Eversheds, Clifford Chance (CC), Shearman & Sterling and Al Tamimi & Company were among the winners at the fourth annual Corporate Counsel Middle East Awards last night (14 May).

Eversheds was named International Law Firm of the Year, Al Tamimi won Middle East Law Firm of the Year and CC and Shearman respectively secured the banking, finance and restructuring and corporate team awards.

corporate-counsel-middle-east-2015The awards at Raffles Dubai were jointly hosted by Legal Week and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Middle East group, and were attended by nearly 400 private practice and in-house lawyers from the region.

The top in-house awards were shared between Emirates Group – winner of Legal Department of the Year (Large Team) – Travelport , which secured the small team legal department award, and Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa, whose GC, Phil Reynolds, was named General Counsel of the Year.

Other winners included Dentons, which won the CSR award for its work helping to relieve the Syrian refugee crisis, Hogan Lovells (commercial team) and Simmons & Simmons (competition and regulatory).

It was also a good night for regional law firms. Hadef & Partners walked away with the litigation and dispute resolution award and Galadari was the winner in the transportation, energy and infrastructure category.

The judging panel praised Regional Law Firm of the Year Al Tamimi for "its commitment to training and development, advancement of local legal talent and client care", and they highlighted international law firm category winner Eversheds' "strong vision and focus on leadership".

CC's finance award was secured off the back of its work advising Islamic mortgage provider Amlak on its $2.7bn (£1.7bn) restructuring, a deal the judges said would "no doubt serve as a blueprint for similar deals in the future". Shearman, which this year celebrates the 40th anniversary of its Abu Dhabi office, won the corporate award for its work advising Abu Dhabi International Financial Centre.

The evening, which was hosted by BBC World News broadcast journalist Yalda Hakim (pictured above), culminated in the announcement of the ACC Middle East Achievement Award, which went to the legal team at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for a legal training scheme for Emiratis.

The judging panel for the awards was chaired by ACC Middle East president Elias Hayek, vice president, legal, of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Judges included Cherine Ghali, GC of Dubai Group, Harold Koster, director of the University of Dubai's College of Law, and Duncan Wood, senior legal officer in the government of Dubai legal affairs department.

The winners in full

• Achievement Award – Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
• General Counsel of the Year – Phil Reynolds, Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
• Legal Department of the Year (large team) – Emirates Group
• Legal Department of the Year (small team) – Travelport
• Legal Counsel of the Year – Jason Taylor, Muntajat
• In-house Innovation Award – China State Construction Engineering Corporation
• CSR Award – Dentons
• International Law Firm of the Year – Eversheds
• Middle East Law Firm of the Year – Al Tamimi & Company
• Corporate Team of the Year – Shearman & Sterling
• Banking, Finance and Restructuring Team of the Year – Clifford Chance
• Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team of the Year – Hadef & Partners
• Transportation, Energy and Infrastructure Team of the Year – Galadari
• Commercial Team of the Year – Hogan Lovells
• Property and Construction Team of the Year – Eversheds
• Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year – Simmons & Simmons