Herbert Smith

History

Herbert Smith was founded by Norman Herbert Smith in 1882. Edward Walker-Arnott took over as senior partner in 1992.

In 2000 Herbert Smith formed an alliance with German law firm Gleiss Lutz. Herbert Smith, Gleiss Lutz and the Dutch law firm Stibbe formed a tripartite alliance in 2002.

In April 2009 Herbert Smith opened an office in Madrid, Spain after recruiting three partners from Linklaters.

In 2009, Herbert Smith had total revenues of £444 million and profits per equity partner (PEP) of £845,000. In 2010, the firm's revenues were £450 million and PEP was £862,000.

In November 2010 Herbert Smith announced that it would be opening an office in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to perform litigation due diligence tasks.

In November 2011 partners at Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe voted against a merger with Herbert Smith. The alliance between Herbert Smith, Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe subsequently ended on 31 December 2011.

In February 2012, Herbert Smith entered merger discussion with the Australian law firm Freehills. Partners at both firms voted in favour of the merger in June 2012. The firm created, Herbert Smith Freehills, subsequently merged with American law firm Kramer Levin to become Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer in June 2025.

Practice

After specialising in company flotations and advising mining companies in the early part of the 20th century, by the time of its merger with Freehills, Herbert Smith's practice was dominated by litigation and corporate work (M&A and equity capital markets in particular), with other practices including finance, real estate, energy, and competition.

References

References

1. (2 July 2014). "Herbert Smith Freehills announces strong full year results for 2013/2014". Herbert Smith Freehills.
2. Douglas Wong. (June 28, 2012). "Herbert Smith to Merge With Freehills, Open in New York". Bloomberg News.
3. "Herbert Smith LLP - a leading and full-service international legal practice - Locations".
4. (14 July 2008). "Ashurst, Herbies ride out tough year; BLP, Macfarlanes, SJ Berwin succumb". The Lawyer.
5. (5 December 2007). "20 years of The Lawyer: 2000". The Lawyer.
6. (10 December 2007). "Merging is a step too far for Herbies, Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe". The Lawyer.
7. (28 April 2009). "Herbies launches in Spain with three-partner Linklaters raid". The Lawyer.
8. "UK 200 Revenue Table 2010 - ''The Lawyer''".
9. (24 November 2010). "Herbert Smith to open Belfast office to handle litigation due diligence". The Lawyer.
10. (22 November 2011). "Herbert Smith reviews future of European alliance after failed merger bid". The Lawyer.
11. (22 December 2011). "Herbert Smith's European alliance to officially end at close of year". The Lawyer.
12. (February 6, 2012). "Freehills in merger talks with Herbert Smith". The Wall Street Journal.
13. (28 June 2012). "Herbert Smith green lights October merger with Australia's Freehills". The Lawyer.
14. link
15. "Services of Herbert Smith LLP".