London, Jan, 2013 – ACQ, a premier global M&A magazine, has today released result details of its ACQ Law Awards 2012, taking the ultimate step in the search for the most outstanding legal professionals across the globe.

"Hosted by ACQ magazine & the ACQ5 news site, the Awards are divided into practice area, individual and firm-wide categories within the private and in-house sectors and are open to all law firms, in-house counsel and chambers. Exceptional individuals, teams and firms across the legal sector represent the very best in their field from around the world and truly deserve the accolade of being an ACQ Award winner." said Jake Robson, Editor in Chief of ACQ. "All category winners are in effect, a brand. In one sense, perhaps the most important sense, a brand is a promise. You know what you're going to get with a well-branded product or service. It takes a lot of time, money and very hard work to build and maintain great brands, brands that can speak volumes in just a few syllables. It's shorthand for what you are. All category winners in the ACQ Law Awards 2012 represent this ethos and this year, our dedicated subscribers have once again recognized the genuine leaders in the market. The quality of this year's entries is astonishingly high and a testament to the fact that the profession continues to innovate and deliver high-quality legal services even in these economically challenging times".

The marketplace is changing quickly, with greater external pressure and competition, so it's good to see that firms are showing no signs of complacency. Far from it, this year's nominations show that the legal sector continues to spearhead solutions that allow it to stay at the top of the game. Merger activity remains high and alliances continue to be announced bringing together skills and a wider geographical presence that can only benefit service provision.

Since 2008, the ACQ LAW Awards have been celebrating achievement, innovation and brilliance in their annual awards. Anybody can make that claim, but ACQ really is different. We boast a legitimately independent nomination process, most importantly, our award winners, are chosen by the industry itself.

Every year, we seek their assistance in recognizing industry leaders, eminent individuals, exemplary teams and distinguished firms, which we believe represent the benchmark of achievement and best practice in a variety of fields – and every year, we turn to our readers to help as we strive to recognize an ever-widening spectrum of services, markets, industries and organisations that the legal fraternity serve.

Voting closed in August 2012. The total number of nominations received stood at an amazing 8721 representing a 15.9% response rate.

Guided by the poll's results our expert panel have selected those firms and individuals that they think had the greatest impact on the industry in 2012. In judging these awards we have studied the nominations made by our voters and recognize that all of those nominated are leaders in their fields but the exceptional performances of some deserve recognition.

The full list of winners will soon be announced at www.awards.acq5.com/publications/ and promoted on 2 specifically targeted partner platforms: (Desktop Platform) Bloomberg BusinessWeek &Commuter Platform) m.guardian.co.uk