What did winning a Global Counsel Award mean to you?
M&A Team of the Year 2018
Winning the award was a huge recognition for our team. Everyone in the department played a significant role in the DuPont transaction and made personal sacrifices throughout the year to manage the huge amount of work that had to be done. The company of course recognised that effort, but receiving recognition from the legal community was a meaningful accomplishment. Our company publicised it internally, and employees were very proud of us.
Intellectual Property Individual of the Year 2018
I was honoured and grateful to receive the 2018 Global IP Counsel Award. This award reflects the amazing colleagues and mentors I have had throughout my career. It is also an honour to be placed in the distinguished ranks of my fellow nominees for this award. The award is truly a highlight of my career!
General Commercial Individual of the Year 2018
Before I was nominated for the Asia-Pacific Counsel Awards I was not even aware that such awards existed for in-house counsel, so to go on and win a Global Counsel Award has been an incredibly humbling experience.
I believe the award is not just recognition for myself, but also our legal department and our broader team at Conergy. Given we are a relatively small company on the global stage, the Award has been a great source of pride and inspiration for our whole team. The support I received from my colleagues has been incredible – and the shared excitement that ‘one of us’ had won an award is testament to the excellent team we have built at Conergy.
Regulatory (Financial Services) Team of the Year 2018
It means external recognition by our peers of the exceptional quality and technical skills of the Citibanamex Legal team. We could not be prouder of each member. It was a particularly good moment to get such recognition – and really motivating!
Regulatory (Non-financial Services) Team of the Year 2018
Our entire department was thrilled to win the Global Counsel Award. We work very hard to try to provide really sound support and guidance to our businesses and it is very nice to be recognised for it.
Competition Individual of the Year 2018
I’m very grateful to those who took the time to give a view and forgave my flaws.
General Counsel of the Year 2017
It was a very nice surprise! It’s a recognition as much for the team I’m leading as for me. I don’t take it all for me; it’s a recognition of the work we’re doing in the legal community. It was a great honour and I was really very humbled.
Competition Individual of the Year 2017
It was amazing! I was delighted with the European Counsel Award, and very happy to be nominated for the Global Counsel Award. I was stunned when my name was called at the New York event. It is a prize that ‘keeps on giving’! I am very grateful for the personal recognition, especially as I know many gifted in-house antitrust counsels that deserve it.
Regulatory (Non-financial Services) Individual of the Year 2017
A recognition for 25 years devoted to the law and the industry, immense pride and an even bigger desire to continue working hard and delivering the best possible service.
Litigation Individual of the Year 2017
It was really exciting! I was humbled and thrilled all at the same time to receive the award. For in-house counsel I think it’s particularly meaningful as we’re not often either in the courtroom arguing or acting as the lead lawyer on a matter, at least externally, but in reality we are driving a lot of the strategy and the tactics on a matter, so it’s a really nice recognition of the work that in-house counsel do to advance our client’s interests.
General Commercial Individual of the Year 2016
The best part was that I was able to have almost all my direct reports globally with me at the event to share that moment. The award was validation for our team that we are focused and aiming in the right direction. I believe that without the work we have done as a department, I would not have been in a position even to be nominated.
Employment Team of the Year 2016
We were genuinely surprised to be nominated for the award and assumed that it would be impossible to be selected from among such well-respected peers. To be recognised by our law firm partners for the work we do is a great compliment. Our goal is to continue quietly to be one of the forces behind the success of our company. We are grateful to the ILO Global Counsel Awards team for the recognition and support.
Intellectual Property Individual of the Year 2016
It was really nice to be recognised by those who work with me on various issues around the world. So often, my team tends to close one file and rush to work on the next matter without taking time to reflect and celebrate what has been accomplished. Being shortlisted for the Global Counsel Award encouraged me to stop and take time to celebrate accomplishments in a new and unexpected way. Actually winning the award provided wonderful recognition both within the IP community and internally within my company. In-house counsels are rarely recognised by award programmes, so the Global Counsel Awards are unique and quite special. I am grateful to have been nominated, shortlisted and awarded this honour.
