24.04.2018

NKF takes home multiple awards

Swiss Law Firm of the Year from Chambers, IFLR and Leaders League and European Corporate Deal of the Year from the Lawyer

At the Chambers Europe Awards in Madrid on 20 April, Niederer Kraft Frey was named Switzerland Law Firm of the Year 2018. The previous night at the annual IFLR – International Financial Law Review awards in London, NKF was named 2018 Law Firm of the Year Switzerland.

The Chambers Europe Awards honour the work of national and international law firms on the basis of in-depth research. The awards recognise a law firm’s preeminence and reflect notable achievements including outstanding work, impressive strategic growth and excellence in client service. Chambers said of NKF:

A strong choice for both international and domestic matters, Niederer Kraft Frey offers clients full service coverage of the Swiss legal market. […] Clients greatly admire the team and say the lawyers are “easy to work with, stick to the deadlines and are very friendly – it’s the best performance you can imagine.”

The IFLR awards recognise legal innovation, novelty and complexity, rewarding law firms and deals that break new legal ground and set market precedents. The awards jury commented:

“The award was given to NKF largely for its role in two deals that were deemed very innovative on a European, not only a Swiss, stage. NKF’s role as global lead counsel to Actelion and its board of directors for its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson was very impressive. The transaction had an approach and structure that could influence other pharmaceutical deals involving a drug discovery and early stage clinical business. More significantly, its overall structure, devised by NKF, was a global first: combining a public tender offer with a spin off and IPO. NKF’s lead role in such a deal, with complex M&A and capital markets issues, was very worthy of merit. NKF also acted as lead counsel to Toshiba Corporation and INCJ in the Landis+Gyr Group IPO, where the team was responsible for drafting the prospectus and negotiating the IPO agreements, as well as corporate governance. It was another notable lead counsel role in a large international offering.”

Earlier this year NKF won the European Corporate Deal of the Year award from The Lawyer in London for NKF’s role as lead advisor to Actelion Ltd in the US$30bn acquisition by Johnson & Johnson, and Best Swiss Law Firm at the Leaders League Trophées du Droit Ceremony in Paris. In 2017, NKF became the first Swiss law firm to be named European Law Firm of the Year by The Lawyer in London.

NKF wishes to thank its clients for their continued trust. We thank the law firms with whom we work across the globe for their fantastic team work and we thank the entire NKF team.