Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP's International Arbitration Group has been named as the "Firm of the Year" for international arbitration by The Legal 500 UK Awards 2013.
This is an award unique within the legal industry, as it identifies the best of the best from not just law firms and barristers' chambers, but also the very best in-house lawyers and general counsel operating within the UK market. By considering this pool of professionals, these awards set the benchmark for excellence across the UK legal market.
Gary Born, chair of the firm's International Arbitration Group, said, "We are very pleased for this recognition from our clients and our peers. This award reflects the hard work and the quality and commitment of our entire international arbitration team."
The firm's recognition as the "Firm of the Year" for international arbitration comes shortly after The Legal 500 UK's annual rankings featured WilmerHale as a tier one law firm in "Dispute resolution - international arbitration." The guidebook recommends six members of the firm's London team for international arbitration, listing Gary Born and Steven Finizio as "leading individuals," and recommending Franz Schwarz,Duncan Speller and Dr. Maxi Scherer. Legal 500 describes Gary Born as "simply amazing" and Franz Schwarz as "tactically excellent." The firm was also recognized for Public International Law, where it ranked in tier two. Gary Born was listed as a "leading individual" in this category, described as "amazingly effective."
WilmerHale's International Arbitration Group is consistently identified as one of the very best in the world. The team ranked again this year in the top five of Global Arbitration Review's elite GAR 30-a prestigious ranking in which the firm's practice has been included in since the list's inception. WilmerHale also has one of the world's most active international arbitration practices, having been involved in more than 600 proceedings in recent years. The firm has successfully represented clients in four of the largest institutional arbitrations and several of the most significant ad hoc arbitrations to arise in the past decade, and also prides itself on consistently achieving its clients' objectives in all cases, through efficient staffing and the use of in-house know-how and precedents.
The Legal 500 guidebooks have become widely regarded as one of the world's largest independent legal referral guides. Law firms and individuals are recommended in these guides purely on merit. Researchers surveyed and interviewed more than 250,000 corporate counsel globally over the course of 12 months to obtain the results of the 2013 edition, which can be found on The Legal 500 website.