Fonterra and MinterEllisonRuddWatts are looking to retain their crowns against pools of strong candidates
Two winners of New Zealand-focused categories at the 2022 Australasian Law Awards are looking for repeat victories at this year’s awards.
Fonterra’s legal team snagged the NZ In-house Team of the Year award last year, with judges commenting that the team had an “impressive full-spectrum in-house legal service spanning corporate, commercial (IP) etc. Plus, loved the ways in which team members give back to the community (legal and wider)”.
This year, Fonterra is facing off against the in-house teams at AIA NZ, Spark NZ and UBS NZ as it looks to notch back-to-back wins in this category.
Meanwhile, MinterEllisonRuddWatts is aiming to secure the NZ Deal Firm of the Year award for the second year in a row. However, it faces stiff competition in 2021 winners Bell Gully and Chapman Tripp, as well as leading firms Russell McVeagh, Simpson Grierson and Webb Henderson.
The 2022 awards judges said that MinterEllisonRuddWatts’ M&A team “demonstrated involvement in significant deals and importance of involvement in transactions”.
The NZ Dealmaker of the Year category will see the crowning of a new winner, with 2022 winner Silvana Schenone (MinterEllisonRuddWatts) out of the running this year. Anna Buchly (Bell Gully), Dan Jones (Russell McVeagh), Graeme Quigley (Webb Henderson), John Conlan (MinterEllisonRuddWatts), Michal Pollard (Simpson Grierson) and Roger Wallis (Chapman Tripp) round out the list of finalists.
The 2023 Australasian Law Awards takes place on 18 May at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney.
Australasian Lawyer unveiled the Excellence Awardees list for the 2023 Australasian Law Awards in March.
