Back row (L-R): Cooley's Chris Coulter, Nick Bolter, Amy Collins, Henry Stewart, Ann Bevitt, James Maton and Alya Randell-Khan with awards judge Carol Hui, chief of staff and general counsel at Heathrow Airport. Front row (L-R): Cooley's Harry Calkin, David Bresnick and Christophe Bondy

Finalists: Boies Schiller Flexner (highly commended); Gomez-Acebo & Pombo; Goodwin Procter; Mason Hayes & Curran; Morrison & Foerster; Paul Hastings; White & Case (highly commended).

Silicon Valley-based firm Cooley landed the London office of the year award as it continues to carve out a reputation as the go-to practice for tech and life sciences in the City.

With 27 partners and 80 lawyers in London, the office delivered above-expectation revenue growth in 2016, with total income of about $47m. Since opening in January 2015, Cooley's London office has advised on 12 M&A deals with a total value of £3bn, more than 75 venture capital deals, and acted for the likes of Bambino Holdings and Tata Steel in major litigation matters.

Key deals handled out of London have included advising SoftBank on Improbable's $502m fundraising – which Cooley says is Europe's largest series-B venture financing round on record. The firm also advised General Catalyst Partners on its investment in Deliveroo's $275m series-E financing round and The Vistria Group and Apollo Global Management on their $1.1bn acquisition of Apollo Education Group.

"A fledging office but impressive how they've come over and established themselves within the tech sector – they have made remarkably swift progress," a judge enthused.