As we approach the end of the 2024 calendar year, the latest batch of awards open to entry is the prestigious IFLR Europe Awards, now in its 26th year.
Celebrating cross-border deals that have reached financial close between January 1-December 31, 2024, the deadline to submit your forms via the IFLR platform is December 5, 2024, with the ceremony honoring the winners in April 2025.
Prepare in advance
Don’t wait until the last minute. The awards are now open so make a start before Christmas approaches. Gather your final directory submissions, recent matters in any billing or transaction database, and identify potential matters that may impress a judging panel –collecting any missing details from the lawyers on the matter.
Focus on Deals of the Year and the Criteria
No more than three deals per category, all deals must be cross-border in nature. Though domestic transactions can be referenced briefly in Firm of the Year submissions, the focus must remain on CROSS-BORDER deals and INNOVATION. Without completing the “why is this matter innovative” part, the deal cannot be shortlisted.
Categories
While you can find more about the categories here, they are as follows:
• Debt and equity-linked
• Equity
• High yield
• M&A
• Loan
• Private equity
• Project finance
• Restructuring
• Structured finance and securitization
• Financial services regulatory
• Digital finance, among others.
Financial Services Regulatory recognizes non-contentious financial services regulatory and compliance advice, while Digital Finance focuses on crypto and blockchain work. There are also individual awards, including IFLR Women Dealmakers Hall of Fame (for senior female partners who have had an impact shaping the legal landscape and not won the award before). There is also the Rising Star category, aimed at senior associate-level lawyers with less than 15 years’ post-qualification experience.
How to highlight innovation
The IFLR judges will be looking for submissions that highlight legal innovation and creativity. While directory rankings can depend on the depth of work across a field, sector or team, awards can be awarded on ONE piece of outstanding or innovative work or one terrific lawyer who has had a tremendous year. For example, innovation might take into consideration the following points.
a) Legal and regulatory requirements, such as antitrust laws and foreign investment restrictions, vary dramatically and may need more tailored and innovative clauses to comply or get through any objections.
b) Different tax laws can lead to double taxation and increased liabilities.
c) Vital protection of patents and trademarks may form part of the transaction.
d) Varying data protection laws can complicate the transaction.
Talk to the nominee
Talk to the nominees to obtain these insights and ensure that the wider impact or unusual nature of the matter does not get missed.
Furthermore, ask the lead partner for a deal in which the firm was NOT involved but was significant. IFLR also requires nominations of other deals from participants.
Also ask the lawyer if they would recommend the in-house legal team at any of their banking clients, for which there are also awards.
This helps IFLR expand their pool of nominations and work. Find out more details about the awards from IFLR here.
