Linklaters wins at the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards Europe 2024
Linklaters is delighted to have won in the Innovative Lawyers in Sustainability & ESG category at this year’s prestigious 2024 Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyer Awards Europe, for its pro bono work developing the Sector Transition Acceleration Contract (STAC), targeting Scope 3 GHG emissions, alongside Scope 3 Climate Capital (S3CC).
The firm also maintained its overall ranking of 3rd Most Innovative Firm in Europe and was ranked as the highest UK-headquartered firm on social responsibility, alongside being recognised as ‘Standout’ and ‘Highly Commended’ across its other shortlisted projects, below.
Greg Baker, Linklaters’ Global Head of Innovation commented:
"Creativity and innovation for the better of our clients and the world around us is at the heart of what we do. These recognised projects are original and a real testament to the excellence of our people, an innovative mindset which runs throughout in the firm, and our drive to continuously look for new solutions which have impact. It’s wonderful to receive so many accolades for our work across such a broad range of areas. Well done to everyone involved.”
Won: Innovative Lawyers in Sustainability & ESG
Linklaters has won in the Innovative Lawyers in Sustainability & ESG category for its role in developing the Sector Transition Acceleration Contract (STAC) – a new contract and legal framework to enable supply chains to work together to attract financeable upfront direct investment to accelerate the transition of higher carbon sectors towards a low carbon economy. The Linklaters team, led by Alex Shopov and Imogen Ormerod, worked with Scope 3 Climate Capital (S3CC) on a pro bono basis.
The contractual framework enables utilisation of climate action and offsetting budgets, or forward offtake commitments, or a combination of both, to underpin standardised instruments between direct or indirect users of carbon-intensive products (e.g. concrete or steel) and their suppliers, enabling suppliers to raise secured financing for investment in decarbonisation of their operations. The contract is designed to also accommodate a blended finance sidecar for matched funding by governments/multilaterals. The contract is part of a new S3CC ecosystem for standardised goal setting and assurance which underpins credible decarbonisation claims by virtue of using STACs.
Alex Shopov, Head of ESG Structured Finance at Linklaters, commented:
“To reach net-zero, businesses must address “Scope 3” supply chain emissions which, for so many of them, account for the majority of their GHG emissions. We are proud to have won for our groundbreaking approach in aligning incentives in a robust, transparent, contract-based way, using the power of supply chains to work together to unlock private capital and blended finance opportunities for direct investment to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy. Working with Scope 3 Climate Capital (S3CC), their partner Impact Delta, and their advisory council on developing the new Sector Transition Acceleration Contract (STAC) has been a rewarding experience, and we look forward to seeing the STAC take off and help lead us to a net-zero future.”
Full press release here.
Standout: Innovative lawyers in the Technology Sector
The firm has been recognised as ‘Standout’ in the Innovative Lawyers in the Technology Sector category for its work in the Digital Financial Markets. The team advised Euroclear Bank on the development and launch of its Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (D-FMI). The infrastructure enables the creation, issuance, and settlement of fully digital international securities.
This innovation represents the first distributed ledger technology (DLT) deployment within an EU established central securities depository (CSD) capable of supporting securities governed by English law and the first such deployment by one of the CSDs known as ICSDs (International or cross border CSDs). This capability of handling English law securities is of particular importance, given that the jurisdiction of England and Wales is the leading legal jurisdiction for non-domestic international securities.
Michael Voisin, Capital Markets partner at Linklaters, comments:
“We are delighted to have advised on the development and establishment of Euroclear Bank’s D-FMI, which is a ground-breaking project and significant development in the journey towards increasingly digital financial markets. Our role in designing the infrastructure has been exciting and plays to our practice’s strength in advising clients at the forefront of the market.”
Full press release here.
Highly commended: Innovation in Data-Enhanced Knowledge
The firm has been highly commended in the Innovation in Data-Enhanced Knowledge category for its ReportiQ product. Linklaters developed ReportiQ, an innovative online platform tailored to streamline the complex due diligence processes inherent in multinational mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This tool addresses the challenge of efficiently managing vast amounts of data, diverse teams, and multifaceted processes, ensuring everything is tailored to client-specific needs, delivered swiftly and within budget constraints.
The platform enhances the due diligence phase by providing features such as real-time tracking of changes in virtual data rooms, an integrated Q&A tool for collecting queries, and capabilities for creating and automating the generation of tailored due diligence reports. This not only makes the process smoother but also more efficient.
Dr. Timo Engelhardt, Corporate Partner at Linklaters:
“Using ReportiQ has been game-changing, with both clients and internal due diligence teams immediately feeling the benefit. We achieved an enormous step-up compared to traditional approaches. The Linklaters team passionately developed this tool over a two-year period with a view to accelerating and streamlining the processes, enhancing accessibility of relevant information gathered whilst presenting key results in a significantly more user-friendly way. The careful design and building of ReportiQ demonstrates the innovative approach we take when building our tech workbench.”
Full press release here.
Highly commended: Innovation in Talent Management
Linklaters is proud to be spearheading City Century, a City of London Law Society led initiative, bringing together 50 law firms to significantly increase the number of solicitor apprentices entering the City of London each year. This project has been highly commended in the Innovation in Talent Management category.
This project was instigated by Linklaters’ Firmwide Managing Partner, Paul Lewis, alongside leaders from five other spearhead firms – Allen & Overy, Eversheds Sutherland, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright and Osborne Clarke.
Linklaters’ Learning Director Patrick McCann, together with Joanna Hughes, have been the brains, energy and passion behind making City Century happen.
The initiative facilitates knowledge sharing between law firms on establishing solicitor apprenticeship programmes and successfully opening up the route into the profession – enabling students to earn while they learn and bypass the costs of traditional university entry routes which can be a significant barrier to pursuing a career in law.
Patrick McCann, Chair of City of London Law Society Training Committee and Learning Director at Linklaters, stated:
“When we spoke to 50 City law firms at the end of last year, it quickly became clear that the conversation was changing to ‘let’s get this done now’ – a real sense of City firms wanting to create an appealing hiring message and do something special. With solicitor apprentices we are competing with other employers and universities to bring in the most talented 18-year-olds. Working together helps get it done.”
City Century has been shortlisted now for nine national awards, winning four at the Legal 500’s ESG UK Awards 2024, Modern Law Awards and The Lawyer Awards 2024.
Full press release here.
Highly commended: Innovative Lawyers in Pro Bono
Linklaters has been highly commended in the Innovative Lawyers in Pro Bono category for our application of GenAI to a project seeking to improve the volume, success and judicial handling of human trafficking prosecutions.
In mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, lack of local case precedent is a barrier to better enforcement, consistent sentencing and appropriate compensation for survivors. We deployed Laila, Linklaters’ legal GenAI chatbot, to help produce case summaries for a compendium resource of international judgments we compiled for our client, Lawyers Without Borders. The resource provides an insight into comparative jurisdictional approaches and highlights key evidential and procedural issues arising in connection with trafficking-in-persons cases. Lawyers Without Borders is using the resource in its work supporting prosecutors and the judiciary to eliminate trafficking-in-persons.
Elsha Butler, Head of Linklaters’ Pro Bono Practice:
“We saw the potential for this project to benefit from our in-house GenAI chatbot, and the benefits extended beyond time saved by our lawyers. The impact on our pace of output allowed for a more iterative collaboration with our client and ultimately a more bespoke end product. We hope this proof of concept inspires others on the potential of innovative legal technology in pro bono work to enhance the rule of law and protect human rights globally.”
The awards took place at the Natural History Museum, London on the 12 September. More information can be found here.