Employment Individual of the Year 2016
It has been the highlight of my career and has been very special to me, both personally and professionally. It is an accolade and an experience that I will cherish forever.
Regulatory (Non-financial Services) Team of the Year 2014
“Hitachi Data Systems’ legal and compliance team were delighted to have been named both the European and Global Regulatory Team of the Year at the 2014 Global Counsel Awards. The awards are truly global and so we knew we had been benchmarked against some of the biggest and best companies in the world. Both award ceremonies were fantastic and really made all the finalists feel special.”
Intellectual Property Individual of the Year 2013
“I felt honoured and thrilled to be nominated for the 2013 European Counsel Award and Global Counsel Award for IP lawyer of the year – especially when there were so many other talented nominees. Nothing prepared me for hearing my name announced as the winner of these two prestigious awards; it truly was an incredible moment. Receiving the ILO trophies and gaining recognition from my peers for my contributions to the field and to the business was an awesome experience. I believe that winning the ILO awards contributed to the acceleration of my career and further successes.”
Corporate Tax Individual of the Year 2018
I can honestly say that it was a total surprise. We go to work every day hoping to excel at what we do, to be proud of ourselves and to contribute the way we are asked to, but this type of recognition is not something that I ever sought. However, the recognition and affirmation of an award like this is deeply meaningful to me and also to my colleagues. I don’t think it is false modesty to say that I never thought I would be eligible for an award like this, but I am very proud to have received it.
Litigation Team of the Year 2018
The nomination was a big surprise and winning the European and the Global awards was incredible. It is a great appreciation of the hard work of my colleagues, not only in my team but in the legal and compliance department in general, and the many colleagues from business functions who we work with in disputes. Therefore, winning the award for the best litigation team is great because dispute resolution is certainly a team effort. But we also take the award as an incentive to maintain and even improve our work in the future.
Employment Individual of the Year 2018
The entire experience was simply unforgettable. Being at such an amazing venue as Cipriani’s for a black tie gala, surrounded by my husband and colleagues as well as many talented in-house lawyers from around the globe, I was truly grateful and honoured to be in the room as a nominee. When my name was called, it was my own Oscars moment, one which I will never forget. Winning this award was very meaningful to me personally and professionally. It is an honour and experience I will cherish forever.
M&A Individual of the Year 2018
For me it is a dream, and huge recognition for the team I work with and the whole company. For an individual be recognised with such an honoured award requires a group of people working every day with diligence and resilience to make things happen. I am fortunate to work with a team of legal professionals who are passionate for their in-house work, business driven and results oriented. I am also lucky to work with a group of outside counsel who think and act as a team with us on M&A; a group of legal professionals that complement our internal abilities and work together with us. Winning the M&A award is also a recognition for the whole company and its broader teamwork, a result of an effort that involves finance, HR, operations and several other departments. I compare a successful M&A with the sound coming out of an orchestra; wonderful music is the result of harmony within a team! I am very proud to be part of this DHL team.
Employment Team of the Year 2018
The recognition of years of hard work, deep investment in my professional qualification/studies and a certainty of being on the right path.
Lifetime Achievement 2018
That I put the right team together.
General Commercial Team of the Year 2017
Every member of my team enjoys their work, aviation in general and our company’s place in the industry in particular. But winning this award was truly a gift that forced us to stop and examine our role in our company’s progress and permitted us to take time to celebrate our contributions to the successful integration of US Airways and American Airlines.
Corporate Tax Individual of the Year 2017
I have no words to describe how honoured I was and I am very grateful to the International Law Office and Lexology. You do such great work every year in organising this event. It was perfect and unforgettable.
I feel that the award I received should be shared with my entire team and all colleagues from CCR (in the controlling, tax, finance and other departments with taxation concerns, among so many others). It is really the work of an entire team, of which I am so pleased to be a part.
