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Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP
HeadquartersLondon, England
Sydney, Australia
No. of offices26 (2020)[1]
No. of lawyers2,600 (2024)[2]
No. of employeesc.5,000 (2024)[3]
Key peopleJustin D'Agostino (CEO); Rebecca Maslen-Stannage (Senior Partner)
RevenueIncrease £1.306 billion (2023/24)[4]
Profit per equity partnerIncrease £1.315 million (2023/24)[4]
Date foundedHerbert Smith (1882);
Freehills (1852);
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel (1968);
Merger between Herbert Smith and Freehills (2012);
Merger between Herbert Smith Freehills and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel (2025)
FounderHerbert Smith
Freehills
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
Company typeLimited liability partnership (Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)
Partnership (Herbert Smith Freehills)
Websitehsfkramer.com

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP (HSF Kramer) is a global law firm[5] with headquarters in London, England and Sydney, Australia. As of 2024, the firm was the 33rd largest by revenue. Its predecessor practice, Herbert Smith Freehills, was formed on 1 October 2012 by a merger between the United Kingdom-based Herbert Smith founded in 1882, then a member of the Silver Circle of leading UK law firms, and Freehills founded in 1852, one of the Big Six Australian law firms. A subsequent merger between Herbert Smith Freehills and American law firm Kramer Levin in 2025 resulted in the creation of Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, making it one of the world's largest law firms by revenue and number of lawyers.[6]

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has achieved particular recognition in dispute resolution, former Herbert Smith partner F.A. Mann having played a pivotal role in transforming London litigation.[7][8][9] As of 2024, HSF Kramer retains the most UK-listed clients of all law firms, representing 116 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.[10] It also advises the highest number of FTSE 100 clients in United Kingdom Court of Appeal cases.[11]

According to GlobalData, as of 2023 Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer secured the most Asia Pacific (APAC) M&A mandates by deal value, being "among the only two advisers to surpass $20bn in total deal value during Q1-Q3 2023”.[12]

As of 2024, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer had the highest litigation revenue in the UK of any law firm at £314.6m, significantly higher than Freshfields and Quinn Emmanuel both with revenues of c. £197m.[13]

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is called upon for some of the highest value and most complex litigation. In 2022, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer was the law firm with the highest average claim value in the High Court and has maintained its position within the top three firms every year since.[14]

Herbert Smith Freehills announced its merger with U.S. law firm Kramer Levin effective 1 May 2025. The new firm is known as Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, abbreviated as HSF Kramer.[15]

History

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Herbert Smith

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Herbert Smith (known as Norman Herbert Smith until 1903) was established by Norman Herbert Smith in 1882. Norman Herbert Smith was descended from Sir William ap Thomas on his father's side and William the Conqueror through his mother's family.[16] Norman Herbert Smith first opened an office at Nicholas House, 12/13 Nicholas Lane.[17]

Norman Herbert Smith was highly influential in launching the career of Lord Atkin, remembered for giving the leading judgement in the case of Donoghue v Stevenson, who himself noted that "Smith continued to be my client throughout the whole of my time as a barrister and in the first years almost my only one."[18]

Herbert Smith's 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. Herbert Smith was instructed on the flotation of British Power and Light Corporation and advised on the merger of Columbia Graphophone Company with the Gramophone Company (owner of the His Master's Voice label) to form EMI.[19]

The Herbert Smith partner, F.A. Mann, played a pivotal role in transforming the legal profession in England, where litigation was traditionally managed by clerks and barristers.[20]

Its strong relationship with US law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore led to Time Warner instructing Herbert Smith for its £220bn acquisition of America Online (AOL) – the largest merger of all time.[21] In 2011, revenues were £465 million and profits-per-equity-partner (PEP) were £900,000.[22]

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.[23]

At the time of its merger with Freehills, Herbert Smith had around 240 partners, 1,300 lawyers, with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.[24]

2012 Freehills merger

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Freehills traced its history back to the practices of Clarke & Moule in Melbourne (1853), Stephen Henry Parker in Perth (1868), Bernard Austin Freehill in Sydney (1871), and John Nicholson in Perth (1896).[25] 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.[25][26][27]

Herbert Smith Freehills resulted from the merger, in October 2012, of the two firms.[28] 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.[29] The merger was complicated by differing remuneration structures across the firms; with Herbert Smith practicing a lockstep compensation system, while Freehills practised a merit-based compensation system. Freehills also had a greater number of equity partners.[30]

After merging, the firm began practice in Germany.[30] In September 2012 it opened an office in New York City, focused on international dispute resolution work. A South Korean office was opened in Seoul in April 2013.[31] The combined firm also nearly doubled its total number of international secondees in its first year of operations.[32] In November 2015, Herbert Smith Freehills announced the opening of its third office in Germany, Düsseldorf, headed by Clifford Chance's former head of litigation and arbitration practice.[33]

