Russell McVeagh partners win 2019 Client Choice Awards

Russell McVeagh partners Sarah Armstrong, David Hoare and Troy Pilkington have been honoured for their outstanding work and client service in the 2019 International Law Office Client Choice Awards, with each recognised as the exclusive Client Choice winner in New Zealand for their respective practice areas: Litigation, General Corporate, and Competition/Antitrust.

Uniquely, the nominations for these prestigious awards can only be made by clients, with the results based on a survey of senior in-house counsel. The awards recognise partners throughout the globe that stand apart for excellence in client service, in particular the ability to add real value to clients’ business above and beyond others in the market.

2019 marks the fourth time Russell McVeagh Litigation partner, Sarah Armstrong, has won the Litigation category in New Zealand. Corporate counsel praised Sarah in the research process, with feedback including:
• "Sarah is an exceptional lawyer who provides high quality advice; she gives pragmatic and commercial solutions to complex problems."
• "Her legal advice is impeccable, and she possesses business acumen; she listens to the client and considers practical and legal aspects of a case."
• "Sarah has a common-sense approach which adds immeasurable value to her work."
• "Sarah makes you feel like a valued client; she manages a team of diligent attorneys who work well together."

For the third time, Corporate partner David Hoare, has been recognised as the Client's Choice for the General Corporate category in New Zealand. David has been applauded by clients as having "a very good understanding of the law, a breadth of experience and commercial judgement." He has advised on a number of significant matters including leading the team acting for KKR on its acquisition of MYOB, and advising Pacific Equity Partners on both its sale of Manuka Health New Zealand and its acquisition of Evolution Healthcare.

Competition/Antitrust partner Troy Pilkington won the Competition/Antitrust award category in New Zealand, with corporate counsel acknowledging:
• "His knowledge and expertise are exceptional; he can communicate complex concepts clearly to lawyers and commercial colleagues alike."
• "Troy is a highly-valued advisor and is like an extension of the business; he is always willing to take steps to add additional value."
• "He is a responsive, diligent and pragmatic lawyer; he provides top-notch legal advice."
• "He can get to the heart of an issue and touch on all the key aspects."

Troy regularly advises clients on the full range of competition/antitrust law issues, including merger control issues, joint venture advice, cartel investigations and prosecutions, and market power investigations and prosecutions. Troy appeared before the High Court in the NZME/Fairfax merger appeal, has represented clients in a significant number of Commerce Commission merger approval processes, and is a board member of the Competition Law and Policy Institute of New Zealand.

Our firm would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our winning partners, and all of the other winners and finalists.

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