Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are an international law firm operating throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the USA. They have 27 offices around the world and employ 2,400 lawyers with clients that range from multinational corporations, governments and financial institutions. The law firm is one of the most respected and successful in the business and is regarded as part of an "elite inner magic circle of law firms"

History

Freshfields is one of the oldest law firms in England, with a history dating back to 1743 when it became the legal representatives for The Bank of England. Obviously as a company with such a long history it has undergone several changes. The shape and nature of the business as it stands today work is recognisably a result of the deregulation of London's financial markets in the 1986 and subsequent liberalisation of banking and financial service industries.

According to the Law Firm magazine: "During this period a group of go-getting corporate partners - particularly Anthony Salz, Gavin Darlington, Barry O'Brien, James Davis and Alan Peck - lobbied for the firm to target investment banks to win more of the corporate takeover work that was sweeping the City. The move was controversial internally given Freshfields' lead adviser role to the Bank of England, which was at the time responsible for bank regulation. However, it proved highly successful, cementing Freshfields' position in the rapidly-consolidating legal elite, which in the 1990s became known as the magic circle"

Banking and Financial Services

• The German Federal Government called upon the services of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to advise them on drawing up the Financial Market Stabilisation Act. The emergency action saw partners from the law firm called to develop the financial rescue programme on Thursday the 9th of October 2008 and had only 48 hours to develop the strategy in order for Angela Merkel to announce the plan before the markets opened on the following Monday morning.
• Northern Rock were advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in relation to a strategic review prompted by its enforced nationalisation. The firm admit that this was difficult "...the complexity of nationalising an institutionwith a £110bn balance sheet, combined with the political ramifications of the roles played by the government and the Bank of England in the rescue,made this one of the most demanding and difficult restructuring operations in history". FBD continue to advise what is left of the bank. "on its capital and business restructuring which has recently received EU state aid approval"
• The financial situation in Spain resulted in more clients desperate to protect themselves: Inmobiliaria Colonial were advised on restructuring its €7bn syndicated debt facilities; Reyal Urbis on the restructuring of long-term secured financial indebtedness incurred when they took over Inmobiliaria Urbis in 2006; and Metrovacesa and its shareholders sought advice on restructuring €3.2bn with Royal Bank of Scotland
• On behalf of Nomura secured the take over of any viable interests of Lehman Brothers following their collapse.
• The Bank of England hired FBD to develop the legal structure to enable their "Special Liquidity Scheme" that made £185bn of additional liquidity by February 2009.
• Goldman Sachs, CSFB, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are also clients

Food and Drink

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

• Tesco were sucessfully represented by FBD in their dispute with the UK Competition Commission in 2009.
• Mars acquisition of Wrigley's chewing gum was overseen by FBD. The negotiations were complicated, the deal was partly financed ($23billion) by Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm led by Warren Buffett. The deal involved aggregating some of Mars's existing "sugar business" that includes products such as Skittles and Starburst into the Wrigley's that would become a new strand of Mars's business. This involved FBD working with Mars anti-trust team, McDermott Will & Emery their US advisers and Skadden a Wrigley’s company.
• Danone were sucessfully represented by FBD in their long running multi-jurisdiction dispute with Wahaha over the use of the Wahaha name on drinks.

This article is part of the Spinwatch public health oriented Alcohol Portal project.

Oil and Military

• Paradigm a specialist in military grade satellite communication technology they provide NATO and UK military services.
• ConocoPhillips is currently involved in a huge legal battle in an attempt to retrieve $30 billion worth of assets seized by the Venezuelan government. They also assisted ConocoPhillips in a fight against Ecuador's decision to increase taxation on oil, FBD advised their client to pay the tax into an offshore account until the litigation was finalised. In Vietnam too FBD helped ConocoPhillips sucessfully fight the government over increases in oil tax.

Nuclear

This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

FBD has worked closely with the nuclear industry since the 1950s, working alongside the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority since its inception, and later advising British Nuclear Fuels Limited they also have a strong relationship with the German nuclear industry and also advise many other nuclear energy companies and governments in their energy strategies. They consider nuclear a green option and important for future energy shortages.

• Bahrain government employs the firm to assist in the development of a nuclear power policy.
• Westinghouse are advised on a range of nuclear fuel issues.
• They lead the European Nuclear Energy Forum’s Anti-Trust and State Aid Working Group
• Act on behalf of applicants to build new nuclear power stations in the UK and as such work closely the government’s Office for

Nuclear Development.

• Urenco, E.ON, RWE, and Hyperion all have nuclear energy interests represented by FBD

Miscellaneous

• London 2012 Olympic Games FBD are the official legal service providers

Pro Bono Clients

• Save the Children| Reprieve|

Corporate Social Responsibility

They are members of The HEC Foundation.