Magic Circle law firms Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May were the big winners in Financial News’ fourth annual Legal Services Awards Europe 2017.

Slaughter and May was the standout winner in the top award, Legal Firm of the Year, as voted on by a panel of experts from across the legal profession. The firm also won in the hotly contested category of Deal of the Year for its work advising UK-listed microprocessor designer, ARM Holdings, on its £24bn takeover by Japanese internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank last year. Davis Polk advised ARM on parts of that deal.