Finalists: Sharon L Nelles – Sullivan & Cromwell; Stuart Newberger – Crowell & Moring; Ingrid Vandenborre – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (highly commended); Bruce M Wexler – Paul Hastings.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan's Juan Morillo was crowned disputes/regulatory lawyer of the year in recognition of his growing reputation as a leading practitioner in cross-border white-collar and corporate investigations.

That is exemplified in the number of high-profile cases Morillo has been instructed on, including the FIFA corruption allegations, the Panama Papers investigation, and the Malaysian 1MBD money laundering scandal. In the latter case, Morillo has been representing Swiss private bank BSI as it faces criminal investigations in the US for its hand in the affair.

One of Morillo's most recent successes came in March when he represented the former owners of Mexican pharmaceutical company Rimsa, which was bought by Teva in 2016. Teva had attempted to sue the former owners for more than $4bn over alleged regulatory fraud but, squaring off against Morillo and his team, agreed to settle out of court for a significantly smaller sum.

"We faced a very litigious adversary who wanted to destroy what we had built over four decades of work. Juan stopped them dead in their tracks," the former Rimsa owners said.

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