Next week, eight firms will go head to head to be named European Law Firm of the Year at the British Legal Awards 2018. The title - currently held by Garrigues - will go to a firm which, as well as being a leader in its own market, has made significant progress over the past 12-18 months. Here, we take a look at the contenders.

A&L Goodbody

With women making up almost half of all partner promotions over the past six years, A&L Goodbody now has a 31% female partnership, putting ahead of many of its UK and European counterparts when it comes to gender diversity.

Managing partner Julian Yarr (pictured), who has led the firm since 2010, says: “An important focus for us is how to get more female talent into leadership roles. We want to be the firm which breaks the mould when it comes to inclusion. We can do stats on what percentage we have, but the more important thing is seeing how well the female lawyers feel they are being represented at senior levels in the firm.”

A&L has now been number one for M&A in the Ireland for seven years in a row, and the firm has also been handling Irish legal aspects of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

Yarr says that the majority of the firm's work now comes from the international market. "This year we’ve also seen Korean and Japanese businesses be very active in the Irish market, and we have been working with a number of Korean buyers on deals recently,” he adds.

Other recent highlights have included advising on more than 50% of the largest deals in Ireland during 2017, while the firm also recently launched the ALG School of Business & Law, an integrated learning and development scheme which has seen more than 120 associates, 150 solicitors and 120 trainees go through the programme in its first year.

Looking towards the upcoming year, Yarr says: “On the culture and talent side of things, we are working on two things: gender inclusion, and consolidating the ALG School of Business & Law. We want to focus on lifelong learning rather than just checklist learning.”

Kinstellar

Kinstellar, which is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary, has grown its reach from four countries at launch to now span across 10, and the firm is now homing in on its strategy to be Europe’s top firm which is not either UK or US-based.

Managing partner and firm co-founder Patrik Bolf (pictured) says that highlights over the past year have included the launch of a new office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as well as key hires such as the addition of DLA Piper partner Denise Hamer as special counsel.

Bolf said: “We started the firm in 2008 with a few certainties - four offices, a small team, and great ambitions. Arriving here at the milestone of our 10th anniversary, having lived through both challenges and opportunities along the way, are extremely proud of what we have achieved during these years.

"For the next 10 years, we need to look to adapt our strategy in order to fine-tune what we’ve learnt over the years, and to become the top independent European firm, with a focus on our markets in Europe and Central Asia."

Deal highlights over the past year have included advising Unilever on the £5.94bn sale of its global spreads business to KKR, a role which saw the firm deploy a team of lawyers split across its Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia offices. The firm also advised UniCredit on the £1.9bn sale of Pioneer Investments to Amundi, another deal which combined the efforts of lawyers across the firm's eastern Europe network.

Looking towards the upcoming year, Bolf says: “We want to concentrate on smart growth; not growth for the sake of growth. We want to grow our offices, our practices and our sector capabilities, with our strategies all linked to, and with the purpose of, growth for the sake of quality."

Cuatrecasas

Spain's Cuatrecasas has turned its attention to international expansion over the past year, building on its fledgling Mexico base, which launched in 2016, and reopening in Beijing in October 2017.

“The Latin American market offers a lot of opportunity to compete with international law firms,” says senior partner Rafael Fontana (pictured). “Unlike the Anglo-Saxon market, Latin America offers a lot of space for us to take a stronghold.”

Innovation - described by Fontana as the 'DNA of Cuatrecasas' - is also a key focus for the firm, which over the past year has launched the third edition of its legal tech accelerator programme ACELERA, and launched a new programme, dubbed 'C Venture', which sees the company work with developing startups.

Fontana says: “One main purpose is adding value to our clients but also to our people. We put much more focus on how we do things rather than how much we do them. It’s about looking after our people and understanding how they work, how we work, and how we can then benefit and add value to our clients”

Key deals over the past year have included advising Taiyo Nippon Sanso on its £4.37bn acquisition of the Spanish part of Praxair’s European business, as well as representing Uber in proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

On the upcoming year, Fontana expects the Mexico office to present "a lot of great opportunities". "We expect to be working in a lot of transactions there," he says. "We are also doing a lot of investing in and referrals to Latin America - in Mexico, Colombia, and now also in Peru."

“We will also continue our goal of equality and empowering women, following on from our success of reaching the same number of men as women on our management committees.”

Garrigues

Garrigues has seen a year of successful international expansion and financial growth, including 26% year-on-year growth in Latin America, on the back of the firm's focus on attracting deals and clients in their international markets.

Key Latin American hires over the last year have included PwC tax partner Daniel Dix, who joined the firm's Sao Paulo office. Executive chairman Fernando Vives says the firm's approach is to grow organically through its own local offices. He says: “This strategy ensures that all professionals work to the same high standards with regards to integrity, ethics, quality, response times, training, innovation.”

