Keynote speaker Christine Wong of HKEx, along with representatives from the HKCCA, IPBA and the Hong Kong Federation of Women Lawyers, were among the guests who joined in celebrating the achievements of those firms setting the standard in terms of female-friendly work practices, and women leading the field in the legal sector across Asia.
The SFC’s Alice Law collected the Outstanding Achievement award and Robyn Chalmers, former managing partner of Mallesons Stephen Jacques, picked up the Lifetime Achievement prize.
While in the firm categories, Baker & McKenzie was named best international firm for women in business law and Allen & Overy secured the best gender diversity initiative by an international firm. Allen & Overy’s initiative is its Improving the Partnership Pool project, which enables partners to work more flexibly while still remaining full members of the partnership.
A full list of winners is detailed below.
Individual Awards
Banking and finance Wang Ling, King & Wood
Capital markets Teresa Ko, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Competition/ antitrust Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Gilbert + Tobin
Corporate governance Kelly S Austin, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Dispute resolution Pallavi Shroff, Amarchand Mangaldas
Energy and natural resources Brigid McArthur, Greenwood Roche Chisnall
Insolvency and restructuring Karen O'Flynn, Clayton Utz
IP litigation Odette Gourley, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Labour and employment Fiona Loughrey, Simmons & Simmons
M&A/PE Lee Suet-Fern, Stamford Law
Offshore Christine Chang, Maples and Calder
Patent and trade mark prosecution Michelle Ma, Liu Shen & Associates
Real estate Sue Kench, Mallesons Stephen Jaques
Rising star Bingna Guo, O'Melveny & Myers
Shipping Vivian Ang, Allen & Gledhill
Structured finance Yvonne Siew, Allen & Overy
Tax Teresa Farac, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
TMT Gabriela Kennedy, Hogan Lovells
Transfer pricing Eunice Kuo, Deloitte & Touche
Outstanding Achievement Award Alice Law, Securities and Futures Commission
Lifetime Achievement Award Robyn Chalmers, Mallesons Stephen Jaques
Country Awards
Australia Gilbert + Tobin
China Jun He Law Offices
Hong Kong Wilkinson & Grist
India Dua Associates
Indonesia Soewito Suhardiman Eddymurthy Kardono
Japan Atsumi & Sakai
Malaysia Shearn Delamore & Co
New Zealand Chapman Tripp
Philippines SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan
Singapore WongPartnership
South Korea Bae Kim & Lee
Sri Lanka FJ&G de Saram
Taiwan LCS & Partners
Thailand Tilleke & Gibbins
Vietnam Vilaf
In-house Awards
IFLR In-House Award Akiko Yamahara, Citi Japan
MIP In-House Award Rhonda Steele, Mars Inc
ITR In-House Award Jocelyn Lam, Goldman Sachs
CLP In-House Award Li Ling, State Grid
Asialaw In-House Award Edith Shih, Hutchison Whampoa
Best In-House Team Award (under 50 lawyers) ANZ Bank
Best In-House Team Award (over 50 lawyers) Telstra
Firm Awards
Best gender diversity initiative by national firm Harry Elias
Best gender diversity initiative by international firm Paul Hastings
Best international firm China practice Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Most innovative international firm Latham & Watkins
Best firm for talent management Allen & Overy
Best national firm for women in business law WongPartnership
Best international firm for women in business law Baker & McKenzie