Herbert Smith Freehills’ UK lawyers will be celebrating the announcement of its US merger plans, but the benefits for Australian partners are less obvious.
The resounding reaction from the local legal industry to the news of Herbert Smith Freehills’ proposed merger with Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel was: “Who?”
The American firm is an unknown quantity here, and to many seemed a surprising choice, given HSF’s leading reputation in Australia. But the fact a firm that is 40 per cent more profitable than the local market leader can go unnoticed points to the sheer size of the US legal sector and the massive revenue potential on offer there.
