THE Appleby Group, the world’s largest provider of offshore legal, fiduciary and administration services, has been named “Offshore Law Firm of the Year” at the Legal Week British Legal Awards held in London yesterday.
The glittering awards ceremony, held at Old Billingsgate Market, was attended by over 1,000 top international lawyers.
Carlos de Serpa Pimentel, Appleby partner and Cayman Practice Group head of private client and trust, collected the award on behalf of John Bisson, chairman of Appleby’s executive board and the rest of the Appleby Group, after the bad weather disrupted John’s travel plans.
This win confirms the Appleby Group’s position at the top of the so-called “Offshore Magic Circle” of international law firms. It represents a double first for the Group, who also won The Lawyer’s “Offshore Law Firm of the Year” Award in June 2010.
The Legal Week Award is presented to the firm which has demonstrated not only that they are leaders in the offshore market, but also that they have made significant progress over the past 12-18 months.
The Appleby Group was able to demonstrate legal expertise, innovation, strong strategic vision, and high levels of client care and employee development. Appleby is also committed to corporate social responsibility projects across the jurisdictions in which they are based.
Commenting on the award last night Group managing partner, Peter Bubenzer, said, “We are really delighted to have won this prestigious international Award from Legal Week, particularly following on from winning “Offshore Law Firm of the Year” at The Lawyer Awards in June.
“On behalf of the Appleby Group, I would like to extend my thanks to all our clients for their support. I would also like to thank our staff for their ongoing commitment, hard work and dedication. It has been our strategic goal to become the world’s leading provider of offshore legal and fiduciary services and we are pleased that our efforts have been recognised by our peers.
“The awards underscore our market leading position and the breadth and depth of experience and expertise we offer clients, combined with an unrivalled choice across the world’s major offshore financial centres.”
In the last 12 months, the Appleby Group has opened offices in the Seychelles, Bahrain and Guernsey, and in 2009, Isle of Man law firm Dickinson Cruickshank joined the Group.
In 2009/10 five lateral partners, six partner promotions and 11 promotions to Counsel were added, to support growth across the Appleby Group. Most recently, Mike Ellis was appointed to the newly created role of General Counsel to consolidate the strategic growth of the Group worldwide.
The Appleby Group now has 12 offices worldwide in the key offshore centres of Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Isle of Man, Jersey, Mauritius, Seychelles and Guernsey, as well as the leading financial centres of London, Hong Kong, Zurich and Bahrain.
