Axinn was nominated by Global Competition Review for Firm of the Year – Americas, which recognizes the firm that has had an outstandingly successful 2023 in terms of the quality and quantity of its competition work. Axinn has won this award twice. 

Our work as global lead antitrust counsel on Broadcom's $69 billion acquisition of VMware, in what The Wall Street Journal has called “one of the largest technology mergers ever” was also nominated for Merger Control Matter of the Year – Europe; Merger Control Matter of the Year – Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa; and Matter of the Year – Merger Control.

Axinn acted as global lead antitrust counsel to VMware throughout the 18-month regulatory review process, securing clearances from competition agencies in over 10 jurisdictions. In collaboration with global co-counsel at Gibson Dunn, Axinn led VMware through an in-depth Second Request review by the Federal Trade Commission in the United States; unconditional Phase II clearance from the UK Competition and Markets Authority; conditional clearances following in-depth reviews from the European Commission, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, and the Korea Fair Trade Commission; and unconditional clearances from competition agencies in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Japan, South Africa, and Taiwan.

The finalists were chosen by Global Competition Review’s editorial team and GCR readers will decide the winner through an online vote. The winners will be announced at GCR’s 14th Annual Awards Ceremony on April 9 in Washington DC.