Freshfields

Increasingly, the Freshfields model is to try to sit between the Magic Circle and US firms, grabbing some of the positive elements of both. On the one hand, they have established the top-tier M&A and private equity offerings associated with the US model. On the other hand, they have maintained the sort of balanced, full-service approach generally associated with the Magic Circle. To start, Freshfields has developed elite M&A and private equity practices, which form the financial heart of the firm’s performance. This deal-making expertise has been the result of both stellar internal development (consider that all of the most recent transactional partnership appointments trained at the firm), with aggressive lateral moves. Freshfields has been explicit in stating that it will use its financial war chest built off the back of bumper profits in recent years to acquire transactional talent wherever available. In the UK, this was recently evidenced by the firm’s move for three former Weil partners. Internationally, it has been demonstrated by Freshfield’s fairly rapid expansion into the fiercely competitive NYC market, where it allegedly was paying substantially over market for talent. Expensive buy-outs were not a strategic error, but rather the strategy itself, with the firm splashing out on over 50 top-tier lateral hires in the NYC market alone - the goal was to create a team of top-tier advisers who would benefit from a network effect in terms of winning mandates. That strategy has paid off, with the firm taking home US M&A firm of the year in 2023. Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in an increase of American-originating work for the London office. The sum total of this strategy is a market-leading transaction practice, with the financials to boot. An internal source revealed that the firm has had sufficient leverage in recent years to raise billing rates in this respect to the level of top US firms. That said, the firm has maintained a diverse range of non-deal-making practice areas. In fact, their expertise in some of these areas is increasingly a business-winner in its own right. For instance, the firm maintains the largest crop of litigation lawyers of any elite firm. Further, it has what is widely regarded to be the top competition offering in the UK. Internally referred to as its ‘antitrust and competition team’, or ACT for short, the group frequently acts on some of the biggest mandates around, particularly where tech is concerned. When combined with the firm’s formidable competition offering Stateside, this has proved an effective way of generating new business for Freshfields. Freshfields also has a distinct approach to its development of juniors. This is evidenced first by its training contract, which the firm dubs a ‘trainee associate programme.’ Instead of the usual four-seat fare, Freshfields’ trainees go through eight three-month seats. This is particularly helpful given the scope of practice areas the firm operates in, and should help trainees choose an area to qualify in which they are well-suited for and excited about. It is perhaps best seen as a part of the firm's strategy to retain junior talent for the long-run, with the firm famously shunning associate laterals for the most part. The firm’s approach to development is also differentiated by its increasing trans-atlantic quality. In addition to the increasing quantity of NYC-originating work, the firm has recently announced a junior associate secondment programme focused on the United States. Clearly, the firm has a unique vision for its home-grown lawyers.