The Life Sciences Awards team has announced the 2026 winners of its 14th annual awards program, marking the conclusion of its annual awards research cycle. Award categories span the four main practice areas covered by Life Sciences, including: financial & corporate, intellectual property, litigation & enforcement, and regulatory
Results tabs
Firm of the Year
Impact Awards
In-house
Jurisdiction Awards
Lawyer awards
Rising Stars
Antitrust & Competition Firm of the Year
Latham & Watkins
Cross border M&A Firm of the Year
A&O Shearman
Debt Financing Firm of the Year
Latham & Watkins
EMEA Regulatory Firm of the Year
Hogan Lovells
Equity Capital Markets Firm of the Year
Homburger
Licensing & Collaboration Firm of the Year
Cooley
National M&A Firm of the Year
Homburger
Patent Litigation Firm of the Year: Biologics & Biosimilars
Carpmaels & Ransford
Patent Litigation Firm of the Year: Biotech
Carpmaels & Ransford
Patent Litigation Firm of the Year: Medical Devices
Powell Gilbert
Patent Litigation Firm of the Year: Pharmaceuticals
Clifford Chance
Private Equity Firm of the Year
Latham & Watkins
SPC Litigation Firm of the Year
DLA Piper
UK Regulatory Firm of the Year
Bird & Bird
Venture Capital Firm of the Year
Cooley
White Collar Crime Firm of the Year
Ropes & Gray
Breakthrough, R&D and Collaboration
atai Life Sciences / Beckley Psytech
CMS, Goodwin Procter, Latham & Watkins, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
BioNTech - Bristol Myers Squibb BNT327 Collaboration Agreement
Cooley
Carlyle Group – Vantive acquisition EU Merger Control Clearance
Latham & Watkins, Sullivan & Cromwell
Hengrui Pharma – GSK Exclusive Licence and Collaboration Agreement (excl. China)
Cooley, Davis Polk & Wardwell
Servier - Black Diamond Therapeutics BDTX-4933 Licensing Agreement
Baker McKenzie, Ropes & Gray
Taiho / Araris Biotech
Cooley, Homburger, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Capital Markets & Financing
BioVersys IPO
Advestra, Homburger, Latham & Watkins, Linklaters
Fujifilm / Aquilant Endoscopy
Bird & Bird, Eversheds Sutherland
Galderma accelerated bookbuilding
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Freshfields, Homburger, Niederer Kraft Frey
Maat Pharma capital increase
McDermott Will & Schulte
NanoPhoria Series A financing
Clifford Chance, L&B Partners Avvocati Associati, Marinelli & Co, PedersoliGattai
Owkin - Bioptimus Series A
Bird & Bird, McDermott Will & Schulte
uniQure public equity offerings
Morgan Lewis & Bockius
V-Bio Ventures – Step Pharma Series C
McDermott Will & Schulte
Litigation
BioMarin v. Ascendis — UPC Patent Infringement Filing (2025)
Carpmaels & Ransford, Jones Day, Paul Hastings
BioNTech v Moderna & CureVac — UK mRNA Patent Litigation
Powell Gilbert
CureVac/GSK v. Pfizer/BioNTech — EPO Board of Appeal Decision on EP 1 857 122 (2025)
Bird & Bird, Powell Gilbert, Winston Taylor (formerly Taylor Wessing)
Edwards Lifesciences v Meril — UPC Court of Appeal (Medtech)
Powell Gilbert
Generics (UK) / Viatris, Teva and Glenmark v AstraZeneca
Pinsent Masons, Powell Gilbert
Merck Sharp & Dohme v Clonmel Healthcare — SPC Interpretation (Ireland / CJEU)
DLA Piper
Zentiva v Sanofi – UPC Munich (cabazitaxel)
df-mp Patentanwälte
M&A
AstraZeneca / EsoBiotec
Cooley, Covington & Burling
Ipsen / ImCheck Therapeutics
A&O Shearman, Goodwin Procter
KKR / Karo Healthcare
BAHR, Baker McKenzie, Kirkland & Ellis, Mannheimer Swartling, White & Case
Mehiläinen / Regina Maria Group
A&O Shearman, Karanovic & Partners, NautaDutilh, RTPR
Merck KGaA / SpringWorks
Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Goodwin Procter, Sullivan & Cromwell
Yusen Logistics Group / Movianto International
A&O Shearman, Veil Jourde
In-house Leader of the Year
James Horgan, Merck Sharp & Dohme
In-House Large Team of the Year
Merck Sharp & Dohme
Read our interview with the winner here.
