Latham Named Finalist for Multiple 2026 New York Legal Awards

Latham & Watkins has earned nine recognitions across individual, practice, and firm categories in the 2026 New York Legal Awards, presented by the New York Law Journal to honor "dedication, innovation, and leadership” that have profoundly impacted the legal profession across the state. The winners among the finalists will be announced at an awards ceremony in Manhattan on September 3. 

The firm is a finalist for Large Law Firm of the Year, reflecting the New York office’s track record of innovation and position as the destination firm for the market’s most sophisticated matters.

Latham has also already claimed two marquee wins:

• Distinguished Leader: Ray C. Schrock, Global Chair of Latham's Restructuring Practice, recognized for his leadership on some of the world’s most novel and complex liability management transactions and restructurings — including most recently for Wolfspeed, FAT Brands, Office Properties Income Trust, Pine Gate Renewables, and Exela Technologies — and for further building Latham’s elite Restructuring Practice into a global leader.
• Professional Liability Litigation Department of the Year: a distinction Latham has now earned in six of the last seven award cycles.  

The firm and Latham lawyers are also recognized as finalists in six additional categories:

• Office Managing Partner of the Year: Marc Jaffe, a finalist for the second year in a row, for his sustained leadership in growing Latham's largest office, all while maintaining his market-leading capital markets practice and strengthening the firm’s ties to the community through pro bono and other local initiatives.
• Dealmaker of the Year: Ian Nussbaum, partner in Latham’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity practices, for guiding multiple strategic transactions in entertainment, sports, and media, including Paramount Skydance’s US$110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
• Innovation (Individual): Eric Rice, partner in Latham’s Capital Markets and Derivatives, Equities & Structured Products practices, for his pioneering work developing Filament, an internal web application that generates execution-ready capped call confirmations in connection with the pricing of convertible note offerings.
• Innovation (Firm), recognizing Latham’s groundbreaking suite of AI training and development programs.

• Litigation Department of the Year: General Litigation, recognizing the New York Litigation & Trial Department’s high-stakes, cross-disciplinary docket.
• Real Estate Transaction of the Year, for Latham’s role advising Sixth Street on its strategic partnership and investment in L+M, one of the country’s leading affordable and mixed-income housing developers.