Headquarters | MLC Centre Sydney, New South Wales |
---|---|
No. of offices | 5 |
No. of lawyers | 800+ lawyers and 190+ partners[1][2] |
No. of employees | 1750+[1] |
Major practice areas | corporate and commercial |
Key people | Gavin Bell ll, CEO/Managing Partner[1][2] |
Revenue | A$565 million (2011-12)[3] |
Date founded | 1852 (Melbourne, Victoria) |
Company type | Partnership |
Dissolved | 2012, merged |
Website | freehills.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]
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 had 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]
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.
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]