Finalists: Bird & Bird • Gordons • Herbert Smith Freehills • Latham & Watkins • Norton Rose Fulbright (highly commended) • Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co

King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) caught the eye of the judges for its work advising global investment company Marlin Equity Partners on its acquisition of data protection business Arcserve from New York software group CA Technologies across 28 non-US jurisdictions.