Hakes’s nomination reflects his stellar service to participants in the shipping and aviation industries, and the way he built up the firm’s transportation industry law practice.

As chair of Reed Smith’s global Transportation Industry Group, Hakes guides some of the biggest players in shipping and aviation. Before the age of 40, he assumed a leading role in the award-winning ship finance practice and established a global aviation practice now numbering over 40 lawyers across Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

The nomination for the marketing campaign observes the firm’s emergence as a pioneer of the metaverse legal space. For the firm, the metaverse brought together some of the key phenomena upon which it was already advising, including AI, real-time communal video-gaming, advertising, blockchain, social media, cryptocurrency and content auctions.

The Legal Business Awards "celebrate the very best in the legal profession and is the most prestigious event in the legal calendar." Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on Sept. 19.