This year’s ALB SE Asia Law Awards promises a number of firsts, including new categories such as Woman Lawyer of the Year and Rising Law Firm of the Year, along with the awards’ first-ever submission from Brunei.

A total of 44 awards categories will be vied for at this year’s gala event, which will be held at the St. Regis Singapore on May 19. Some 53 new organizations have joined the event this year, including 26 law firms (15 of which are outside Singapore) and 27 in-house teams (14 outside Singapore).

Among the new categories is Rising Law Firm of the Year, open to law firms established not earlier than 2011, which has 10 finalists, Medical Law Firm of the Year (four finalists) and TMT Law Firm of the Year, which has a whopping 18 finalists.

The other new categories have also been hugely popular. The Young Lawyer of the Year category, has 25 finalists from a wide variety of Southeast Asian countries, while the Woman Lawyer of the Year category has 20 finalists, including one from in-house. Two returning categories – Insurance in-House Team of the Year, and the Innovative In-House Team of the Year – have been well received too.

Finally, the awards sees its first entry from Brunei this year -- Datastream Technology is a nominee for the Technology, Media and Telecommunications In-House Team of the Year, where it will vie with heavyweights such as Microsoft, Samsung Indonesia and Singtel.