Major roles the firm has taken over the last year have included advising Criteria on takeover bids by Atlantia and Hochtief for the entire issued share capital of Spanish company Abertis; advising Telefonica on its agreement to sell up to a 40% stake in its telecom masts subsidiary Telxius to private equity firm KKR; and advising key private equity shareholders on the acquisition of Cirsa by the Blackstone Group.

On his predictions for the upcoming year, Vives says: “We hope that last year’s economic trend is sustained and that the M&A market continues to grow, encouraged by foreign investment. In Spain, the year will be punctuated by elections: local, regional and European.

“As regards Brexit, it will undoubtedly be one of the main challenges for the European legal industry. At Garrigues we have been preparing our clients for the new scenario for some time.”

Magnusson

Magnusson, which claims to have women managing more than half of its overall workforce, including female office heads in Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, says diversity is "instrumental" to the firm's business.

Founder and senior partner Per Magnusson says: “While it certainly adds value on a human level, it also adds more business opportunity: it adds inspirations and new ideas. We continue to cultivate our diversity. Having different people from different backgrounds sharing ideas adds so much value to our work.”

Another core strategy for the Denmark-headquartered firm is capitalising on cross-regional legal collaboration, with much of the firm's work in the Chinese and Middle Eastern markets.

Magnusson - who says his firm is the first to ever offer complete coverage of the Baltic Sea region - says the firm's strategy for regional coverage will continue over the next year, following the theme of “connecting the dots.” He says: “We’re always looking to develop and strengthen our presence in all jurisdictions; we’re always looking to develop and grow.

“We have no plans to open offices outside of our core region; however we are always looking at opportunities to project our capabilities and connect our existing clients to areas outside of our region. Our firm is a regional hub, but also a platform for reaching out to other places in the world.”

Key highlights over the year have included advising A-R-A Retail Centres on its sale of 28 shopping centres to Chariot Top Group BV in January 2018, advising the polish side on the Baltic Pipe project, a new gas pipeline which will connect Norway, Denmark and Poland, and developing the legal technology system LEX247.

Noerr

Germany's Noerr has been busy in 2018, with the firm citing rising demand in areas such as corporate, private equity, litigation and regulated industries

Total revenues now stand at €223m (£198m), and at the end of the year, Frankfurt office head Torsten Fett will take over as co-managing partner from Munich M&A partner Tobias Burgers.

Fellow co-managing partner Alexander Ritvay (pictured above) highlights some major deals as key successes of the year, including a role for US private equity firm JC Flowers on the acquisition of HSH Nordbank, as well as advising on a collection of initial public offerings for companies including Westwing, home24 and HelloFresh.

Other key activities include promoting five new equity partners, four of which were women, while the firm also recruited Ashurst private equity partner Holger Ebersberger and Allen & Overy finance senior associate Alexander Schilling, who joined as a partner.

Talking about the upcoming year, Ritvay says: “Whatever Brexit will look like, there is bound to be a lot of demand for legal advice in many respects and in many different fields. With our offering and our deep expertise we are very well positioned to help our clients manoeuver the situation or to pursue opportunities, for example in the M&A space.”

Uria Menendez

Uria Menendez enjoyed another record-breaking year for turnover during 2017, with a 5.9% annual increase to its higher-ever figure of £205m, while the firm also this year opened a new office in Lisbon.

The firm is gearing up for a change in leadership, with Salvador Sanchez-Teran taking over as managing partner next year, succeeding Luis de Carlos, who is stepping into the senior partner role.

De Carlos says: “Our main strategy has always been quality driven, trying to keep the standard across the board - recruiting the best lawyers, offering top training, and encouraging internal promotions. Our values are focused on quality, ethics, social responsibility. We’re not obsessed about size or headcount."

Major deals for Uria over the past year have included advising Abertis on £16.5bn sale to a consortium of Hochtief and Atlantia; acting for Banco Sabadell on the £8bn sale of 80% of its real estate business to Cerberus, and advising Repsol on the £3.32bn sale of approximately 20% of the share capital of Gas Natural to CVC.

Looking towards the upcoming year, de Carlos says the firm’s practice in Latin America is expected to grow from strength to strength. He says: “We already have a strong presence in Latin America through Philippi Prietocarrizosa, Ferrero DU & Uria, with offices in Chile, Colombia and Peru, and with our own Latin American offices and network of friend firms. Spain, Portugal, and Latin America are our core regions.”

Arthur Cox

Arthur Cox, Ireland’s largest law firm by headcount, this year launched a new agile working policy in recognition of the need for more flexible ways of working, including to allow its staff to better balance work with personal commitments.

The firm, which also last year launched a LGBT+ network, is keen to tout its corporate social responsibility credentials, but has also has advised on a series of multibillion-pound deals, including acting for the Irish Stock Exchange on its acquisition by Euronext, advising Praxair on its £53.8bn merger with Linde, and taking a lead role for Irish telecoms company eir on its £3.1bn sale to NJJ/Illiad.

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