new technology including machine learning, document automation and app building tools – such as Kira and Neota Logic – as well as developing new technologies in-house. In addition, it launched a number of progressive client initiatives including its Melbourne Startup School and a new podcast.
In his acceptance speech at the Awards ceremony, Andrew Pike, Herbert Smith Freehills’ Regional Managing Partner for Australia said:
“I’d like to thank all of our people for the outstanding effort that they have put in over the past year. Our talented lawyers and staff consistently go above and beyond to deliver exceptional results for our clients. I am sure you will agree – this award reflects a great effort from a great team.”
“I’d also like to thank our clients for giving us the privilege of working alongside them on their most significant matters and transactions.”
Herbert Smith Freehills partner Rebecca Maslen-Stannage was also honoured at the Awards, winning the coveted Dealmaker of the Year Award for the second consecutive year, and the firm’s leading Head Office Advisory team picked up the Commercial Team of the Year Award.
Herbert Smith Freehills has had a very successful 2018 to date, garnering a number of industry awards and league table recognition including:
- Law Firm of the Year Award at the Australasian Law Award (for the second consecutive year)
- Four prestigious awards at the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year Awards, being the Commercial Partner of the Year, Financial Services Partner of the Year, Dispute Resolution and Litigation Partner of the Year and Partner of the Year Excellence Awards..
- Topping the Inframation Deals Project Finance League Tables in Australia for the first half of 2018 for both deal count and deal value.
- Ranking 1st by deal count and 1st by deal value in completed deals for Australia and New Zealand in the 2018 H1 Thomson Reuters M&A league tables