There was a record attendance at the fourth annual Corporate Counsel Middle East Awards last month as the cream of the Middle East legal profession gathered in Dubai to celebrate the achievements of the region's lawyers.

Eversheds, Clifford Chance (CC), Shearman & Sterling and Al Tamimi & Company were among the winners at the awards, which were held on 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.

The top in-house prizes 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.

The 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.

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

The judging panel for the awards was chaired by ACC Middle East president Elias Hayek, vice president of legal at Starwood Hotels & Resorts.