Herbert Smith Freehills LLP

Our Work

As one of the world’s leading law firms, we advise many of the biggest and most ambitious organizations across all major regions of the globe. Our clients trust us with their most important transactions, disputes, and projects because of our ability to cut through complexity and mitigate risk. We offer local insight and seamless cross-border service in all major regions. Positioned to support the major trade flows, we help the world’s top companies thrive in the global economy. We build exceptional working relationships with our clients. By doing so, we are able to develop a deeper understanding of your organization, give you commercially astute, innovative advice and deliver better business outcomes. Our clients include BHP, BP, Chevron Corporation, Credit Agricole, Standard Chartered, Credit Suisse, Dyson, Jefferies, Kingdom of Spain, Marriott International, Republic of Italy, Engie, Eni, and Uber.

Key Cases:

Secured an important victory for the Kingdom of Spain in a long-running landmark investor-state arbitration concerning the renewables sector in Spain.

• • Retained as trial counsel to represent a plaintiff group of five heirs of an Italian senator in dispute with Christie's, Inc. and other defendants concerning allegations that an extremely rare and precious pink diamond was stolen from them.
  • Acted as counsel for Chevron Corporation to defend the company against an $18 billion sham arbitral award issued against Chevron and Saudi Aramco by a corrupt "arbitration centre" in Cairo, Egypt.
  • Defense of the Jefferies Entities in litigation concerning racketeering and fraud claims asserted by more than a dozen privatized military housing projects.
  • Represented a plaintiff group of eight individual photographers in a dispute with the National Football League and Associated Press.
  • Secured the dismissal of a putative securities class action lawsuit against hibu group. The judge dismissed all of plaintiffs' claims with prejudice.
  • Advised Hecate Grid on the procurement, construction, and maintenance arrangements for a stand-alone utility scale battery project in Santa Ana, California.
  • Represented an international banking client in a disability discrimination case.

Pro Bono

Inspired by our clients and by our professional responsibility as a global law firm – sustainability, social impact and a sense of justice underpin everything we aspire to achieve as a responsible business. Reflecting our global outlook, our pro bono and citizenship initiatives focus on building the rule of law, social inclusion, capacity building and the far-reaching implications of climate change. Some notable cases include:

• Acting for Equality Now on pro bono research and policy advocacy project on online sexual exploitation.
• Acting as coordinating counsel on pro-bono project involving a multi-jurisdictional study of whistleblower protections and risks.
• Preparing a report with the results of a study on the protections of biocultural property rights of indigenous communities under US law for Fundación Nativo.

DIVERSITY

Our vision is ambitious – we want to be the leading law firm for our diverse and inclusive culture. We recognize the power of diversity and inclusion to drive innovation, collaboration and business outcomes. We understand the importance of individual differences, life experiences, culture, self-expression and knowledge that our employees invest in their work, represents our culture, all while meeting the needs of our clients.

Inclusion is about creating an environment which values diversity and which enables people to bring their authentic self to work. An inclusive culture is the hallmark of a high performance organization and is characterized by openness, respect, equality and non-discrimination. We are not limited in our approach to diversity and have a range of initiatives across the firm on including with respect to gender, race, age, religion and belief, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and social mobility.

Our diverse and inclusive workforce drives the innovative and successful solutions we deliver for our clients and helps us continue to attract and retain the best talent worldwide.

Latest News 

Multiculturalism 

Improving ethnic diversity within our firm has been a key focus for a number of years. The tragic killing of George Floyd sparked a deeper conversation within the firm’s leadership and with our people. The conversations focused on how we could work harder to build a supportive, respectful environment where everyone could thrive. What was clear was more needed to be done. As a result, the firm unveiled 10 Actions for Change - a global set of commitments aimed at improving the representation of Black, First Nations, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues throughout our firm. We are committed to improving ethnic diversity across our firm and becoming an anti-racist organization, committed to confronting the deep-seated inequities and injustices.

In support of these commitments, the New York office is part of a coalition of US and international law firms which launched the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA).The LFAA recognizes and embraces the role that law firms, particularly when acting collectively, can play to help bring about systemic change and racial equity in the law.

Gender Targets

Since we first set gender targets in 2014, we've increased female representation in the global partnership from 18% to 29%, and the number of women partners has increased by 83%. To create greater transparency and consistency about the steps we're taking to achieve gender equity, we have created a global framework that brings together existing and new areas of focus. Our 8 Drivers for Gender Equity will help create focus and accountability in our work to improve gender balance in our partnership and across the business.

Recently, our New York office launched a local chapter of our global Gender Equity Matters (GEM) Network which supports gender equity by continued analysis of the talent pipeline, addressing biases within promotion and reward decisions and providing support for all parents returning from leave.

LGBT+ Inclusion

As a global firm, we’re proud advocates of LGBT+ inclusion. That’s why we’re consistently awarded Stonewall’s Top Global Employer status, as a leading global employer for LGBT+ diversity and inclusion. We are working hard to ensure that, wherever our people are located, they feel safe, included and celebrated for who they are. Our global IRIS (Inclusion, Respecting Identity and Sexuality) Network is one of our longest-standing diversity networks. It connects and engages LGBT+ colleagues and allies across our firm and champions our market-leading commitment to LGBT+ inclusion.

Locally, we have established a New York chapter which aims to raise awareness of LGBT+ inclusion and create safe and supportive spaces for everyone to thrive together.

Mental Health Strategy

In October 2019, we launched our first global mental health strategy – Thrive. This strategy continues to drive our activity throughout the firm, with a focus on culture and access to support to enable optimal mental health for everyone and our Mental Health Champions program lies at the heart of this.

Champions play a critical role in raising awareness of mental health, championing wider initiatives across the firm and supporting a culture of inclusion and openness around mental health. We don't require or ask our Champions to be counselors – they are everyday people, drawn from all levels and teams, who have an interest in providing a safe and trusting space, supporting colleagues with effective signposting and championing the firm's approach to mental health. They lead by example, proactively looking after mental health and wellbeing and helping teams to spot early unsustainable ways of working.

Awards

Our firm is consistently recognized for our work by Law360, Chambers, Legal 500, Latinvex, Latin Lawyer, Benchmark, IJ Global, Best Lawyers. Some further highlights include:

• Best Law Firms, 2021 – The Times
• Commended for Litigation Team of the Year, 2020 – Lawyer Awards
• A Top 5 Practice in the World, 2016-2020 – Global Arbitration Review
• Award for Innovation in Diversity & Inclusion, 2019 – Financial Times

• Band 3 International Arbitration – Chambers & Partners Latin America 2023
• Band 4 Project Finance – Chambers & Partners Latin America 2023
• Band 4 International Arbitration: The Elite – Chambers & Partners USA 2022
• Band 1 Global-wide Litigation Services – Chambers & Partners 2022
• Best for Commercial Dispute Resolution, The Times Best Law Firm 2022
• Global Law Firm of the Year in Europe 2021 – The Lawyer
• Gold Award 2022 (Stonewall Workplace Equality Index)
• Latin America’s Top 100 Female Lawyers, Latinvex 2022
• Litigation & Disputes Team of the Year 2021 – British Legal Awards
• Ranked 7th 2022 UK Social Mobility Employer Index
• Employment Practice Receives Elite Ranking and Recognition for Global Strength, International Employment Lawyers (IEL) Elite
• Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards 2022: Winner – innovation in managing complexity
• New York Partners Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America 2020, 2021
• Top 10 on GAR 30 List, Global Arbitration Review
• Top International Law Firms, International Arbitration, Legal 500 Latin America 2023

Key Reasons to Join 

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