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53-521: Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is a leading global law firm with headquarters in London , England and Sydney , Australia. HSF has been widely acknowledged as one of the world's most elite and selective law firms, and, as of 2024, was the 33rd largest by revenue . It was formed on 1 October 2012 by a merger between the United Kingdom-based Herbert Smith founded in 1882, then a member of

106-422: A tax partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher , as the first lateral partner since Herbert L. Camp, also a tax partner, from the now-defunct Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine in 1987. Camp, however, had previously been a Cravath associate and may therefore be considered to not be a true lateral hire because he started his career there. Before that, Roswell Magill , a former Treasury Department official, became

159-562: A 2016 court case against three Chinese hackers who had made more than $ 4 million from insider information about merger deals. In March 2019, the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library debuted an installation highlighting the firm, which illustrates legal milestones across two centuries, including obtaining patents for both the telegraph and the sewing machine, organizing NBC , and securing equal access to locker rooms for women sports reporters, exhibited "through

212-597: A Cravath tax partner in 1943. In 2007, the firm brought in Richard Levin from Skadden, Arps to boost its new bankruptcy practice. In 2011, Cravath hired Christine A. Varney , a former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division for the Obama Administration . This was criticized as a revolving door case, as Cravath later had Varney represent AT&T in its acquisition of Time Warner, which

265-679: 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. 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 . Freehills was an Australia-based commercial law firm that operated in the Asia Pacific region. In Australia , it

318-505: A collection of unique documents, photographs, and prints." In 1848, the firm (then Seward & Blatchford) brought the Jones v. Van Zandt challenge to the constitutionality of slavery . In the early 1940s, the firm represented Esquire in Esquire v. Walker , later Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc. , at the U.S. Supreme Court , successfully fighting off the attempted censorship of its magazine by

371-479: A distinct method of hiring, training, and compensating lawyers. His name was added to the firm name in 1901 and, in 1944, after a series of name changes, the Cravath, Swaine & Moore name was established and has not been altered since. Cravath has represented noted American inventors Samuel F.B. Morse , in the late 1840s; Cyrus McCormick , Elias Howe , and Charles Goodyear in the 1850s; and George Westinghouse in

424-589: A firm, some famous, some infamous. Some examples include: 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

477-625: A greater number of equity partners. After merging, the firm began practice in Germany. 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. The combined firm also nearly doubled its total number of international secondees in its first year of operations. In November 2015, Herbert Smith Freehills announced

530-572: A key person and their support staff such as the CEO office and other CEO-related functions; the "corporate policy making" functions, including all corporate functions necessary to steer the firm by defining and establishing corporate policies; the corporate services encompassing activities that combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based upon specialized knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external) customers and business partners; and

583-838: A landmark " poison pill " trial. In the past several decades Cravath has represented Netscape in its antitrust suit against Microsoft , resulting in a $ 750 million settlement; major merger and acquisition deals, such as the DuPont - Conoco merger, the Ford - Jaguar merger, the Bristol-Myers-Squibb merger, the Time-Warner merger, and the AOL - Time-Warner merger; and two famed libel suits: defending Time Inc. against Israeli General Ariel Sharon , and also defending CBS against U.S. Army General William Westmoreland . Unlike others, Cravath has remained

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636-487: 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. Goldman Sachs in a US$ 1.2 billion claim brought by

689-533: A likely Chapter 9 filing for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . The firm's restructuring work traces back to clients such as Goodyear in 1921. After their 1916 reorganization of corporations lectures before the Bar of the City of New York , Paul D. Cravath and William D. Guthrie were reviewed to be "men of wide experience in these matters," and several of their partners including Alexander I. Henderson and Robert T. Swaine "ranked among

742-545: A relatively small firm. Its approximately 500 lawyers are located primarily in the New York Office, with a few dozen in the London office, which opened in 1973 and Washington, DC launched in 2022. The firm opened a Hong Kong office in 1994, closing it nine years later. In 2015, Cravath, Swaine and Moore was the victim of what the firm described as a "limited breach" of its computer network, which The New York Times connected to

