Mumbai, January 20, 2012: We live in times when Indian lawyers and law firms are gaining traction globally. Fittingly, Legal Era, India’s most trusted legal and corporate magazine incepted in March 2010, has taken upon itself to institute the country’s first legal awards, celebrating excellence among the legal fraternity. The awards are but an extension of LegalEra’s larger commitment to sensitize the aam aadmi about his legal rights and spread legal awareness.
The first edition of these awards concluded recently at a glittering ceremony held on January 20, 2012 at Mumbai’s Hotel Intercontinental The LaLiT. The LegalEra Awards 2011-12 honored legal finesse across as many as 42 award categories.
Dr (Prof) NR Madhava Menon; Lalit Bhasin, President, Society of Indian Law Firms; Rajinder Sharma, General Counsel, Dupont South Asia and Girish Gokhale, President Legal, JSW Steel comprised the eminent jury, whose collective endeavor was to put in place as fair and impartial an evaluation process as possible.
With live coverage by CNBC and support from LIC, E trends, Bright Outdoor Media Pvt Ltd and UB Group among others, the event saw an august gathering of over 560 lawyers, law firms and in-house counsel from both India and abroad.
Speaking of the winners, in the ‘LegalEra Special Awards’ category:
Rajiv Luthra, Founder and Managing Partner, Luthra & Luthra, won the Chairman Award, presented by Ashok Kumar Raizada.
Fali S Nariman took home the Lifetime Achievement Award, again presented by Ashok Kumar Raizada.
R A Shah, Crawford Bayley & Co was presented the Lifetime Achievement for Law Firm Partners Award by Rajinder Sharma & Shardul Shroff, who also gave away the Lifetime Achievement Award Inhouse to Ashok Chabbra, Executive Director, P&G India.
Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co won the Legal Personality of the Year Award, presented by Zia Mody, Managing Partner, AZB & Partners and Lalit Bhasin, who also gave away the Award for Outstanding Achievements to Hemant G Kumar, Head Legal Reliance, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.
Meanwhile, in the ‘Best of the Year’ category:
Juris Corp won Best Client Choice Firm of the Year while Nishith Desai Associates took home Firm with Best Use of Technology. Both awards were presented by Raian Karanjawala & ChandraKant Salunke, President SME Chambers of India.
O’Melveny & Myers won Best Rising International Law Firm of the Year while Tatva Legal picked up Best Rising Indian Law Firm of the Year. Both awards were presented by Poorvi Chhottani & Cyril Shroff.
Best International Law Firm of the Year went to Shearman & Sterling Or LinkLaters while Best Inhouse Team of the Year was taken by Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd. Cyril Shroff & Poorvi Chhottani presented both these awards.
Bharat Vasani, Chief Legal & Group General Counsel, Tata Sons won General Counsel of the Year while Jyoti Sagar, Managing Partner, J. Sagar Associates took Managing Partner of the Year. Both awards were presented by Rajinder Sharma & Pallavi Shroff.
Last but not the least, Best Law Firm of the Year went to Amarchand Mangaldas. The award was presented by Rajinder Sharma & and an excited Ms Pallavi Shroff.
The awards ceremony was a grand affair and ended with a promise that the next edition, slated to be held in Singapore, would be an even bigger and better affair, with many more award categories and even greater participation.
Testimonials
Akil Hirani - Majmudar & Co.
"The Legal Era Awards ceremony was very well organised and akin to the Oscars for Indian legal professionals. The awards recognised the achievements of all the...
It was heartening to see the legal fraternity being felicitated and recognized on 20.01.2012 by Legal Era. It was a right step at the right time. In these times of world economy the legal profession, both litigation and non litigation...
"Legal Era Awards 2012 has created a new platform for the legal fraternity to recognize the role of In-house lawyers and of law firms in today's dynamic business environment...
The Legal Era Awards, the first of its kind for the legal fraternity is surely a pioneering concept which will go a long way in encouraging and recognizing legal talent in our country....
“It was a pleasure to attend the annual Legal Era Awards 2011-12 held in Mumbai.
The evening was most wonderful and we had a good time interacting with the legal fraternity. We are delighted to be the winner of “Best Law Firm in Real Estate and Construction”.
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LegalEra is India’s most trusted legal and corporate magazine which gives you a complete picture of the important developments in the legal and corporate sphere, our expert writers give you an all round opinion on the issues that shape up the legal norms and the regulatory changes in the corporate arena.
We also cover the major deals executed by national and international law firms besides keeping you informed on the legal outbreaks across the nation and the world through our website www.legalera.in and our monthly magazine.
Please note that we also have a specific international award and prize for the best international law firm, in this category the LegalEra Awards actively welcomes and encourages submissions from any law firm or chambers for work handled in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and the US . For each award firms are encouraged to submit client references to support their entry.
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About LegalEra
Legal Era, India’s first legal and corporate awareness magazine, is at the forefront of the information revolution sweeping the country. The magazine, with circulation both in India and abroad, is a rich resource of knowledge and information for legal professionals, top and senior management, academia, students, entrepreneurs, and the common man. In a short span of a year, Legal Era has carried articles, case studies and interviews of legal luminaries and has earned a loyal readership that enriches the readers with its comments, questions and suggestions. The corporate sector has been appreciative of our effort to keep them updated with the latest news, views and changes in the field of law.
