Herbert Smith Freehills scores seven places in the shortlist for The Lawyer Awards 2016, more than any other firm

The Awards celebrate excellence across private practice, the public sector, commerce and industry, and the Bar.

Herbert Smith Freehills has been shortlisted in seven categories for The Lawyer Awards 2016 – more shortlistings than any other firm:

• Law Firm of the year – for showing strategic vision and strong leadership; strong financial management and growth; innovation in client service delivery and pricing; excellence in our chosen sectors; excellent talent management and workplace development; significant client wins and feedback; recent hires and investment; and for demonstrating how we have overcome challenges we have faced in the current market conditions.
   
• Employment team of the year – for advising Wesfarmers (one of Australia's largest public companies and retailers) on the employment, pensions and incentives aspects of its £340 million acquisition of Homebase (the second largest home improvement and garden retailer in the UK and Ireland, with reported annual revenues of over £1 billion) from UK-listed Home Retail Group plc.
   
• Litigation team of the year - for successfully acting on a truly landmark case, alongside Jones Day, which has seen Standard Bank Plc (now known as ICBC Standard Bank Plc) enter into the UK's first-ever Deferred Prosecution Agreement.
   
• Real Estate team of the year – for advising the Government's wholly owned subsidiary, London & Continental Railways, on the £371m sale of its interests in the King's Cross Central Partnership (the entity that owns and is developing King's Cross Central) to the largest pension fund in Australia, AustralianSuper.
   
• Finance team of the year – for advising Virgin Atlantic on the ground-breaking £220 million secured bond financing using a major proportion of its landing and take-off slot portfolio at Heathrow airport as security for the debt.
   
• Funds team of the year – for advising Menhaden Capital PLC, a newly established UK investment trust, on its establishment and initial public offering of shares (including a placing and offer for subscription) on the Main Market of the LSE and admission to the Official List of the UKLA.
   
• Energy team of the year – for advising German energy giant E.ON on the landmark disposal of its entire North Sea oil and gas business (83 licences in total – one of the largest sale processes in the UK in 2015) to Premier Oil (UK assets) and LetterOne (Norwegian assets) for a total price of US$1.72billion. Given the drop in Premier's market cap by January 2016, the UK transaction constituted a reverse takeover.

Winners will be announced at The Lawyer Awards ceremony which will take place on the evening of Wednesday 29 June 2016.