In February 2022, the Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills taxation practice was sold to PwC.[34]

2025 Merger with Kramer Levin

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In November 2024, Herbert Smith Freehills announced it would merge with Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel to form a fully-integrated firm. In April 2025, the firms announced that their partnerships had voted in favour of the merger, and completion of the merger took place on 1 June 2025. The firm is now known as Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer.[35]

Offices

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As of September 2020, HSF has 26 offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.[36][37] The Seoul and Tokyo offices are staffed by Commonwealth lawyers and do not practice local law.[32] 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.[38]

Controversies

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Anti-Semitic Tweet

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Following the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Damien Hazard, an Australia corporate lawyer who has been a partner with HSF for 12 years tweeted "Never too soon for Jeremy Leibler to just invent a link with anti-genocide protests". The tweet was deleted and HSF chair and senior partner Rebecca Maslen-Stannage apologized for it and launched an immediate investigation.[39] The firm voted to remove Hazard.[40]

Notable clients and cases

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HSF has assisted numerous notable clients over its years as a firm, some famous, some infamous. Some examples include:

Sergey Podoprigorov

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Herbert Smith Freehills helped Sergey Podoprigorov, a judge in the Russian Federation who sentenced Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent journalist, author, filmmaker, human rights activist and political prisoner that received an extremely harsh prison sentence in Russia in 2023 after publicly criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. HSF prepared an appeal asking the United States Department of the Treasury to remove Podoprigorov from the "Magnitsky list" of corrupt Russian officials responsible for persecution of people fighting against corruption and repression in the country.[41]

Sir Alan Sugar

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Herbert Smith Freehills advised Sir Alan Sugar in relation to his dispute with Terry Venables over the English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur.[42]

Hotel Chocolat

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Herbert Smith Freehills advised UK chocolatier Hotel Chocolat on its £534m takeover by US food giant Mars Inc. in 2023.[43]

Financial Conduct Authority

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Herbert Smith Freehills successfully secured a landmark victory for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a High Court case that clarifies whether businesses were entitled to compensation for Covid-19-related disruptions under their insurance policies. The ruling dealt a significant blow to insurers, potentially triggering payouts for tens of thousands of businesses with business interruption claims.[44]

Google

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Herbert Smith Freehills is representing Google in a £13.6bn collective action lawsuit, which has been allowed to proceed by London's competition tribunal. The case alleges that Google is abusing its dominant position by prioritising its own advertising technology.[45]

Aercap Ireland Limited

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In 2021, AerCap turned to Cravath Swaine & Moore and Herbert Smith Freehills for counsel on its $30 billion acquisition of General Electric’s Capital Aviation Services (GE Capital Aviation Services).[46] Herbert Smith Freehills is representing Aercap Ireland Limited, the world’s largest aircraft lessor, in a major and complex legal battle in the High Court to recover losses from insurers over more than 400 aircraft stranded in Russia due to Western sanctions. The planes, worth almost $10 billion, have remained in Russia since the sanctions were imposed following the war in Ukraine, with Russian lessees failing to return them. Aercap is pursuing a claim for $3.5 billion from insurers, including AIG and Lloyd’s, under its all-risk insurance policy, or alternatively, $1.2 billion under its war-risk policy. The case, being heard in the Rolls Building’s ‘super court,’ is one of the most high-profile and costly trials in the UK, with insurers challenging the claims on several grounds.[47]

Hereditary membership of the House of Lords

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Association of Conservative Peers in challenging part of the law that removed most hereditary membership of the House of Lords.[48]

Pinochet

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The Government of Chile in the Pinochet case. Lawrence Collins KC appeared whilst partner at Herbert Smith having a few months earlier become the first solicitor to exercise rights of audience in the House of Lords when he represented the Law Society on the issue of barristers' costs in legally aided criminal trials.[49]