795-494: Is a small group of staff and communicators. Usually very mobile, they exist to allow the commander to go forward in an operation, and command the key parts of it from a position where they can see the ground and influence their immediate subordinates. The main HQs (known as 'main') is less mobile and is involved in both the planning and execution of operations. There are a number of staff assembled here from various staff branches to advise

848-429: Is in London . In Japanese budō martial arts such as karate , judo , aikido , kendo , etc., there is usually a headquarters for each organization or region. The Japanese word honbu (本部) is generally used for that, also outside Japan . Sometimes they refer to these headquarters as honbu dojo (本部道場) in which dojo (道場) is a facility provided for practicing discipline, the training ground. Sometimes honbu

901-665: Is written as ho m bu , the way it is pronounced, but the Hepburn transcription is honbu in which the 'n' is a syllabic n . Cravath, Swaine %26 Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath ; krə- VATH ) is an American white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City . The firm has additional offices in London and Washington, D.C. In 1854, former college classmates William H. Seward (later Abraham Lincoln 's Secretary of State) and Richard M. Blatchford merged their respective law firms, forming Blatchford, Seward & Griswold. Blatchford served in

954-695: The Libyan Investment Authority in relation to a series of leveraged derivatives transactions, featuring allegations of undue influence and unconscionable bargain. Herbert Smith Freehills has received a lot of criticism in the UK media about its role working for the Post Office throughout the British Post Office scandal . Iveco and Fiat Chrysler as coordinating and UK competition litigation counsel in relation to follow-on damages claims stemming from

1007-547: The London Stock Exchange . It also advises the highest number of FTSE 100 clients in United Kingdom Court of Appeal cases. According to GlobalData , as of 2023 Herbert Smith Freehills 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”. Herbert Smith Freehills is consistently called upon for some of

1060-691: The New York State Assembly , and as U.S. Minister to the State of the Church . His son, Samuel , also a partner at the firm, served as a federal district court and appeals court judge, was appointed to the United States Supreme Court , in 1882, by President Chester Arthur , serving for 11 years until his death; he was the first person to serve at all three levels of the judiciary. Seward served as both Governor and Senator from New York, supported

1113-694: The Russian Orthodox Church is in Danilov Monastery , Moscow . The World Council of Churches , including Orthodox Churches, has its headquarters in Geneva , Switzerland . The headquarters of Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is located in Istanbul , Turkey . The headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City , Utah . The Anglican Communion Office

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1166-587: The Silver Circle of leading UK law firms, and Freehills founded in 1852, one of the Big Six Australian law firms. Herbert Smith Freehills is one of the world's most prestigious law firms, and has achieved particular recognition in dispute resolution, former Herbert Smith partner F.A. Mann having played a pivotal role in transforming London litigation. As of 2024, HSF retains the most UK-listed clients of all law firms, representing 116 companies listed on

1219-747: 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. Herbert Smith Freehills advised Sir Alan Sugar in relation to his dispute with Terry Venables over the English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur . Herbert Smith Freehills advised UK chocolatier Hotel Chocolat on its £534m takeover by US food giant Mars Inc. in 2023. Herbert Smith Freehills successfully secured

1272-599: The two postmasters General in 1946. In the 1960s, Cravath lawyers wrote the U.S. Supreme Court brief on behalf of the Congress of Racial Equality ’s Freedom rides protesting segregated buses, and were called upon by President John F. Kennedy to help form the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. In 1966, the firm helped launch litigation that would become Miranda v. Arizona , which established that states cannot interrogate suspects without informing them of

1325-576: The "Cravath Scale". In November 2023, amid a wave of antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, Cravath, Swaine & Moore was among a group of major law firms who sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences. The letter said "We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less

1378-598: The 1865 passing of the Thirteenth Amendment , and negotiated the 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia in a transaction that his opponents derisively called " Seward's Folly " and "Seward's Icebox", though since noted as a "bargain Basement deal" that was the principal positive accomplishment of the Andrew Johnson presidency. Paul Drennan Cravath joined the firm in 1899, and devised the " Cravath System ", combining

