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EVERYTHING ABOUT US
INFLUENCING THE LAW
The law isn’t static and that fact holds more strongly than ever before. Our ambition, scope and knowledge mean that we’re playing a key part in its evolution. Our teams offer advice to regulators and legislators in diverse areas of expertise. We don’t just know the law inside out, we help to shape it and make it. Here you can see our principles in action: FAIR DEAL SIERRA LEONE Established in 2010, Fair Deal Sierra Leone is the first large-scale pro bono facility offered by a law firm in support of one country’s development efforts. Providing over £4 million worth of free legal advice to the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) across all practice areas, our secondees have negotiated deals, drafted legislation, produced model-form agreements and delivered training to GoSL lawyers from their base in Freetown. During the Ebola outbreak, our advice helped to prevent contractors from suspending essential services like water and power, while building long-term crisis management capacity within the GoSL. We are now helping to improve the investment landscape post-Ebola. This includes the groundbreaking work of our Arbitration practice, advising on the draft of a modern arbitration act and the country’s accession to the New York Convention. We are enormously proud to be playing a central role with the international development and business community in how lawyers can assist developing countries. “WE HAVE BENEFITED IMMENSELY FROM THE GENEROUS PRO BONO SUPPORT THAT HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS.” ERNEST BAI KOROMA, PRESIDENT OF SIERRA LEONE
LEAVING THE EU We mobilised our global cross-practice Brexit teams 18 months pre-referendum; ensuring our key differentiator is being able to combine our market-leading practices in EU and international trade law with deep knowledge from our teams across each sector. With two decades’ experience, our international trade specialists have been providing advanced training to several UK government bodies, as well as various committees advising Government on mutual market access, innovation and simplification. Brexit is not simply a legal issue. Analysing, assessing and addressing its impact requires legal, regulatory and supply chain analysis, political and policy insight and strategic advice and implementation. We have spent significant time working alongside our clients, trade associations and other professional service firms to gain a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities. For example, we collaborated with The Boston Consulting Group and public affairs firm, Global Counsel, on ‘Trade Post-Brexit’ and ‘Navigating the Post-Brexit Energy Market’ papers.
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