Finalists: Mary Kuusisto – Proskauer Rose; John B Quinn – Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; Joseph C Shenker – Sullivan & Cromwell (highly commended).

Skadden's co-head of its global transactions practice Scott Simpson was unveiled as law firm leader of the year for his tireless crusade to grow the firm's transatlantic M&A business.

Those efforts were rewarded last year as Skadden, for the first time ever, was ranked above all magic circle firms for UK-targeted M&A deals. Simpson, with almost three decades of European dealmaking under his belt (working on some of the biggest corporate M&A during that period, including the infamous Vodafone acquisition of Mannesmann, the largest takeover on record) has established Skadden as the go-to firm for complex cross-border transactions in the region.

In the past 18 months, Simpson has advised on Nokia's $16.6bn takeover of Alcatel-Lucent (which included a number of firsts, for instance being the first-ever public exchange offer that involved US, French and Finnish laws); Crane-maker Konecranes' acquisition of Terex's Material Handling and Port Solutions unit; and Intel's $15.3bn purchase of Mobileye, a developer of autonomous driving technologies.

That depth of experience has also bolstered Simpson's tactical nous, developing the use of stichtings – a defence strategy that uses a Dutch shell company to shield businesses from hostile takeover bids.

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