IFN Law Awards 2016

Current Categories

  1. Law Firm of the Year
  2. Asset Management & Islamic Funds
  3. Banking
  4. Capital Markets
  5. Energy & Natural Resources
  6. Insolvency & Restructuring
  7. Mergers & Acquisitions
  8. Offshore Finance
  9. Private Equity
  10. Project Finance
  11. Real Estate
  12. Structured Finance
  13. Takaful & re-Takaful
  14. Trade Finance
  15. IFN Global Peer Award – new!

Submissions Criteria

(max 1,000 words per individual category submission)

  1. Firm name, address
  2. Contact name, designation, telephone and email
  3. Date of submission
  4. Category being nominated (new form is to be completed for each category)
  5. Head of the department & number of lawyers working in this field
  6. List of notable transactions in this category during the 12-month period 1st July 2015 – 30th June 2016) (provide closing dates)
  7. Short synopsis on chosen lead transaction in this category (max 200 words)
  8. Short synopsis on the past 12 months’ (1st July 2015 – 30th June 2016) activities in this category (max 200 words)
  9. Any further information you feel may assist in your case (max 200 words)
  10. Please nominate the top three law firms (in descending order) of your choice for the all-new IFN Industry Award, to be voted by a jury of your peers. Please note you are not allowed to nominate your own firm in this category. Your choice should be based on the law firms you feel have made the most contribution to the development, growth and visibility of the Islamic finance industry (either globally, regionally or locally) in 2016 and should be supported by no more than 100 words explaining your choice (optional).

PLEASE NOTE that for reasons of transparency, all submissions must clearly state their role in the transaction, including which side they acted for and any other law firms involved in the transaction. Any transactions cited without this information will be discounted and will not count towards the final decision.

PLEASE NOTE that any confidential information submitted to assist your case must be suitable for public release by the announcement date of the awards (7th September 2016), or it cannot be included.

2016 IFN Law Awards methodology

IFN will on the 14th July 2016 once again open nominations for its annual industry-leading acknowledgement of the top legal achievements in the Islamic finance industry. The closing date for submissions is the 24th August 2016, with the awards announced on the 7th September 2016 and presented at the annual IFN Awards Ceremonies in Kuala Lumpur and Dubai in February 2017.

Winners and one runner-up per category will be announced in the first issue of IFN in September 2016. The full report will be published in the IFN Special Awards issue together with the results of the Deals of the Year, Service Providers Poll & Best Banks Poll.

The awards methodology is regularly updated, and in 2016 IFN invited comment from leading industry participants to ensure we provide the most accurate and comprehensive reflection of the industry’s achievements.

The methodology for the 2016 IFN Law Awards is therefore as follows:

  1. Nominations are submitted by each participating law firm strictly according to the IFN Guidelines provided, with a maximum of 2,000 words per submission. (Above it says 1,000 words. I’d stick to that.)
  2. An independent external judging panel made up of impartial industry experts intensively reviews all submissions and selects a shortlist for each category based on its collective industry experience and expertise as well as the information provided in individual submissions. Consideration is given to visibility, range of activity, and complexity of work undertaken.
  3. The judging panel passes the shortlist to the IFN editorial team for a comprehensive review and fact-check of all claims made in individual submissions, including direct communication (where possible) with the participants/issuers in the stated lead transactions of each nomination.
  4. The IFN editorial team passes the updated shortlist back to the judging panel, who then determine the final winners and runners-up.
  5. CONCURRENTLY, a new IFN Global Peer Award will be introduced in 2016. This award will be voted for by the industry and for the industry, and the winner will be the law firm receiving the most nominations from its peers. Voting will open on the 14th July and close on the 24th August as per the standard IFN Law Awards process. Voters are not allowed to vote for their own firms. The winning law firm will be announced at the annual IFN Awards Ceremony in February 2017.

PLEASE NOTE that these awards are selected, as they have always been, by an independent and anonymous judging panel to ensure impartiality.

PLEASE NOTE that while consideration is given to visibility, range of activity of complexity, both global, regional and local firms are all considered. Equal consideration is given to all achievements based on a relative scale and no law firm is at a disadvantage due to size or location.

 

LAW2016 Online Submission Form (316 downloads )