Finalists: Morgan Lewis & Bockius; Niederer Kraft Frey; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (highly commended).

Cooley was handed the capital markets team of the year title for its work advising Uber on a multibillion-dollar tender offer from an investment consortium led by Japan's SoftBank.

The $9bn tender is thought to be the largest on record for a private tech company, and involved a restructuring of the company's voting structure (eliminating dual class stock), an improvement of its corporate governance practices, and the settlement of internecine legal conflicts that threatened to destabilise the boardroom. The deal, which took about five months to complete, was made up of a $1.25bn investment in new shares that valued Uber at about $68bn, alongside a roughly $8bn investment in existing shares sold at a 30% discount. That pocketed the consortium almost a fifth of the company (15% owned by SoftBank itself, making it Uber's largest shareholder).

Cooley's co-head of capital markets David Peinsipp led a more than 50-strong Cooley team across the globe advising Uber on the share sale, the latest in a string of deals it has led for the US ride-hailing firm. Cooley also advised Uber on its joint venture with Russian taxi service Yandex, and the acquisition of Otto, a startup focusing on self-driving trucks.

To return to the full list of winners click here.