The general counsel of Aviva UK Life and DAX30 company Linde are among the newcomers to the judging panel for The Lawyer European Awards 2016, joining an experienced line-up of private practice and in-house lawyers.

Aviva’s Monica Risam, who became general counsel and company secretary of Aviva UK Life following Aviva’s merger with Friends Life earlier this year, brings years of experience in managing a pan-European legal team to the panel.

Linde general counsel Solms Wittig has led the gas and engineering company’s legal team for three years, having previously worked at Siemens, and is also the current president of the German in-house lawyers’ association.

Other in-housers on the panel this year include Just Eat general counsel Jeff Eneberi and Elaine Mays, chief compliance officer at FTSE 250 company the Wood Group.

Shoosmiths IP partner Gary Assim, who is responsible for managing the firm’s international referral relationships, is another confirmed newcomer to the judging panel. He joins other private practice lawyers with a similar focus, including Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin and Travers Smith senior international counsel Chris Carroll.

The judges will scrutinise entries for the European Awards 2016 and debate the shortlisted firms at a judging day in January, ahead of the awards on 9 March 2016.

This year’s awards include new categories aimed at recognising the increasing amount of cross-border work and collaboration between firms. They include a category for Global Strategic Initiative of the Year, which is open to any firm that has adopted an innovative international strategy, and Global Network of the Year, which will recognise a stand-out membership network.

The European Awards 2016 entry deadline is 18 November. For more details and to enter click here.