The Legal 500

Clients turn to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer when the pressure is on and they cannot afford to take risks – when they need a commercially savvy, innovative law firm to help navigate the most complex business issues, wherever and whenever they arise. The firm gives clients the commitment of one joined-up, international team that will go above and beyond to understand their business, and provide specialist expertise and local knowledge to ensure the best possible outcome. In 2008 the firm was appointed as the official legal services provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, working closely with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on a range of legal issues involved in delivering the world’s largest peacetime event.

The firm: The firm has a long history (dating back to 1743 in the UK and 1840 in Germany), but cemented its international credentials with a double merger in 2000. Freshfields merged with Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund and then, later that year, Freshfields Deringer merged with Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber to form Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Types of work undertaken: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s practice groups have been organised to dovetail with areas most relevant to clients: antitrust, competition and trade; corporate; dispute resolution (including environment, planning and regulatory, and global investigations); employment, pensions and benefits; finance; IP/IT; real estate; and tax. Advice is tailored for clients in specialist sector groups, including consumer and healthcare; energy and natural resources; financial institutions, including insurance; general industrial; infrastructure and transport; leisure; private equity; real estate; and telecommunications, media and technology.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s approach is founded on strong local capabilities and international experience. The firm has over 2,400 lawyers in 27 offices in 15 countries (16 jurisdictions), with partner and associate ‘country teams’ taking an active interest in virtually every country in the world. These teams build and develop relationships with selected law firms, leading financial institutions, intermediaries and government agencies, so that the firm can offer its clients the best legal advice wherever they need it and whatever the jurisdiction. The firm also has a regional focus on the CEE/CIS, Latin America and India. Outside Europe, the firm has offices in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Beijing, Dubai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, New York, Riyadh (through a strategic alliance with the Law Firm of Salah Al-Hejailan), Shanghai, Tokyo and Washington.

The firm works hard to ensure that its clients are always matched with lawyers with the right level of skills and experience for their particular business, so invests heavily in training and development, and in developing specialist industry knowledge so that it can adapt to the changing needs of clients and markets. Its lawyers are encouraged to participate in the firm’s client secondment programme and it provides state-of-the-art e-services to both clients and lawyers, wherever in the world they may be.

Number of UK partners 159
Number of other UK fee-earners 767