1431-532: The 1880s. Some current client relationships that began in the 1800s are with CBS , JPMorgan , and PricewaterhouseCoopers . The firm has had a long record of clients in the US railroad industry beginning with the New York & Erie and Union Pacific railroads, and express delivery businesses such as Adams, Southern , and Wells Fargo . Its 19th-century history includes the 1808 insanity defense of William Freeman for

1484-537: The Antitrust Division let pass. In 2013, the firm hired David Kappos , who served as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office . In addition, the system includes lockstep compensation on a published scale, which has tended to be consistent with the scale paid by most leading US law firms, and is known (for historical reasons) as

1537-668: The European Commission's settlement decision in Trucks. Chemist Warehouse on its merger with Sigma Healthcare to create Australia's largest pharmacy group. The Government of South Korea on the first investment treaty arbitration under the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (Jin Hae Seo v. Republic of Korea). Headquarters A headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation that takes full responsibility for

1590-694: The Gallery's reopening in June 2023 and sponsoring its esteemed exhibition – The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award. Herbert Smith Freehills is a member of the Earthshot Prize Global Alliance along with Arup , Bloomberg L.P. , Deloitte , Hitachi , the INGKA Group , Microsoft , MultiChoice , Natura & Co , Safaricom , Salesforce , Unilever , Vodacom , Walmart , and British Airways . Herbert Smith (known as Norman Herbert Smith until 1903)

1643-660: The US, and will have more than 2,700 lawyers across 25 offices in the US, the UK, Europe and Asia. As of September 2020, HSF has 26 offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. The Seoul and Tokyo offices are staffed by Commonwealth lawyers and do not practice local law. 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. HSF has assisted numerous notable clients over its years as

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1696-425: The bidirectional interface between corporate headquarters and business units. A headquarters normally includes the leader of a business unit and their staff, as well as all functions to manage the business unit and operational activities. The head of the business unit is responsible for overall result of the business unit. A headquarters sometimes functions at the top of a regional unit, including all activities of

1749-446: The commander, and to control the various aspects of planning and the conduct of discrete operations. A main HQ for a large formation will have a chief of staff (CoS) who coordinates the staff effort; in a smaller HQ this may be done by the second-in-command . The rear or logistic headquarters is some distance from the battle or front line in conventional operations. Its function is to ensure

1802-514: The first major Australian law firm to appoint a female partner, and forming the first national law partnership in Australia. At the time of its merger with Herbert Smith, Freehills had 190 partners and 800 lawyers. It had four offices in Australia's capital cities, and an office in Singapore. It had associations with various firms across Asia, many of which continue to this day. Herbert Smith Freehills

1855-457: The highest value and most complex litigation. In 2022, Herbert Smith Freehills 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. Herbert Smith Freehills has had a longstanding relationship with London's National Portrait Gallery since 2004, supporting numerous exhibitions and major projects such as

1908-571: The leaders of the reorganization bar." In November 2014, Cravath handled three M&A transactions in one day, spanning advertising, spirits, and pharmaceutical industries; and acted as legal advisor in a recently announced deal backed by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that will create the third-largest food and beverage company in North America. Other significant representations have included legal work necessary to form NBC , United Airlines in its merger with Continental Airlines ,

1961-409: 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 iin the first years almost my only one." 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

2014-563: The logistical support to front line troops, which it does by organizing the delivery of combat supplies, materiel and equipment to where they are needed, and by organizing services such as combat medicine, equipment recovery, and repair. The headquarters of the Catholic Church is Vatican City . The World Headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses is relocated in Warwick, New York , from its former location, Brooklyn , New York. The headquarters of

2067-632: The murder of John G. Van Nest, the 1848 Jones v. Van Zandt challenge to the constitutionality of slavery, and the Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company tax case of 1895. Cases of mention before the Supreme , appellate and Chancery courts in more recent decades have been Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. , Westfed Holdings Inc. v. United States , and City of Providence v. First Citizens BancShares Inc. et al . Important litigation work with IBM has included two landmark antitrust cases, one of which

2120-545: The opening of its third office in Germany, Düsseldorf , headed by Clifford Chance 's former head of litigation and arbitration practice. In February 2022, the Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills taxation practice was sold to PwC . In November 2024, Herbert Smith Freehills announced that it would merge with US-based Kramer Levin to form one of the top-20 global law firms by headcount. The new firm will be known as Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, abbreviated as HSF Kramer in

