Freshfields launches transatlantic fraud group
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has launched a global investigations practice in an effort to respond to the increasing risk to clients from cross-border regulatory investigations.
Geoff Nicholas
The practice will be led by dispute resolution partners Geoff Nicholas in London and Adam Siegel in New York and will involve more than 60 partners in 13 jurisdictions.
Freshfields’ cross-border team will help clients tackle issues including accounting, anti-trust, bribery and corruption, financial reporting, and market manipulation.
Nicholas said that the move was driven by what the firm saw as the increasing prevalence and complexity of multi-jurisdictional regulation.
“It recognises a real trend in risk management for our clients,” he commented. “What clients need in each instance is to know the regulations in that particular jurisdiction but also to call on the ability to handle investigations across jurisdictions.”
He added that the magic circle firm has been offering the service in some sectors “for a number of years” but that this was the first time it was offering a fully joined up practice area.
He said: “I don’t think any other firm has grasped what clients need in this area.”
A Freshfields survey of FTSE 350 general counsel found that a third have seen a rise in the number of significant disputes they have been called upon to defend over the past year, with almost half of these being international disputes.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the UK’s FSA also both reported a marked increase in requests for assistance to foreign regulators.
Chris Pugh, global head of dispute resolution at the firm, said: “The macroeconomic dynamics of the world have changed and regulatory oversight has moved quickly to keep in step. Compliance and planning for regulatory issues is of the utmost importance for large companies looking to avoid the sharp end of enforcement proceedings.”
Readers' comments (4)
Anonymous | 4-Feb-2010 3:05 pm
About time those regulatory fat-cats had a decent opposition. They've been swanning about for too long...
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Anonymous | 4-Feb-2010 5:20 pm
Not sure how a firm can claim to be launching a new practice area "involving more than 60 partners" when one then reads what is happening.
The truth is surely that (i) they already operated in this area and were joined up and provided their clients with this service, in which case this is not news or (ii) they either didn't provide the service (which is no doubt contrary to what they claimed before) or didn't do it in a joined up way (in which case if I was their client I would be rather unimpressed at this recent eureka moment being necessary).
PR nonsense, as so often with "launches" like this.
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Associate from Debevoise & Plimpton | 4-Feb-2010 6:16 pm
And I am surprised Freshfields would say no other firm has grasped what clients need in this area. We have an existing practice with over 25 partners and 8 counsel in 5 jurisdictions consisting of the former Attorney Generals of the UK and US and the former US Attorney for the SDNY, as well as more than 10 former Assistant US Attorneys located in several different Debevoise offices in Europe and the US. We have worked on some of the largest international investigations around the world as well as on much smaller, but nevertheless international, investigations and regulatory defence matters.
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Partner from DLA Piper | 5-Feb-2010 12:11 pm
It's great to see other firms recognising the importance of this area but it leaves Freshfields at least 15 years behind DLA Piper. Anyone interested in managing global investigations should visit www.dlapiperrapidresponse.com to see our suite of products and services which we have been offering for many years.
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