Winners revealed for Partner of the Year Awards 2025

Run in partnership with principal partner Commonwealth Private, the prestigious awards program celebrates Australia’s top-performing law firm partners and partner equivalents.

A total of 35 winners were crowned this evening, with the 280 finalists battling it out across 34 submission-based categories. The highest-scoring individual winner was honoured with the 2025 Partner of the Year Excellence Award.

Click here to view the full list of winners.

This year, the coveted Excellence Award was given to Michael Seton of Seton Family Lawyers, who also walked away with the Mentor of the Year earlier in the evening.

The individual winners included representatives from Herbert Smith Freehills, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Hamilton Locke, and Hall & Wilcox.

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Partners across several areas of the law were acknowledged for their achievements, including banking and finance, cyber, government, planning and environment, health, family law, and tax.

The awards also celebrated senior partners, new partners, pro bono partners, mentors, and real estate partners for their contribution to the practice of law.

Securing a Partner of the Year award is a desirable accolade that provides partners and partner equivalents with nationwide recognition. Walking away with one of the coveted awards has the potential to build credibility and boost career progression in a competitive legal landscape.

Attendees of this year’s awards were treated to laughter and entertainment from Australian comedian Mark Humphries, who assumed emcee duties during the ceremony.

The awards ceremony also provided a rare opportunity for the industry’s best to network among legal leaders, colleagues, and peers.

The Partner of the Year Awards, in conjunction with event stakeholders Lawyers Weekly, Momentum Media and a panel of leading legal professionals, developed a robust awards methodology to form the backbone for assessing, analysing and benchmarking Australia’s leading legal professionals.

The judging criteria for award categories were both quantitative and qualitative and acknowledged growth, business development, diversity, leadership, innovation, business excellence and contribution to Australia’s legal sector.

Click here to view the full list of winners.

To learn more about the awards program, click here.