Lifetime Achievement 2017
It was certainly nice on a personal level to be recognised by one’s colleagues internationally. More importantly for me though is that it is a validation of what my team has done in its role and contribution to the amazing turnaround that our company has achieved under our current CEO Calin Rovinescu. He literally led us from the brink when he joined in 2009 – his saying at the time was “live to fight another day” – from survival, to transformation, to sustained profitably, to where we aim to be now: a top 10 global carrier. To be part of this incredible turn-around is exceedingly gratifying, and to be recognized for our efforts in it, is truly meaningful. That it has the tangential effect of building the team’s momentum and commitment and motivating everybody to perform at the “top of their game” to play our central role in our achieving our ambitious corporate objective and in our legal department’s drive to support by aiming to be world-class in everything we do, adds a truly valuable dimension to the award, for which I am genuinely grateful.
General Counsel of the Year 2016
It was an absolutely wonderful recognition on a personal level, but it was also far more than that. Eight years ago UBS was on the verge of failing. The fact that I was even eligible for this award is a remarkable justification of the strategy that we, the executive board, initiated shortly after I joined.
However, no person can do these things alone and in a short interview I did internally I immediately passed the award back to my team; while I was fighting some large litigation matters, they continued to look after a lot of other issues, which in turn allowed me to concentrate. Really I view this as a collective recognition as well as a wonderful personal surprise.
Intellectual Property Team of the Year 2016
It made Eve and me proud of our team. We had a very successful 2015 and we all appreciated the recognition of the excellence of a team which successfully manages the legal IP issues pertaining to HBO programming and to the global operations of our company.
Employment Team of the Year 2016
“In terms of thoughts on the Global Counsel Awards, I would say that it was hugely motivating for my team to have their efforts recognised at a global scale. It is fantastic that these awards seek to recognise those teams which achieve excellence on a consistent basis.”
Litigation Individual of the Year 2016
Being recognised and honoured by my peers was deeply satisfying. I have been fortunate to have a superb team of lawyers supporting me. This award is as much theirs as it is mine.
General Counsel of the Year 2014
“I was very happy to be named 2014 General Counsel of the Year. The award ceremony was very elegant and the perfect opportunity for me to bring together lawyers that work in-house with me for a nice team-building experience. What can I say about my award? That I was proud of myself would be logical; but I really felt happy for my team and was eager to share it with them and congratulate them for helping me to achieve such a relevant recognition. More than anything, I felt my team was genuinely happy for me, proud of themselves and of me. Really great moments!”
Employment Team of the Year 2012
“My experience on the night my team and I took home the award was magical. We didn’t expect to win and were extremely honoured, particularly in light of the other nominees. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting high-calibre legal practitioners from around the globe and discussing issues, and sharing stories, with them over drinks and dinner. The awards bring the global corporate legal community closer together. In terms of the impact of winning, I believe it raised the exposure of me and my team, both internally and externally, and validated our hard work and the quality of our guidance.”
General Counsel of the Year 2018
Winning the award meant a great deal to me since it served as validation that even though I constantly feel like I’m struggling to keep my head above water, my colleagues and peers recognise and appreciate the work that I am doing. When I was at a firm, I had a specialised practice, an arsenal of legal precedent and countless colleagues who I could turn to for guidance and advice. Now, in addition to a fund formation lawyer, I’m lenders’ counsel, financial services counsel, employment counsel, litigation counsel, leasing counsel – and I’m giving advice and making decisions in real time. As such, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and insecure that you don’t have the knowledge from past experience to back up your advice. To have respected colleagues and counsel validate the work that I have been doing gives me even greater confidence to trust my instincts, which I believe will make me an even better lawyer.
Rising Star 2018
It’s not easy to be a lawyer, especially working in-house. It’s even more challenging at a fintech company and in a highly regulated market such as the financial market. It was a great surprise and a great honour to be recognised by others as being in the right path and see how technology and innovation can positively impact the legal community.
