The Financial Times (FT) has ranked CMS seventh overall in this year's innovation league tables, which have been published as part of the FT Innovative Lawyer Awards 2010.
The results further demonstrate that at CMS, innovation is part of everything we do. We were scored on 30 different submissions, which collectively helped us achieve our ranking. Some of the highlights include:
Corporate/Tax
We achieved "standout" recognition for our work with Standard Chartered (UK) in designing an innovative VAT strategy that resulted in a multi-billion pound savings. CMS secured a VAT rebate for Standard Chartered by travelling to India to review the bank's outsourced services. As well as originating the scheme and working on a no-win, no-fee arrangement, our lawyers were instrumental in bringing HM Revenue and Customs on-side and obtaining a favourable ruling. For more information, contact Peter Mason.
Innovative Individual
Volker Potthoff (Germany) was shortlisted for Most Innovative Individual. Volker is a capital markets lawyer with long years of experience working in-house, most particularly with Deutsche Börse. Always pushing to promote developments in the German markets, his most recent role has seen him act as catalyst for a unique collaboration between CMS, Deutsche Börse, investment banks and other advisers working together to open up the German capital markets to Chinese investors. To learn more, contact Volker Potthoff.
Climate Change & Sustainability
We were commended in the area of Climate Change and Sustainability for our work with a carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot in the UK. We worked with National Grid Carbon and helped shape the emerging CCS market in the UK. The judges said our work "created confidence in the new field by drawing parallels with existing industries". To learn more, contact Munir Hussan.
Efficiency in Pricing
Our approach to pricing was commended as an excellent example of efficiency innovation. As part of our alternative pricing strategy, a UK energy client was offered a sliding hourly rate linked to the price of a barrel of oil. For more information, contact Penelope Warne.
Corporate M&A
Our Corporate team in Spain was commended for "working around the roadblock to an €8bn purchase of highways". The judges noted our "creative thinking, which persuaded the authorities to approve an infrastructure transaction that might otherwise have been prohibited on a strict application of the rules". To learn more, contact Rafael Suárez de Lezo.
%20(2).jpg?v=3)
Social Media cookies collect information about you sharing information from our website via social media tools, or analytics to understand your browsing between social media tools or our Social Media campaigns and our own websites. We do this to optimise the mix of channels to provide you with our content. Details concerning the tools in use are in our privacy policy.