Russell McVeagh's record year

Russell McVeagh's record year

24 November 2017

Winning 8 awards, the leading law firm has been recognised at last night's 2017 New Zealand Law Awards – winning Large Law Firm of the Year, Employer of Choice, Deal Team of the Year for the Corporate Advisory team, as well as five of six deal categories.

Russell McVeagh Chair of the Partnership Malcolm Crotty said the firm is extremely proud of the outstanding work from right across the firm that has gone into the record awards' haul.

"These awards cap off a sensational year for the firm in which we have focused on key areas of diversity and inclusion, sustainability and the wellness and mental health of our people, together with our commitment to training and development, pro bono work and innovation. It is a real honour to have been recognised for our achievements in implementing positive change by the legal profession," he said.

The top deal accolade – New Zealand Deal of the Year - as well as M&A Deal of the Year, was the acquisition of Nuplex Industries by Allnex New Zealand. This was the first acquisition of a New Zealand listed company via scheme of arrangement under the new regime for schemes, which came into force in 2014, and the largest takeover in the New Zealand market since 2006. Advising Advent International and Allnex NZ, partners Joe Windmeyer, Ian Beaumont, John-Paul Rice and Polly Pope led this transaction.

For Consumer, Media and Tech Deal of the Year was NBCUniversal's joint venture with MediaWorks for the Bravo channel launch, led by partners Ian Beaumont, Pip Greenwood, Craig Shrive, Sarah Keene and Shaun Connolly. Acting for NBCU, the transaction was its first free-to-air partnership globally, and first free-to-air channel launched outside of the US.

Mid-Market Deal of the Year went to the Patties Foods acquisition of Leader Foods, led by partners Joe Windmeyer and David Raudkivi, and partner Ian Beaumont's role in Synlait Milk's capital raising and dual listing was recognised as Capital Markets Deal of the Year.

The firm would like to extend congratulations to all of last night's winners and finalists, particularly Patrick Gamble (Complectus Group) who won Young In-house Lawyer of the Year, Kiwibank for Financial Services In-house team of the Year, Fonterra who won the Russell McVeagh sponsored In-house Team of the Year category and Sasha Daniels (Spark New Zealand) who took home In-house Lawyer of the Year

Held at The Cordis (formerly The Langham), the annual Awards bring together industry leaders to celebrate excellence in the legal profession and recognise the outstanding achievements of firms and in-house teams across New Zealand.

A full list of the winners is available to view here.

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