In-House Mid-size Team of the Year
Servier
Read our interview with the winner here.
Austria
Austria Firm of the Year
DORDA
Baltics Firm of the Year
TEGOS
Belgium Firm of the Year
A&O Shearman
Bulgaria Firm of the Year
Dimitrov Petrov & Co
Czech Republic Firm of the Year
Havel & Partners
Denmark Firm of the Year
Gorrissen Federspiel
Finland Firm of the Year
Roschier
France Firm of the Year
McDermott Will & Schulte
Germany Firm of the Year
Clifford Chance
Greece Firm of the Year
Potamitisvekris
Hungary Firm of the Year
Wolf Theiss
International Firm of the Year
Bird & Bird
Ireland Firm of the Year
DLA Piper Ireland
Israel Firm of the Year
Herzog Fox & Neeman
Italy Firm of the Year
Bird & Bird
MENA Firm of the Year
Matouk Bassiony
Netherlands Firm of the Year
Winston Taylor
Nigeria Firm of the Year
Jackson Etti & Edu
Poland Firm of the Year
Rymarz Zdort Maruta
Portugal Firm of the Year
VdA
Romania Firm of the Year
Mușat & Asociații
Slovakia Firm of the Year
Čechová & Partners
South Africa Firm of the Year
Werksmans Attorneys
Spain Firm of the Year
Grau & Angulo
Sweden Firm of the Year
Roschier
United Kingdom Firm of the Year
Sidley Austin
Switzerland Firm of the Year
Niederer Kraft Frey
Türkiye Firm of the Year
Esin Attorney Partnership
Ukraine Firm of the Year
Doubinsky & Osharova
Africa & Middle East Lawyer of the Year
Altair Richards, ENSafrica
Antitrust & Competition Lawyer of the Year
Ruchit Patel, Ropes & Gray
Central & Eastern Europe Lawyer of the Year
Francine Brogyányi, DORDA
Licensing & Collaboration Lawyer of the Year
Frances Stocks Allen, Cooley
M&A Lawyer of the Year
Marc Castagnède, A&O Shearman
Nordics Lawyer of the Year
Niels Bang, Gorrissen Federspiel
Patent Litigator of the Year: Biologics & Biosimilars
Hiroshi Sheraton, Morgan Lewis & Bockius
Patent Litigator of the Year: Biotech
Penny Gilbert, Powell Gilbert
Patent Litigator of the Year: Medical Devices
Siddharth Kusumakar, Powell Gilbert
Patent Litigator of the Year: Pharmaceuticals
Tobias J Hessel, Clifford Chance
Regulatory Advisor of the Year
Lincoln Tsang, Ropes & Gray
South East Europe Lawyer of the Year
Can Sözer, Esin Attorney Partnership
SPC Litigator of the Year
Aoife Murphy, DLA Piper
White Collar Crime Lawyer of the Year
Claudia Götz Staehelin, Nater Dallafior
Hall of Fame Award
Sally Shorthose, Bird & Bird
Lifetime Achievement Award
Allistair Booth, Pinsent Masons
Banking and Capital Markets Rising Star
Luke Ng, Clifford Chance
IP Rising Star
Callum Beamish-Lacey, Powell Gilbert
M&A Rising Star
Alexandra Paterson, Cooley
Regulatory Rising Star
Pieter Erasmus, Bird & Bird