Thought Leader of the Year 2018
The Thought Leader award is not just a wonderful and personally satisfying accolade, but it is also a powerful tool that I can now use to get an audience and have my voice heard when I speak about the importance of diversity and inclusiveness within our profession, as I push for law school reform to meet the changing needs of our profession and as I speak to people in our communities who are looking for their path in life, as I am witness to the fact that a successful career does not always follow a linear trajectory. Thank you so much for your vote of confidence and for this award that will always hold a special place in my heart.
Compliance Innovator of the Year 2018
It’s a reflection of my team and the compliance function as a whole being integrated into the important work Gilead does every day to deliver medicines to people in need.
General Commercial Individual of the Year 2017
It was a humbling experience to be recognised and honoured not only by my colleagues, but by Lexology, ILO and the Association of Corporate Counsel. Receiving the award was a wonderful acknowledgement of my hard work over the years. It was a nice achievement!
Employment Individual of the Year 2017
Because I do not have a general counsel or associate general counsel title, I was shocked that anyone even knew to nominate me. But I was floored when I won. I have always been the person behind the scenes and never one looking for the spotlight, so words do not adequately express how incredible it felt to learn that the legal community had recognised all my years of hard work and devotion to the employment law industry. It was the biggest honour of my professional career and I am incredibly grateful to the Global Counsel Awards, Lexology, International Law Office and the Association of Corporate Counsel for putting together an award that finds people like me who – albeit behind the scenes – are working each day to add true value to their clients.
Thought Leader of the Year 2017
I truly value the work and membership of the ACC. The recognition is validation for not only my efforts, but also the hard work, innovation and high performance of the wonderful employees of the global legal affairs organisation at HP. Thank you so much for this privilege.
Competition Team of the Year 2016
We were delighted to have won this prize – it is a fantastic reward for all the work my colleagues have done. The settings of the ceremonies were amazing and we enjoyed several interesting conversations with the other nominees and representatives during the evenings.
A very positive effect of the award was that it highlighted the good job that REWE’s legal department is doing, not only to our senior management but also more widely among our colleagues.
Litigation Team of the Year 2016
I am most thrilled about this award because of what it says about my team. They are truly magnificent, having dedicated themselves to some really difficult cases and even travelling all over the world for extended periods of time. Pursuing this award for them was my way of driving home how much I appreciate them, how much I love them and how much I value being their leader.
Competition Individual of the Year 2016
It brought a great sense of humility to receive a global award when the other nominees were such distinguished counsel in their parts of the world.
Regulatory (Financial Services) Team of the Year 2016
It was a great surprise, we never thought we would get this level of visibility. In Brazil in particular we have faced a lot of challenges over the past year and much regulatory scrutiny. It was very pleasant to be able to recognise the team in such a positive way at such a critical time. We have been communicating about the award a lot internally too, which has been particularly rewarding.
M&A Team of the Year 2016
I am very grateful to the International Law Office, the Association of Corporate Counsel and all of the Global Counsel Awards team. It is one of the most important awards that an in-house lawyer can receive and it means a lot to our company, and particularly to all the lawyers in the general counsel’s office.
Corporate Tax Individual of the Year 2013
“Being nominated for and twice winning the Global Counsel Awards was a very remarkable point in my career – not only because of the in-house work recognition, but also because of the prize night itself. In fact, participating in the event greatly improved my networking and gave me the unique opportunity to meet and talk with many other colleagues, lawyers and corporate people used to dealing with the same matters and issues that I deal with every day.”
General Counsel of Year 2012
“I was very surprised to have been shortlisted for General Counsel of the Year at the 2012 Latin American Counsel Awards. For me, at a (relatively) young age, the nomination itself was already a significant accomplishment. When the award was announced, I was shocked to see my name on the screen. The night was perfect. The event has a global reach and as a consequence, I have been invited for media interviews and to speak at global conferences. I will always remember that night with great pride. It strengthened my confidence and underlined that hard work pays off.”
Litigation Individual of the Year 2011
“The Global Counsel Awards were one of the highlights of my professional career. The recognition for the in-house counsel role generally, and the recognition of my successes personally, was amazing. I commend ILO in association with the ACC for creating a forum for meeting talented in-house counsel from around the world and for recognising their achievements.”
