The best women lawyers, and best firms for women

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

The best women lawyers, and best firms for women

Leading IP practitioners in the Americas and from across Europe were awarded honours at two ceremonies in New York and London this month

The Women in Business Law awards, hosted by Euromoney Legal Media Group (of which Managing IP is a part), saw awards go to the best women lawyers in the areas of patents, trade marks, life sciences, copyright, in-house and to rising stars in the IP profession.

dale20cendalitm.jpg

Guests at the Americas awards, held at Essex House in New York, heard from the lifetime achievement winner Judge Carol Bagley Amon. In the firm categories, O’Melveny & Myers was named best international firm for women in business law, and also received the prize for best international mentoring program. In other international categories, Latham & Watkins collected the award for most innovative firm, Morrison & Foerster was named the best firm for worklife balance, Davis Polk & Wardwell was rewarded for the best gender diversity initiative and White & Case picked up the award for best international firm for talent management.

best20in20house20team20google.jpg

The best in trade mark award went to Dale Cendali of Kirkland & Ellis (see right), best in life sciences was awarded to Elizabeth Holland of Kenyon & Kenyon, the best IP lawyer in Latin America wasLaura Collada of Dumont Bergman Bider & Co and best in copyright was Annette Hurst of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Rachel Krevans of Morrison & Foerster picked up the award for best in patent, while Kristen Fancher of Greenberg Traurig was the chosen by Legal Media Group as the rising star in IP. Managing IP’s in-house award went toSarah Deutsch of Verizon. The in-house team went to Google (see left).

You can see all the individual and firm winners here.

Caroline Carr, the EMEA head of Talent Development at Goldman Sachs, gave the keynote speech at the Women in Business Law awards for Europe, which was held at the Park Lane Hilton two weeks later.

European awards

penny20gilbert.jpg

In the firm categories at the Europe awards, Hogan Lovells was named best international firm for women in business law. In other international categories, Baker & McKenzie collected the award for most innovative firm, Sidley Austin was named the best firm for work-life balance, White & Case was rewarded for the best mentoring program and DLA Piper picked up the award for best gender diversity initiative by an international firm.

Managing IP’s in-house award went toMyrtha Hurtado Rivas of Novartis. Laëtitia Bénard of Allen & Overy picked up the award for best in life sciences. Powell Gilbert collected a double: Penny Gilbert (right) was awarded best in patent, with best in TMT going to Zoë Butler.

Hogan Lovells also picked up two awards: Marie-Aimée de Dampierre was best in trade marks, and the award for rising star in IP went to Maria Sedykh.

Full details of the winning individuals and firms are available here.

Women in Business Law awards for Australasia will be held in August and for the Asia-Pacific in November.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Attorneys explain why there are early signs that the US Supreme Court could rule in favour of ISP Cox in a copyright dispute
A swathe of UPC-related hires suggests firms are taking the forum seriously, as questions over the transitional stage begin
A win for Nintendo in China and King & Spalding hiring a prominent patent litigator were also among the top talking points
Rebecca Newman at Addleshaw Goddard, who live-reported on the seminal dispute, unpicks the trials and tribulations of the case and considers its impact
Attorneys predict how Lululemon’s trade dress and design patent suit against Costco could play out
Lawyers at Linklaters analyse some of the key UPC trends so far, and look ahead to life beyond the transition period
David Rodrigues, who previously worked at an IP boutique, said he may become more involved in transactional work at his new firm
Indian smartphone maker Lava must pay $2.3 million as a security deposit for past sales, as its dispute with Dolby over audio coding SEPs plays out
Powell Gilbert’s opening in Düsseldorf, complete with a new partner hire, continues this summer’s trend of UPC-related lateral movement
IP leaders at Brandsmiths and Bird & Bird, who were on opposing sides at the UK Supreme Court in Iconix v Dream Pairs, unpick the landmark case and its ramifications
Gift this article