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 2026

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

Azhar Sadique and Kane Ridley, who founded the London office in 2023, are now both working in legal tech and AI-related roles, while a third UK-based lawyer has also left
Partner Pierre Pérot rejoins the firm he left in 2022 alongside another returning lawyer, associate Camille Abba
Vaping dispute, in which Stobbs and Brandsmiths are the representatives, tested how the UK's Human Rights Act can apply to injunctions restraining unjustified threats
An AI platform being sold for £40m, and lateral hires involving law firms Womble Bond Dickinson and Cadwell Thomas were among the top talking points
With the London Annual Meeting behind us, we look back at some of the lessons learned this week and ahead to what 2027 will bring
In-house counsel aren’t impressed with law firms’ international networks, but practitioners say they are crucial for business
Publication of the UPC’s annual report and adoption of the procedural rules of the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre were also among major developments
With the INTA Annual Meeting drawing to a close, we asked attendees for their top tips on how to close business after a meeting
Senior UK judges discussing the impact of AI on the judiciary, and the role of in-house IP lawyers during corporate transactions and carve-outs were among the top talking points
Tarun Khurana, founding partner of Khurana & Khurana, discusses juggling tasks, why every hour has a value, and the importance of ‘trusting the process’
Gift this article