There is more to corporate law innovation than finding new ways to dodge a hostile bid, as this year’s list of corporate entries in the legal expertise category proves. Pro bono work to develop a nation’s legislation, forging multi-national ownership and frontier lawyering were among the missions that firms in Europe and beyond chose to accept.

One of the themes of the category was lawyers rolling up their sleeves to get stuck into the grey areas where politicians fear to tread. The work by Clifford Chance in overhauling the Czech Republic’s insolvency legislation stood out for this reason.