2173-423: The overall success of the corporation, and ensures corporate governance . The corporate headquarters is a key element of a corporate structure and covers different corporate functions including strategic planning , corporate communications , tax , legal operations , marketing , finance , human resources , information technology , and procurement . This entity includes the chief executive officer (CEO) as

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2226-678: The reputations of firms other than their own, Cravath ranked as the #1 law firm in the United States in the annual "Vault Law 100", in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and either #1 or #2 annually, since 2007. and the 2017 Above The Law Power 100 and Office 100. In 2016 Chambers and Partners ranked Cravath in the top tier among U.S. law firms for Banking & Finance, Capital Markets (Debt & Equity), Corporate/M&A (The Elite), Environment (Mainly Transactional), Media & Entertainment (Corporate), Securities Litigation, General Commercial Litigation (The Elite) and Tax. Cravath

2279-608: The right to counsel, now implemented as the Miranda warning issued by police to criminal suspects taken into custody. In 1971, as The Washington Post prepared to publish the Pentagon Papers , Cravath reformed the publisher as a public company that was structured to protect editorial freedom. In 1989, the firm argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of African American and women firefighters in Birmingham, Alabama . The case

2332-537: The various business units, taking full responsibility for overall profitability and success of this regional unit. Military headquarters take many forms, depending on the size and nature of the unit or formation they command. Typically, they are split into the forward, main and rear components, both within NATO nations, and those following the organization and doctrine of the former Soviet Union (see Isby, 1988). The forward or tactical headquarters, known as "tac" for short,

2385-407: The world's largest airline, to Unilever in its acquisition of Alberto-Culver . In 2010, its litigation department won summary judgment for Morgan Stanley on its breach of contract claim against Discover Financial Services . In a subsequent settlement, Discover agreed to pay Morgan Stanley $ 775 million to resolve the litigation. In the same year they successfully represented Barnes & Noble in

2438-594: Was a 13-year battle dubbed by Time magazine as “the case of the century." The firm has represented entities in the United Kingdom and Europe since the 1820s from the Bank of England , to landmark public offerings by EU predecessors since the 1950s. HM Treasury , Grupo Modelo , Santander , and HDFC Bank are among more recent international clients. Cravath drew attention to its bankruptcy practice on November 10, 2010, by offering free representation in advance of

2491-632: Was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Act of 1991 . Cravath concluded successful plaintiff representation in United States v. Jefferson County in December 2020. During 2019 - 2021, Cravath represented Epic Games in Epic Games v. Apple , alleging anticompetitive behavior in the distribution of mobile apps and the processing of in-app purchases. Based on a survey of law firm associate attorneys rating

2544-487: Was born after completing merger in October 2012. 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. 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

2597-480: 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. Norman Herbert Smith first opened an office at Nicholas House, 12/13 Nicholas Lane, a short distance from the Bank of England . Norman Herbert Smith was highly influential in launching the career of Lord Atkin , remembered for giving

2650-598: Was instructed on the flotation of British Power & Light Corporation Limited and advised on the merger of Columbia Graphophone Company with the Gramophone Company (which sold records under the His Master's Voice label) to form EMI . The famed 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. He

2703-410: Was instrumental in establishing London solicitors as leading experts in international litigation. Its strong relationship with US law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore led to Time Warner instructing Herber Smith for its £220bn acquisition of America Online (AOL) – the largest merger of all time. In 2011, revenues were £465 million and profits-per-equity-partner (PEP) were £900,000. Herbert Smith had

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2756-751: Was one of the Australian Big Six law firms . The firm 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). 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

2809-534: Was ranked 52 in The American Lawyer 's Am Law 200 in 2022, which lists the firm by revenue and profits per lawyer, compensation and other criteria. Under the Cravath System , the firm is known for focusing its hiring on associates straight from law school, with a strong emphasis on grades, then over years of apprenticeship rotations, immersing them in details of every aspect of corporate law practice. Under this philosophy, lateral hires are rare, with some exceptions. In 2005, Cravath hired Andrew W. Needham , formerly

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