Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (informally Freshfields, or FBD) is an international

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to ...

headquartered in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and a member of the Magic Circle. The firm has 28 offices in 17 jurisdictions across

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

. It advises national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments.

History

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was created in 2000 when U.K.-based Freshfields merged with the two law firms,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

-based Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund and Germany-and-

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

-based Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber. Dubbed as the oldest firm within the Magic Circle, Freshfields' origins arguably go back to around 1716, when Thomas Woodford began to practise law. Woodford was succeeded in his practice in 1730 by William Wall, who was succeeded in turn in 1743 by Samuel Dodd.Slinn 1984, p. 177. That same year, Dodd was appointed attorney to the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

.Slinn, Judy (1993). ''Freshfields, 1743–1993'', London: Freshfields In 1788, Winter and Kaye began advising Sir Richard Arkwright, inventor of the

water frame The water frame is a spinning frame that is powered by a water-wheel. Water frames in general have existed since Ancient Egypt times. Richard Arkwright, who patented the technology in 1769, designed a model for the production of cotton thread; ...

. When James William Freshfield joined in 1800, Dodd had died and the Freshfields family became the dominant force in the law firm. Dodd's appointment is treated by Freshfields as the firm's foundation date. The firm changed its name on numerous occasions as different partners joined or left. In 1800, James William Freshfield (1775–1864) was the first member of the Freshfield family to become a partner, and the firm became known as Winter, Kaye, Beckwith & Freshfield. Following further name changes, it became Freshfield & Son in 1825, and eventually Freshfields 1868–76, Freshfields & Williams 1876–98, Freshfields 1899–1918, Freshfields & Leese 1918–1921, Freshfields, Leese & Munns 1921–1945, and Freshfields 1946–2000. The last member of the Freshfield family to be a partner, another James William Freshfield, retired in 1927. Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber traces its origins back to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

in 1840. At the time of its 2000 merger with Freshfields, the firm was one of the two largest law firms in Germany. Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund was founded in 1962 by

Arved Deringer Arved Deringer (4 June 1913 – 25 October 2011) was a German lawyer and politician for the CDU. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1957 and 1969. In 1952, Deringer partnered with Alfred Gleiss in a law firm that is now Gleiss Lutz. He left ...

and Claus Tessin and was based in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

from 1970 to 2000. In 2019, the firm became the first non-US law firm to raise the salaries of newly qualified junior lawyers in the United Kingdom to £100,000, then £125,000 in 2022. In September 2020, Freshfields announced Georgia Dawson as its new senior partner after time leading the firm’s Asia operations. In October 2022, the firm announced the appointment of Jake Reynolds as its head of Client Sustainability and Environment to support energy transition, human rights, corporate governance, climate change and sustainable finance.

Emblem

The first James William Freshfield (1775–1864) adopted the crest of John Freshfield of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

as his own, having seen it as a boy. It was later used as the firm's mark. The emblem represents

St Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, depicted as an angel with a spear.

Controversies

In 2019, the firm faced questioning by the

Solicitors Regulation Authority The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales. It is responsible for regulating the professional conduct of more than 125,000 solicitors and other authorised individuals at more than 11,000 ...

over its review into how

UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swi ...

dealt with a rape complaint. Since 2017, German prosecutors have twice raided Freshfields’ Frankfurt offices to investigate the phantom-trading fraud, known as cum ex fraud, which the German government estimates cost its treasury more than 5 billion euros. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer gave tax advice, which was used to justify its legality. In November 2019, the firm's former head of international tax, Ulf Johannemann, was arrested and charged with tax fraud. Then in June 2020, a second former partner was charged with aiding and abetting tax evasion in the scandal. In 2020, the firm was also discovered to have had historic ties to the Atlantic slave trade. In particular, the firm's name founder, James William Freshfield, financially benefited from slavery by acting as a trustee and owner-in-fee for several slave-owners.

Notable Freshfields attorneys

Bim Afolami Abimbola "Bim" Afolami (born 11 February 1986) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hitchin and Harpenden since the 2017 general election. Early life Afolami was born and brought up ...

* Dame Sarah Falk *

Douglas Freshfield Douglas William Freshfield (27 April 1845 – 9 February 1934) was a British lawyer, mountaineer and author, who edited the ''Alpine Journal ''from 1872 to 1880. He was an active member of the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club and ...

Henry Ray Freshfield Henry Ray Freshfield (2 February 1814 – 8 February 1895) was an English lawyer and conservationist. Freshfield was the fourth and youngest son of James William Freshfield and his wife Mary Blacket and was born at Lothbury. His father was a lawy ...

* John Lamont * Chris Mort * Mark Okerstrom * John Parkinson * Benito Romano * Sir

Anthony Salz Sir Anthony Michael Vaughan Salz (born 30 June 1950) is a British solicitor. He sat on the Board of Governors of the BBC from 1 August 2004, after the resignation of the former Vice Chairman, Lord Ryder, and was Acting Chairman in 2006 following ...

* Timothy A. Wilkins * Sir Nicholas Young * Alma Zadić

References

External links

* {{Magic Circle Law firms of the United Kingdom 1743 establishments in England Law firms based in London Law firms established in 2000 Foreign law firms with offices in the United States Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong Foreign law firms with offices in Japan Foreign law firms with offices in the Netherlands British companies established in 1743 Multinational companies headquartered in the United Kingdom Law firms established in 1743