Winner: Wragge & Co

Finalists 2011: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Rosenblatt Solicitors, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Taylor Wessing, Wragge & Co

This was an extremely hard-fought category – but Wragge & Co won the day thanks to the versatility 
of competition partner Bernardine Adkins, who became the first solicitor to take a competition cartel case all the way to the 
courtroom.

It all began one January morning in 2006 when Adkins took a call from construction company Thomas Vale to say it was the subject of a dawn raid by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for alleged 'bid rigging'.

She and members of the Wragges' dawn raid action team were on site within an hour helping their client deal with what turned out to be the OFT's biggest-ever investigation into 'cover pricing' in the construction industry, affecting dozens of companies across the UK.

The first leg of the case saw Wragges help Thomas Vale obtain a leniency application from the OFT which saw its fine reduced by 50% to £1m following an admission of wrongdoing. Dozens of companies left it at that, but Wragges convinced the board of directors to appeal the fine as Adkins and her team were convinced it was excessive and disproportionate. The company then went on to support Adkins' suggestion that her knowledge of the intricacies of the case made her the best person to conduct the advocacy before the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

She and her team went on to successfully reduce the fine to just £171,000. In its judgment, the panel agreed with Adkins' assertion that simple cover pricing does not necessarily spill into more serious cartel activities.

The British Legal Awards judging panel praised Adkins for her obvious passion for the case and the strength of her advocacy.