Tonight, seven firms will go head to head for the coveted Law Firm of the Year award at the British Legal Awards 2018, a title currently held by last year's winner, Fieldfisher. Here, we explain the reasons for selecting the firms on this year's shortlist.

Clifford Chance

Among its magic circle peers, Clifford Chance (CC) stood out during the 2017-18 financial reporting season, with a 16% hike in profit per equity partner (PEP) outpacing its closest competitors, and a 5% revenue rise to £1.62bn consolidating its position as the largest of the group.

The firm has also taken a number of bold strategic steps this year, including acquiring the legal services arm of collapsed construction giant Carillion to create a new onshore support centre.

CC has also been sharpening its focus on technology this year, with a series of eye-catching initiatives such as the launch of two new 'innovation units', and the announcement of a new training contract focused on legal technology.

And the firm put its head above the parapet to become the first of the magic circle to include equity partners in its gender pay gap report, an admirable move attributed to a desire to "accelerate change" in the sector.

CMS

This year has seen CMS begin to reap the benefits of its ambitious three-way merger with Nabarro and Olswang, with the firm posting global revenues of €1.3bn in its first financial results since the 2017 tie-up.

At the beginning of the year, it was one of the first two UK top 50 firms to publish details of their gender pay gaps ahead of the initial deadline, and in a bid to improve work/life balance at the firm, it has allowed employees to apply for a period of up to one month's unpaid leave every year.

Panel wins have included an appointment to Unilever's global legal roster, while the firm also topped the Q1-Q3 UK M&A rankings by volume and rose from 43rd to ninth in the value rankings, after roles on deals including UK fibre broadband company CityFibre's £537.8m takeover and National Grid's £1.2bn sale of a 25% stake in the UK's biggest gas distribution business to a consortium of international investors.

And the firm does not plan to rest on its laurels, with management making unequivocal noises that the US market is the next priority for expansion.

DLA Piper

The past 12 months for DLA have seen the firm continue to bounce back from the effects of the 2017 cyberattack, with revenues rising 7% and PEP hitting a second consecutive record annual high, climbing 6% to $1.76m (£1.38m).

And as other firms look to prevent themselves falling victim to such an attack, DLA has taken an altruistic approach with its peers, sharing its experiences and lessons learned from the episode with firms that would otherwise be competitors.

On the international front, DLA secured a launch in the much-touted Dublin market, and also ramped up its Nordic presence with the acquisition of 60-lawyer Denmark firm Delacour.

The firm has also ushered in a series of reforms following a firmwide crowdsourcing exercise, drawing on the views of its staff to shake up performance reviews and billing targets, while also setting up an international working group to take a closer look at mental health and stress concerns raised by employees.

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland is another firm now seeing the benefits of a major merger, posting revenue of of $1.03bn (£806m) in its first financial results since the transatlantic tie-up of Eversheds and US firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, while PEP for its non-US business rose 12% this year to a new record high of £812,000.

The firm has placed integration and the creation of a 'common culture' as key strategic goals, and has also set a target of achieving a 30% female partnership outside of the US by 2021, with its leadership team incentivised to take direct responsibility for the targets by linking it to their remuneration.

The firm has appointed a 'gender champion' to spearhead the firm's new career development programme, and is also currently considering introducing black, Asian and minority ethnic targets at trainee, associate and partner level as part of a wider overhaul of its diversity strategy, as well as targets for LGBT representation.

The firm also recently became the latest in a growing number of firms looking to crowdsource new ideas from lawyers and staff, rolling out a new innovation platform with all staff across the firm's global offices encouraged to share, like and rate ideas to improve the firm.

Fieldfisher

Last year's winner of the Law Firm of the Year title has had another impressive 12 months, underlined by today's news that half-year revenues are up 26% on the back of double-digit revenue and PEP growth for the full 2017-18 financial year.

All of the firm's practice groups saw revenues rise by at least 10% during the first six months of 2018-19, with more than half delivering increases in excess of 20%.

And this continued financial success has driven the top of the firm's equity to a figure comparable to the magic circle, soaring to a new high of £3.2m.

This year the firm has continued its rapid international expansion, opening new bases in Frankfurt and Luxembourg, a new legal solutions hub in Belfast and a third Chinese office in the southern city of Guangzhou, while also completing a merger with Spanish law firm Jausas.

Eye-catching hires have included the addition of ex-Prime Minister David Cameron's former legal adviser, while the firm also teamed up with legal process outsourcer Integreon to give the firm new scope to tackle large-scale routine work for clients facing challenges presented by issues such as Brexit and the General Data Protection Regulation.

Macfarlanes

Macfarlanes has enjoyed another exceptional 12 months, with turnover up 20% and PEP leaping 25.6% to £1.74m on the back of a run of roles on headline-making M&A deals.

Standout mandates have included advising Disney on UK aspects of its $71bn (£54bn) purchase of 21st Century Fox assets, as well as acting for US car parts manufacturer Dana on its $6.1bn (£4.4bn) bid to combine with FTSE 100 engineering business GKN. Meanwhile, panel successes have included reappointments for Legal & General and Royal Mail.

Earlier this year, the firm responded to a rise in demand from clients with the launch of a white-collar practice, recruiting Eversheds Sutherland corporate crime and investigations head Neill Blundell to lead the new team.

The City stalwart recently became the latest major law firm to include partners in its gender pay gap reporting, while it has also displayed admirable forward planning with regards to its leadership, with private client partner Sebastian Prichard Jones already lined up to succeed longstanding senior partner Charles Martin.

Travers Smith

Earlier this year, Travers managing partner David Patient described the current mood at his firm as "hunky dory", and his positivity is more than justified, after double-digit PEP and revenue rises.

Headline deals have included 3i's sale of its stake in Anglian Water Group, UK tech company Micro Focus's $8.8bn purchase of Hewlett Packard Enterprise's software business, and Bridgepoint's £1.5bn sale of sandwich chain Pret a Manger, while the firm has also made two rare lateral hires, bringing in Sackers partner Sebastian Reger and Jones Day real estate partner Alex Millar.

The firm also recently voted in its first-ever female senior partner, a feat so far not achieved at other City thoroughbreds such as Macfarlanes or the magic circle.

Tax partner Kathleen Russ, who has been chosen by the firm's partners to succeed Chris Hale, is expected to build on the outgoing senior partner's efforts to modernise the firm, evidenced by the firm's continued efforts to promote women to senior roles.