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Herbert Smith Freehills is an international law firm with headquarters in London, United Kingdom and Sydney, Australia. It was formed on 1 October 2012 by a merger between the United Kingdom-based
Herbert Smith Herbert Smith LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and merged with the Australian law firm Freehills on 1 October 2012, forming Herb ...
, then a member of the " Silver Circle" of leading UK law firms, and
Freehills Freehills was a commercial law firm operating in the Asia-Pacific region.Dun and BradstreeCompany360(database online), entry: Freehills Services Pty Ltd. Accessed 13 August 2011 It was known as one of the " Big Six" Australian law firms. In 201 ...
, one of the " Big Six" Australian law firms. , it is the 29th largest law firm in the world by revenue. Herbert Smith Freehills regards itself as one of the world's most elite and selective law firms, with a particular recognition in dispute resolution. As of 2015 HSF retains the most
FTSE FTSE may refer to: * FTSE Group, a British provider of stock market indices * FTSE 100 Index and other stock market indices: ** FTSE/Athex Large Cap (symbol: FTSE) on the Athens Stock Exchange * Fundamental theorem of software engineering *Fellow ...
100 clients of all law firms, representing 39 of the 100 companies. It advises the highest number of FTSE 100 clients in United Kingdom Court of Appeal cases.


History


Prior to merger


Herbert Smith

Herbert Smith Herbert Smith LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and merged with the Australian law firm Freehills on 1 October 2012, forming Herb ...
was established by Norman Herbert Smith in 1882. Its specialisation in the early 20th century was in company flotations and advice to mining companies. Later its work expanded to litigation, mergers, and equity matters. In 2011, revenues were £465 million and profits-per-equity-partner (PEP) were £900,000. Herbert Smith had a European partnership with the German firm Gleiss Lutz and the Benelux firm Stibbe until 2011. A plan to merge with those firms did not go ahead. At the time of its merger with Freehills, Herbert Smith had around 240 partners, 1300 lawyers, with offices in Europe, the Middle East and
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 area ...
.


Freehills

Freehills Freehills was a commercial law firm operating in the Asia-Pacific region.Dun and BradstreeCompany360(database online), entry: Freehills Services Pty Ltd. Accessed 13 August 2011 It was known as one of the " Big Six" Australian law firms. In 201 ...
was an Australia-based commercial law firm that operated in the
Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isl ...
region. In Australia, it was considered one of the Australian Big Six law firms. The firm traced its history back to the practices of Clarke & Moule in Melbourne (1853),
Stephen Henry Parker Sir Stephen Henry Parker (7 November 1846 – 13 December 1927) was a lawyer and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1906 to 1914. Biography Early life Stephen Henry Parker was the second son of Stephen Stanley Park ...
in Perth (1868), Bernard Austin Freehill in Sydney (1871), and John Nicholson (Perth) 1896.Suzanne Welborn. (2011.) ''Freehills: A History of Australia's First National Law Firm'', UNSW Press. Predecessors of the firm are notable for having adopted "open" employment policies, hiring Catholics and Jews when many other firms would not. They are also notable for becoming the first major Australian law firm to appoint a female partner, and forming the first national law partnership in Australia. At the time of its merger with Herbert Smith, Freehills had 190 partners and 800 lawyers. It had four offices in Australia's capital cities, and an office in Singapore. It had associations with various firms across Asia, many of which continue to this day.


Post Merger

Herbert Smith Freehills was born after completing merger in October 2012. The merger involved an immediate financial integration of the firms in a single partnership and profit pool, an unusual structure for these kinds of mergers. The merger was complicated by differing remuneration structures across the firms; with Herbert Smith practicing a
lockstep compensation Lockstep compensation is a system of remuneration in which employees' salaries are based purely on their seniority within the organization. For example, in the legal profession, where this system is most commonly found, all law school graduates hir ...
system, while Freehills practised a merit-based compensation system. Freehills also had a greater number of equity partners. After merging, the firm began practice in Germany. In September 2012 it opened an office in New York City, focused on international dispute resolution work. A South Korean office was opened at Seoul in April 2013. The combined firm also nearly doubled its total number of international secondees in its first year of operations. In November 2015, Herbert Smith Freehills announced the opening of its third office in Germany, Düsseldorf, headed by
Clifford Chance Clifford Chance LLP is an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and a member of the "Magic Circle", a group of London-based multinational law firms. It ranks as one of top ten largest law firms in the world measured b ...
's former head of litigation and arbitration practice.


Offices

As of September 2020, HSF has 26 offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. The Seoul and Tokyo offices are staffed by
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
lawyers and do not practice local law. The Tokyo office relies upon a referral arrangement with Japan's 'Big Four' law firms to avoid competing with them for local legal work, and due to difficulties with hiring Japanese attorneys.


References


External links


Herbert Smith Freehills
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert Smith Freehills Law firms of the United Kingdom Law firms of Australia Law firms established in 2012 Foreign law firms with offices in Japan Foreign law firms with offices in the United States 2012 establishments in the United Kingdom 2012 establishments in Australia Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong