(L-R) Informa EMEA general counsel Simon Bane and group general counsel Rupert Hopley with awards judge James Blendis, general counsel and company secretary, EE

Finalists: Avaya; Nokia; The Mill; Trainline (highly commended); Virgin Media; Vodafone.

Multinational events and publishing company Informa scooped the Legal Department of the Year (TMT) award for successfully helping the company pursue its growth strategy that will add greater capacity for future expansion.

That has been achieved through a series of international acquisitions, particularly in the US, which included last year's £1.2bn purchase of Penton Information Services – one of the largest acquisitions of a US firm by a UK company in 2016. The legal team played a vital role in the Penton deal, providing project management skills and acquisition and structuring expertise, as well as coordinating between internal stakeholders, external lawyers, financial advisers and investment bankers in the UK and the US.

The department is made up of 23 lawyers in the UK and the US, with two additional lawyers based in Switzerland and Brazil, providing advice on key areas such as IP, commercial, M&A and data privacy matters.

"The group legal team have consistently demonstrated their outstanding drive and capability to deliver results," said Gareth Wright, group finance director at Informa. "They have a deep understanding of the Informa businesses and have shown a remarkable ability to adapt quickly to the changing needs of our operating divisions, to support Informa's growth and expansion ambitions."