A tradition of meritocracy
Our history
Old hands at new ideas
We are the world’s oldest global law firm, but we are constantly reinventing ourselves.
Technological disruption, economic crises, political risk – the challenges facing the world’s biggest businesses have been the same throughout history. We know because we have been at their side for nearly three centuries, giving them the confidence to shape the future.
Read our story so far:
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1743
Our first client
Samuel Dodd appointed attorney to the Bank of England. The bank is still a client today.
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1801
The first Freshfield
James William Freshfield, who started his working life as a teenage apprentice to a London watchmaker, becomes a partner. His adopted coat of arms includes the archangel Saint Michael, which we still use today.
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1800s
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1840
Stegemann
The precursor firm of Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber is founded in Hamburg and builds a solid ‘Hanseatic’ shipping and trade practice and through that a public international law practice. In the 1890s Stegemann acted for the Imperial German Government on the international treaty between the German Empire and the UK to transfer Zanzibar and British and German interests in East Africa.
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1853
Making the law
James William Freshfield (the younger) advises Prime Minister William Gladstone on the Succession Duty Act, an important inheritance tax development.
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1871
Building global trade
Freshfields’ international clients include the East Indian Railway Company, the Ottoman–Smyrna Railway Company, the Copiapó Mining Company of Chile, the East and West India Dock Company, Australia’s Peel River Land and Mineral Company and the National Bank of New Zealand.
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1900s
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1931
The Great Depression
Freshfields is heavily involved in a commission that meets throughout the 1930s at Rothschilds to deal with the fallout of the Credit-Anstalt collapse.
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1944
A new beginning
Old Freshfields Jewry offices destroyed by a WWII ‘doodlebug’ V-1 bomb. The firm moves to the Bank Buildings.
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1963
Dispute resolution
Alan Redfern is hired, the first litigator in what will become our world-leading DR practice.
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1974
Modernisation
Partners agree to move the focus from private clients to corporate law. The lockstep remuneration model is adopted. Freshfields is regularly involved in complex corporate transformations such as the bailout of Rolls-Royce.
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1980
Asia
Freshfields’ Asia presence is established with a Singapore office, followed by Beijing, Shanghai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
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1989
Brussels
Our Brussels team’s work in Europe lays the foundation of our peerless ACT practice.
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1998
First German–Austrian cross-border merger
Bruckhaus Westrick Stegemann merges with Vienna-based Heller Löber Bahn & Partner to form Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber.
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2000s
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2005
Dubai office
The Dubai office opens followed by the Bahrain office and the Abu Dhabi office over the next three years. Freshfields has been advising clients in the UAE since its establishment.
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2007-9
Global financial crisis
A snowballing global banking crisis sees our lawyers called on to address unprecedented restructuring and insolvency matters, and advise governments worldwide (including drafting over a single weekend new legislation for the German government).
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2015
A global service centre
The Global Centre opens in Manchester, UK, to ensure Freshfields stays ahead in a fast-changing world. Among its services is the Legal Services Centre, a lower-cost, high-quality alternative for process-oriented legal services.
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The future
With more than 270 years’ experience globally, Freshfields continues to help clients grow, strengthen and defend their businesses – building on its history of thinking ahead.