Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, BT Sport and Devereux Chambers were among the big winners at last night's British Legal Awards, which saw a 900-strong audience gather at London's Old Billingsgate Market to honour the top performers from another eventful year for the legal profession.

Freshfields took home the coveted Law Firm of the Year award after a strong year in which it outperformed rivals with a 7% hike in revenues to £1.22bn and 8% partner profits growth to £1.398m.

The awards judges agreed that the firm had enjoyed a standout year across all the criteria, with one citing its "impressive contribution to pro bono, fantastic client base and superb lawyers." M&A partner Mark Rawlinson accepted the award from host Dara O'Briain (pictured right)

BT Sport was honoured with the Legal Department of the Year award, seeing off competition from a shortlist including Barclays, Bupa and Dell.

In the run-up to BT Sport's launch this August, its legal team oversaw more than £1bn worth of deals in less than a year, keeping 93% of the work in-house, including its headline-making Champions League rights deal, which was completed without the need for external legal advice.

Major individual awards went to Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin – who received the Editor's Award for Law Firm Leader of the Year – and ITV's Andrew Garard, who was named General Counsel of the Year.

Martin, who was recently re-elected to serve a third term as senior partner, was cited for successfully steering Macfarlanes through the downturn, with the firm this year posting its second set of strong financials in a row, with revenue up 11.6% to £114.2m and profits per equity partner jumping almost 10% to £989k – just shy of the £1m mark it reached in the boom years.

Garard was singled out by the judges for his impressive pro bono and diversity work as well as his key role in the broadcaster's five-year transformation plan, while other in-house awards saw UK Asset Resolution litigation head Rebecca Clark take the Legal Counsel of the Year prize and asset management giant BlackRock secure the In-house Innovation award.

Meanwhile, civil and commercial set Devereux was named Chambers of the Year after coming out top of a shortlist which included Essex Court Chambers, Serle Court and 11 Stone Buildings.

Among the practice awards, Linklaters took the M&A Team of the Year award for its "awe-inspiring" work on the Glencore-Xstrata mega-merger, with King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin winning the Commercial Team of the Year award and CMS Cameron McKenna (pictured right) recognised for its litigation work after winning a ten-year court battle to save the Hackney Empire.

Smaller firms were also represented, with fast-expanding northwest firm Roberts Jackson taking the Education and Training Initiative of the Year award for its unconventional graduate training scheme, while southwest firm Stephens Scown won the Private Client Team of the Year for its work on death in active service cases for families of veterans.

The final award of the night was the City of London Law Society Lifetime Achievement Award, which went to Dorothy Livingston, who spent 25 years as a partner at Herbert Smith before retiring from the partnership in 2008. Her time as a leading EU and UK competition lawyer saw her play a high level-role in creating regulations to govern continuity of contract when the euro was introduced, while her 40-year career has also included roles on major developments including the Channel Tunnel, the creation of Sky TV and the assembly of Canary Wharf as a development site.

The judging panel for the British Legal Awards comprised a line-up of senior general counsel and other business figures, including BAE Systems group GC Philip Bramwell, former Clifford Chance managing partner Peter Cornell, BAA GC Carol Hui, Rothschild executive vice chairman Sir Anthony Salz and Vodafone group GC Rosemary Martin.

City of London Law Society chairman Alasdair Douglas, who chaired the judging panel, said: "The submissions across all categories showed expertise of the highest order and the contribution to the economic success of clients in a number of cases was game changing."

British Legal Awards 2013 – full list of winners

City of London Law Society Lifetime Achievement Award – Dorothy Livingston
Law Firm Leader of the Year – Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin
Law Firm of the Year – Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
General Counsel of the Year – Andrew Garard, ITV
Legal Department of the Year – BT Sport
Regional Law Firm of the Year – Brodies
Chambers of the Year – Devereux Chambers
In-house Innovation Award – BlackRock
Law Firm Innovation Award – Clifford Chance
CSR Initiative of the Year – Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Diversity Initiative – Field Fisher Waterhouse
Education and Training Initiative of the Year – Roberts Jackson
M&A Team of the Year – Linklaters
Banking, Financing or Restructuring Team of the Year – Nabarro
Litigation and Regulatory Team of the Year – CMS Cameron McKenna
Property Team of the Year – Herbert Smith Freehills
Commercial Team of the Year – King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin
TMT Team of the Year – Wragge & Co
Private Client Team of the Year – Stephens Scown
Assistant/Associate Solicitor of the Year – Emilie Jones, Covington & Burling
Legal Counsel of the Year – Rebecca Clark, UK Asset Resolution
Best Use of Technology – Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Supplier of the Year – Opus 2 International
European Law Firm Of The Year – Magnusson
European Legal Team of the Year – Paul Hastings
London Office of the Year – Greenberg Traurig Maher
Offshore Law Firm of the Year – Mourant Ozannes

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