DLA Piper partner Adam Ibrahim crowned private practice lawyer of the year at Legal Business Awards 2024

Adam Ibrahim, partner in the Litigation & Regulatory practice, has been recognised as Private Practice Lawyer of the Year at the Legal Business Awards held in London on Tuesday night.

Adam is a market-leading Financial Services litigation and dispute resolution lawyer based in the firm's Leeds office, advising all manner of commercial lenders, investment banks, global financial services companies, and building societies. For over two and a half decades, Adam has seamlessly helped clients navigate challenges and identify opportunities and is adept at clarifying legal complexity into commercial success. He also has co-led DLA Piper's UK Litigation and Arbitration and International Financial Services Disputes teams for several years and is considered one of the UK's leading class action defence lawyers.

Most recently, Adam led a UK-wide 25-lawyer team to victory in a high-profile claim advanced by a claims management company with support from commercial litigation funders, that saw a challenge to Clydesdale Bank’s right to charge break costs on a loan product and the rate of interest at which the product was offered, with Clydesdale (and senior executives) accused of fraudulently misrepresenting the product to its borrowers. In a judgment handed down on 19 March 2024, relevant to all UK commercial lenders, the High Court emphatically dismissed all the claims following a 12-week trial.

Adam commented: “Thank you to the team at Legal Business for this recognition. This award is testament to all the hard work and the long hours put in by every member of my team who I have had the privilege of working with over the years; indeed our Financial Services team was also short listed for the Commercial Litigation Team award. This recognition puts into focus the trust our clients have placed in us over the years, and I am grateful to the firm for being a source of constant support and encouragement. I look forward to our fantastic team using this award as a springboard to acting on further successful complex mandates for all our global banking clients.”

DLA Piper was also highly commended in the Finance Team of the Year category for its work on the EUR1.45 billion financing for the redevelopment of the Spotify Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona.

The firm was shortlisted in the following categories:

Individual awards:

• Management Partner of the Year - Simon Levine
• Private Practice Lawyer of the Year - Adam Ibrahim

Firmwide awards:

• Commercial Litigation Team of the Year - Highly significant groundbreaking judgment achieved in a complex mass claimant action with a potential impact on the UK financial sector
• Finance Team of the Year - Espai Barça – EUR1.45 billion financing in connection with the redevelopment of The Spotify Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona
• Legal Technology Team of the Year – AI powered bribery risk detection
• Real Estate Team of the Year - Realty Income - Project Philadelphia