Finalists: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Eversheds Sutherland (highly commended); Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Kirkland & Ellis collected the transatlantic law firm of the year award in recognition of its flourishing cross-border expansion.

Its London office, for instance, has grown by 42% in the past five years as the firm embarks on an aggressive hiring strategy to bolster its core service offering to both existing and prospective clients (the London office is now the firm's third-largest globally). Meantime, its New York office has grown by 60%, making it the second largest.

Recent standout transatlantic advisory work has included representing Dutch paints company Akzo Nobel in its successful defence of a hostile takeover bid from PPG Industries; baby-formula-maker Mead Johnson on its $17.9bn sale to Reckitt Benckiser; and Bain Capital on its $3.2bn acquisition of Sealed Air's cleaning and chemicals unit Diversey Care. Those deals have helped push Kirkland to the top of the UK and US M&A league tables (by deal value and deal count respectively), as well as second spot in the global rankings (by deal count).

That impressive run of deals also saw Kirkland become the largest US law firm by revenue and the third-most profitable in last year's AmLaw 100. "Clear winner," a judge noted.

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