Last Thursday the Australasian legal profession converged on the Westin Hotel in Sydney for the 2011 ALB-Macquarie Bank Law Awards. Now in their 8th year, the Awards are a unique opportunity to acknowledge the achievements of the previous twelve months: the market-transforming deals, the top lawyers and the top firms.

This year’s judging panel had a tough job determining the winners and as always there was a mix of big names and transactions, with the odd “bolter” to keep the night interesting.  It came as no surprise that the QR IPO picked up the award for Equity deal of the year before going on to win the coveted title of Australian deal of the year.  The manner in which this A$6.7bn deal was transacted was a credit to the seven law firms who advised on it and the deal proved to be a beacon of optimism for other companies looking to take the IPO plunge.

It’s always a tough job keeping Freehills away from the Australian Dealmaker of the year category, but for the second year in a row Allens have proved that this award is more than a one-horse (or should that be one Stone?) race.  Partner Jon Webster received that honour.  He also was a lead advisor on the Australian M&A deal of the year,  Newcrest Mining’s acquisition of Lihir Gold. However, Freehills was not to be denied its share of glory - Philippa Stone and Tony Damian were called on stage to accept the award for Australian Deal Team of the Year on behalf of the Freehills M&A team.  Mallesons was also well represented on the night, with a particular highlight being the Managing partner of the year award going to CEP Robert Milliner.

One of the more fierce battlegrounds at the ALB Awards has traditionally been the Melbourne firm of the year award, with Mills Oakley and Hall & Wilcox alternating in recent years. This year it’s official: the duopoly has been broken.  Hebert Geer’s Bill Fazio was finally able to make the triumphant walk to the podium to collect this award.  No doubt his Melbourne rivals are already plotting their revenge for 2012.
Another category of interest was the Employment specialist firm of the year awards, a category which many felt was ripe for a shake-up in light of the departure of Joydeep Hor from Harmers, the continuing rise of excellent boutique firms in this space and a good deal of lateral movement in the market.  Despite these unprecedented challenges, Harmers yet again triumphed in this category.

In the in-house categories, UBS continued its sparkling run at the ALB Awards by collecting the Australian and Investment Bank in-house team of the year awards, yet another affirmation of the esteem with which this team is regarded by the market. The individual award for In-house lawyer of the year went to Sandra Steele at Bovis Lend Lease, another result which was warmly welcomed by the crowd. Over the Tasman, respected Air New Zealand GC John Blair and his team were acknowledged with the NZ In-house team of the year award.

It was pleasing to see that the judges were equally alert to developments on both sides of the Tasman and awarded the Debt market deal of the year award to the Bank of New Zealand covered bond issue – a rare instance of a New Zealand deal trumping a field of Australian rivals. However, this deal also had an international feel  - in addition to NZ firm Russell McVeagh, several other firms in Australia and UK also advised on it. 

NZ firms shared the fruits of their labour more equally this year than previous years . Chapman Tripp’s Barry Brown was named NZ Dealmaker of the year while the Bell Gully corporate team won the award for NZ deal team of the year. Simpson Grierson and Russell McVeagh would have also been equally pleased with the naming of the Auckland Local Authority amalgamation as the NZ deal of the year – this deal was clearly the largest in NZ for 2010 but the somewhat unique nature of the transaction and its local government feel always meant the result was not a foregone conclusion.

ALB congratulates the winners and thanks everyone who contributed to making the night a success. We look forward to seeing you all again next year!