Freshfields launches US litigation practice
Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has launched a US litigation practice after hiring a trio of partners from two leading US practices.
Aaron Marcu and Adam Siegel join from the New York office of Covington & Burling while Benito Romano joins from Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
At Covington Marcu was coordinator of the firm's white-collar defence and investigations practice group while Siegel was a partner focused on the representation of clients facing government investigations and related civil litigation. Romano was chair of Willkie Farr's white-collar criminal defence practice group.
Pointing out that the firm already has an arbitration practice in the US, Freshfields chief executive Ted Burke said the litigation launch is partly in response to client demand.
He added: "We've been looking for quite some time to develop a worldwide contentious regulatory practice. We've had several clients advise us to do just that.
"Just as we've developed global capabilities in other practice areas, we thought we should do the same in litigation, especially because we're seeing an increase in cross border, multi-jurisdictional investigations and proceedings."
At Freshfields the three new partners will launch a New York-based complex litigation and white-collar defence and investigations practice. The group's main focus will be on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement and federal criminal investigations.
Burke said the intention is to bolster the group with further hires, adding that in the near term associates from the firm's US arbitration practice would be able to assist the litigation practice.
While a lack of work has seen fellow magic circle firm Clifford Chance suffer a string of lay offs (14 Oct 2008 and defections (2 Dec 2008) in its US litigation practice, Burke said he is confident that Freshfields' new practice will be a success.
"There's no such thing as a sure bet, but of course we wouldn't do this if we didn't think it was going to be successful," he added.
Freshfields now has 20 partners in New York and six in Washington, DC.
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Readers' comments (4)
Anonymous | 22-Jan-2009 8:30 pm
Freshfields
For a long time Freshfields didn't want to grow and compete properly with US firms so that it could position itself for a merger. Has the firm changed direction? These are certainly interesting moves and pretty decent names. I doubt they will really be able to make this work.
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Anonymous | 22-Jan-2009 8:32 pm
Freshfields
These guys are well known but not big revenue drivers. If the firm management is expecting them to rake in the cash and make the US more profitable they could be dissapointed.
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Prudence | 28-Jan-2009 1:47 pm
FRESHFIELDS
I AM SO PLEASED THAT SOMEONE IS TAKING THE CHANCE AND INNOVATIVE STEP, THIS WILL WORK FOR THEM.
Why???
because you aint seen nothing yet... they are onn the international ball here, this also allows for their practice to see the bigger picture - a macro view of the market which many in fact all firms fail to see,,,, even the FSA!
well done Freshfields you are a leading light in these times.
I for one hope that you take this to other cities and link it up making it a truly global department.
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Seasoned Observer | 29-Jan-2009 1:51 pm
Freshfields US Litigation
To be fair to Freshfields, this might not be as daft a move as it seems. A&O have made a real fist of their US litigation practice - they hired a dynamic and charismatic high profile cornerstone guy and have built around him very successfully. Arguably their US growth should have been led by litigation rather than corporate. Litigation is the absolutely key piece of the US puzzle, something that surprisingly all of the Magic Circle firms other than A&O have taken an age to realize. This move from FBD, tho very belated, might just be a step in the right direction.
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