A career as a lawyer is one of the most sought-after professions and there are indeed many rewards if you pursue one. But it is not a profession that comes easy and a lawyer has to go through a long and tedious educational road to finally become an advocate. Nowadays rising workloads and shrinking staffs are translating into more work hours for lawyers than ever before. The demands of global law practice also mean that some lawyers must be available to clients around the clock. India's growing and challenging legal ecosystem calls to celebrate legal firms and lawyers who have made a tangible difference to the field itself. .
BW Businessworld's community focused on the legal fraternity, BW Legal World has established BW Global Legal Summit and Legal Leader Awards 2020. The Global Legal Summit and Leaders Awards 2020 is an initiative to recognise and reward the law firms and lawyers who have made a mark in their practice areas. This is an annual initiative conceptualised to fuel excellence in the legal ecosystem by identifying and enabling law firms and individual lawyers who have the potential to lead the way.
More than 90 nominations were received across categories. These nominations were carefully analysed and winners were decided by an eminent jury panel which was chaired by Justice Dipak Misra, Former Chief Justice of India. Other jury members included names like Justice Arjan Sikri, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India; Justice Deepak Verma, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India; Justice KSP Radhakrishnan, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India; KTS Tulsi, Senior Advocate, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Chhattisgarh; Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Senior Advocate and Geeta Luthra, Senior Advocate, Vice President of the Indian Council of Arbitration FICCI.
Over 30 Awards were presented to honour excellent work done in the field. 22 Awards were given to firms and 12 awards were given to Lawyers who excelled in their areas of expertise.
BW Legal Leader Award Winners 2020:
Category | Winner |
Banking and Financial Services Law Firm of the Year | SNG & Partners |
Tax Law firm of the year | BMR Legal Advocates |
Competition Law firm of the year | Economic Laws Practice |
Dispute Resolution Law Firm of the Year | Singh & Associates - Advocates and Solicitors |
ADR Dispute Resolution Law Firm of the Year | P&A Law Offices |
Intellectual Property Law Firm of the Year | Inttl Advocare |
Restructuring and Insolvency Law Firm of the Year | Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co |
Technology, Media and Telecommunications Law Firm of the Year | LexCounsel, Law Offices |
Naik Naik & Company | |
Mergers and Acquisitions Law Firm of the Year | Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co |
Litigation Law Firm of the Year | Karanjawala & Company |
Private Equity Law Firm of the Year | LexCounsel, Law Offices |
General Corporate Law Firm of the Year | Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas |
Startups and Investments Law Firm of the Year | Burgeon Law |
Capital Markets Law Firm of the Year | Link Legal India Law Services |
Real Estate Law Firm of the Year | SNG & Partners |
Oil and Gas Law Firm of the Year | Singularity Legal LLP |
Insurance Law Firm of the Year | RNS Associates |
Environment Law Firm of the Year | Trust Legal, Advocates & Consultants |
Policy Law Firm of the Year | HSA Advocates |
Legal-Tech Leaders of the Year | Lawyered |
Best Service Provider to Legal Sector of the Year | Legal League Consulting |
Counsel of the Year – Independent Practice (Above 50) | Gourab Banerji, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India |
Pro-bono Lawyer of the Year | Vivek Narayan Sharma, Senior Legal Counsel, Supreme Court of India |
Most Innovative Lawyer of the Year | Safir Anand, Senior Partner & Head of Trademarks, Contractual & Commercial IP, Anand & Anand |
Best ADR Lawyer of the Year | Divyam Agarwal, Partner, J Sagar Associates, Advocates & Solicitators |
Best Tech Lawyer of the Year | Puneet Bhasin, Founder, Cyberjure Legal Consulting |
Best M&A Lawyer of the Year | Ajit Mishra, Partner (International & India), Harrison Clark Rickerby |
Best Real Estate Lawyer of the Year | Namrata Kolar, Partner (Co-Head) Real Estate, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas |
Best Legal Entrepreneur of the Year | Manasi Chaudhari, Founder & CEO, Pink Legal |
Emerging Law Firm of the Year | Numen Law Offices |
Law Firm of the Year | Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan |
Woman Lawyer of the Year | Pallavi Shroff, Managing Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co |
Managing Partner of the Year | Dr. Manoj Kumar, Managing Partner, Hammurabi & Solomon Partners |
These leaders were felicitated in a virtual award ceremony which was preceded by a day-long summit with topical discussions on contemporary legal issues.