Freehills
HeadquartersMLC Centre
Sydney, New South Wales
No. of offices5
No. of lawyers800+ lawyers and 190+ partners[1][2]
No. of employees1750+[1]
Major practice areascorporate and commercial
Key peopleGavin Bell ll, CEO/Managing Partner[1][2]
RevenueA$565 million (2011-12)[3]
Date founded1852 (Melbourne, Victoria)
Company typePartnership
Dissolved2012, merged
Websitefreehills.com

Freehills was a commercial law firm operating in the Asia-Pacific region.[1] It was known as one of the "Big Six" Australian law firms.[4]

In 2012 it formed Herbert Smith Freehills after a merger with the UK law firm Herbert Smith.[5]

Corporate History

The firm's predecessors include the practices Clarke & Moule in Melbourne (1853), Stephen Henry Parker in Perth (1868), Bernard Austin Freehill in Sydney (1871) and John Nicholson (Perth) 1896.

The Sydney firm became Freehill Hollingdale & Page in 1947 and began to grow under the direction of partner Brian Page, who took the firm into corporate and commercial practice within Australia and internationally.[6] Page was also notable for his "open" employment policy, hiring Catholics and Jews when many other firms would not.[7]

In 1978 Freehill Hollingdale & Page became the first major Australian law firm to appoint a female partner.[8]

In 1979 Muir Williams Nicholson & Co, Perth signed an agreement with Freehill Hollingdale & Page, Sydney, to create Australia's first national law partnership.[9]

In 2000, the state-based offices of Freehill Hollingdale & Page officially changed their name to Freehills and became a single national legal partnership.[10]

In 2012, the firm has over 800 lawyers and over 190 partners.[11]

Freehills announced in 2012 that it would merge with international law firm Herbert Smith on 1 October 2012, forming a new firm named Herbert Smith Freehills with a single global equity partnership.[5]

Operations

Offices

Freehills had Australian offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane; and an office in Singapore.[1] It was associated with the firm Soemadipradja & Taher in Indonesia, Frasers Law Company in Vietnam, and TransAsia Lawyers in China.

Pro bono services

Freehills had a pro bono program which, under the leadership of the late Keith Steele, saw the establishment of the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre in Kings Cross.

The firm seconded solicitors to a number of community legal centres and services including the Public Interest Law Clearing House in Victoria, the Kingsford Legal Centre.[12][13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Dun and Bradstreet Company360 (database online), entry: Freehills Services Pty Ltd. Accessed 13 August 2011
  2. 1 2 Source – Chambers Global http://www.chambersandpartners.com/Global/Firms/5682-46041
  3. ↑ Source – BRW http://brw.com.au/p/sections/focus/australia_top_law_firms_revealed_vvZ5sZcs7mnCsgi2pdqCFM - Accessed 9 August 2012
  4. ↑ Kenneth Nguyen (22 May 2007), Stags in Slater & Gordon share some class action - a 40% win (The Sydney Morning Herald), John Fairfax Holdings Limited., p. 21, Though Slater & Gordon is a well-known law firm, its market capitalisation of $151 million would be dwarfed if any of Australia's "big six" law firms - Allens Arthur Robinson, Blake Dawson Waldron, Clayton Utz, Freehills, Mallesons Stephen Jaques and Minter Ellison - decided to float.
  5. 1 2 Bloomberg (2012). Herbert Smith To Merge With Freehills, Open In New York. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  6. ↑ source: firm history - http://www.freehills.com./5351.aspx
  7. ↑ "The makings of a national firm: Freehills". Lawyers Weekly. 2 June 2011.
  8. ↑ source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/women-take-third-of-new-partnerships-in-legal-profession/story-e6frg97x-1226090156472
  9. ↑ source: Sydney Morning Herald, December 18, 1979 https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19791218&id=cwxiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MecDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2584,7085946
  10. ↑ "Vale Keith Steele (6 April 1951–7 June 2009)". www.freehills.com. 11 June 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  11. ↑ source – Chambers Global http://www.chambersandpartners.com/Global/Firms/5682-46041
  12. ↑ James Eyers, "Man of steel and compassion", Australian Financial Review, 19 June 2009, p 46, via Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd and factiva.com accessed 14 November 2011.
  13. ↑ "Vale Keith Steele (6 April 1951–7 June 2009)". Freehills. Freehills Pty Limited. 11 June 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2011. Keith played a leading role in the establishment of Freehills' pro bono program in Sydney. In 1992 he was instrumental in establishing the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre to serve homeless young people in Kings Cross. Keith also successfully established a permanent solicitor secondment arrangement with the Kingsford Legal Centre and orchestrated Freehills becoming a founding member of the Public Interest Law Clearing House. Keith served as a director of that body for nearly 10 years from its inception.
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