It's with great pleasure that World finance announces the opening of voting of the 2013 Legal Awards.

Now in its sixth year, the World Finance Legal Awards are fast becoming the global benchmark for the industry. Celebrating the best firms and individuals working within the sector, the objective of the awards is to capture and examine the top performers, informing the World Finance readership of those at the forefront of the market.

Outside of the legal industry the awards will provide a definitive point of reference for firms, for commercial and private clients, professional advisers, and C suite executives searching for a roadmap to business law.

Firms of different sizes, across different markets, within different areas of practice are being considered and inevitably this will lead to lengthy debates where, achievement, excellence and innovation will be considered as key criteria.

With voting now open, the judging panel is inviting nominations through the magazine's website. Each category has been carefully selected to reflect the broad spectrum of areas, skills and practises inherent to excellent performance in the field.

To vote for the World Finance 2013 Legal Awards, go to: http://www.worldfinance.com/awards/legal-awards