Noerr has been selected by the jury of the well-known legal association International Legal Alliance Summit & Awards (ILASA) for the second successive time as "Germany's best law firm". The "Gold Award" 2010 was presented yesterday at a gala in Paris.

The deciding factors were transaction advice in the past two years, the profile of the M&A partners and M&A Teams on the market and the financial and personnel development of the entire law firm. "Due to our expertise in the areas of crisis, restructuring, insolvency and distressed M&A, we had a relatively strong 2009", said Dr. Dieter Schenk, one of Noerr's two spokespersons. "We see the award as evidence that companies value a law firm which is with them through highs and lows and can support them capably in every phase".

The jury included chief in-house lawyers of world leading groups such as the air transport, space and defence equipment group EADS, the US software manufacturer Oracle, the French wine and spirits group Pernod Ricard, the Italian telecommunications company Tiscali, the French telecommunications and network equipment provider Alcatal Lucent, the Indian specialist for business process management Genpact, the largest Canadian software company Open Text and the Japanese software company Trend Micro. They assess law firms in all important industrial and developing nations.

The ILASA award is already the second such award this year. A week ago, the British legal publisher Chambers and Partners named Noerr as "Client Service Law Firm of the Year" in Germany. Client statements such as "The response times, industry knowledge, appropriateness of advice and value for money are outstanding. It has to be emphasized that this firm does not only deliver great quality, but is always pragmatic and goal oriented in the process", were the deciding factor for the jury.

The legal publisher Juve has awared Nörr Stiefenhofer Lutz the title "Law Firm of the Year" for antitrust law and eastern Germany. The announcement was made at the "Juve Awards 2009" ceremony yesterday in Frankfurt am Main.
The citation states: "The law firm has been highly regard for years, but in 2009 Nörr's antitrust law practice made decisive progress" In the cement and hydrogen peroxide cartel proceedings, the law firm came to the notice of prominent clients. The step to preferred legal counsel of major companies was successfully taken, clients such as DFL, ProSiebenSat.1 and Autobahn Tank & Rast continuously consult the team. "In cross-border cases too" Nörr was present, for example advising Mitsubishi Rayon on the acquisition of Lucite together with friendly British and American law firms.

For the title "Law Firm of the Year East", no official citation is issued. It is, however, clear that the performance of the Berlin and Dresden offices was crucial. In the national capital, Nörr is one of the three largest law firms, in the capital of Saxony, by far the largest.

The head of the Berlin office, Hans Christian Kirchner, views the award as recognition for "sustained development towards a leading position in the market". Compared to the competition, its strengths are in the major corporate practice, the restructuring team, the media and banking law experts and the Berlin antitrust law team.

Kirchner's Dresden colleague, Otto Stolberg-Stolberg, adds: " Our office has for years been the leader in Dresden and Saxony.“ Thanks to a consistent quality orientation, Nörr has secured its position in project transactions, industrial locations, structuring and the high-tech industries. He welcomes the award as recognition of this.