Associates and alumni

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References

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  1. ^ "Where we work". Herbert Smith Freehills - Global law firm. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Herbert Smith Freehills LLP - Rankings - England". Legal500. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  3. ^ "Herbert Smith Freehills - UK Guide 2025 - Chambers and Partners". Chambers and Partners. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  4. ^ a b Huntley, Anna (18 July 2024). "'Strong Momentum': Revenue and profit rise as Herbert Smith Freehills marks 11th consecutive year of growth". The Global Legal Post.
  5. ^ "Herbert Smith Freehills - UK Guide 2025 - Chambers". Chambers and Partners. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  6. ^ "Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Officially Launches". Morningstar, Inc. 2 June 2025. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  7. ^ "Acritas' Global Elite Law Firm Brand Index 2016" (PDF). Baker McKenzie. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  8. ^ "Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP - True Picture - Chambers Student Guide". www.chambersstudent.co.uk.
  9. ^ "The Lawyer". 9 April 2018.
  10. ^ "Law Firms and their Quoted Clients". adviser-rankings.com. 8 November 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  11. ^ "Magic circle out of the picture as HSF leads FTSE litigation rankings - The Lawyer - Legal News and Jobs - Advancing the business of law". Thelawyer.com. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  12. ^ Hauner, Susanne (7 November 2023). "The top M&A legal advisers for Q1-Q3 2023 in the APAC region". Just Style. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  13. ^ Christian Smith, Maya Marek & Vitesa Fetahu (2024). "UK Litigation 50 2024: Financial Analysis". The Lawyer. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
  14. ^ [1] Solomonic Year in Review High Court Commercial Disputes 2022 | 6 February 2023
  15. ^ Miller, Joe (11 November 2024). "Herbert Smith Freehills to merge with US-based law firm Kramer Levin". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  16. ^ Phillips, Tom (2007). A History of Herbert Smith. London: International Financial Law Review. pp. 14–15. ISBN 9781843744825.
  17. ^ Mining Manual Containing Full Particulars of Mining Companies. Vol. 4. 1891. p. 699.
  18. ^ Phillips, Tom (2007). A History of Herbert Smith. London: Internional Financial Law Review. p. 29. ISBN 9781843744825.
  19. ^ Phillips, Tom (2007). A History of Herbert Smith. London: International Financial Law Review. pp. 74–75. ISBN 9781843744825.
  20. ^ Lewis, Geoffrey. "Mann, Frederick Alexander [Francis] (1907–1991)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49887. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  21. ^ "Herbert Smith formalises US referral network". Law.com International.
  22. ^ "UK200 Table 1–25". The Lawyer.
  23. ^ "Germany: All-aktion". The Lawyer. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  24. ^ "Locations". Herbert Smith Freehills.
  25. ^ a b Suzanne Welborn. (2011.) Freehills: A History of Australia's First National Law Firm University of New South Wales Press
  26. ^ Malcolm Wilson. (18 December 1979.) "Legal professional branching out", The Sydney Morning Herald.
  27. ^ "The makings of a national firm: Freehills". Lawyers Weekly. 2 June 2011. Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  28. ^ "Herbert Smith in tie-up to form new legal giant". The Independent. 1 October 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  29. ^ "The great Aussie merger mystery". The Lawyer. 3 September 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  30. ^ a b Burton, Lucy (17 July 2013). "First-half turnover at £471.2m for post-merger Herbert Smith Freehills". The Lawyer. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  31. ^ "Herbert Smith Freehills opens in Seoul". Herbert Smith Freehills. 15 April 2013.
  32. ^ a b Reynolds, Anna (21 June 2013). "Herbert Smith Freehills secondments soar amid post-merger integration push". Legal Week. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  33. ^ "Herbert Smith opens Dusseldorf office". Global Legal Week. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  34. ^ PwC acquires specialist tax firm Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills Australian Financial Review 28 February 2022
  35. ^ Merken, Sara; Merken, Sara (2 June 2025). "Herbert Smith Freehills and Kramer Levin launch latest transatlantic merger". Reuters. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  36. ^ "Office details". Herbert Smith Freehills. 5 September 2016.
  37. ^ "Where we work". Herbert Smith Freehills | Global law firm. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  38. ^ Brennan, Tom (15 July 2013). "Foreign Firms Stumble Going Local in Japan". The Asian Lawyer. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  39. ^ "HSF investigating "deeply offensive" partner tweet"". Law.com. Law.com. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
  40. ^ "HSF removes Australian partner for social media posts directed at Jewish lawyer". Legal 500. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  41. ^ "Judge presiding over Kara-Murza case appealed for removal from U.S. Magnitsky list". Meduza. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  42. ^ "Venables says he can prove his innocence". The Independent. 30 October 1994. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  43. ^ "Freshfields and HSF Advise on Hotel Chocolat's Takeover by Mars". Law.com International. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  44. ^ "HSF ensures victory for regulator in major Covid-19 insurance test case". Legal Business. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  45. ^ "HSF Steps in to Defend Google in £13.6B Adtech Collective Action". Legal.com International. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  46. ^ "Cravath, Herbert Smith Freehills and Clifford Chance steer AerCap/GE deal". globalcompetitionreview.com. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  47. ^ "The multibillion pound court battle keeping the City's law firms busy". Cityam.com. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  48. ^ Phillips, Tom (2007). A History of Herbert Smith. London: International Financial Law Review. p. 241. ISBN 9781843744825.
  49. ^ Phillips, Tom (2007). A History of Herbert Smitj. London: International Financial Law Review. p. 221. ISBN 9781843744825.
  50. ^ "Nicholas P. Tott 1960 – 2017". High School of Dundee. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
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