Herbert Smith Freehills' Global Arbitration Practice ranked top three in the world

Herbert Smith Freehills' Global Arbitration Practice has been showcased as being the third busiest in the world as part of the prominent annual Global Arbitration Review (GAR) 30 rankings, rising five places from last year. 

The firm's new GAR 30 ranking appears in the ninth edition of the GAR 100, which was unveiled yesterday (2 March 2016) at the sixth annual GAR Awards at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Shanghai.

Highlighted by the publication as enjoying "a sharp rise in its caseload", the firm is showcased for completing more than twice as many large hearings compared to last year’s figures, and the same is true for medium-sized hearings.

The rankings notes a significant spike in the value of our pending counsel work, which has seen a six-fold increase in the space of a year - rising from US$21 billion to US$121 billion. This is the highest figure in the entire table.

As in previous years, the GAR 30 is based primarily on the number of arbitral hearings conducted by a firm over a two-year period. The research considers merits and jurisdictional hearings, the amount in dispute in those cases and the number of hours billed to arbitration over that period. Ranking is also based on the number of arbitrator appointments a firm’s members have received and the number of individuals who appear in GAR’s sister publication, Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration – a guide to the leading practitioners in the field as selected by their peers. The firm has a total of 15 people featured in Who’s Who Legal, the joint highest number awarded by the publication to any law firm.

In the report, mining group BHP Billiton lauded the firm for its “ability to give clear and deliberate advice based on complex fact patterns with lots of grey areas,” and for its "profound understanding of the company’s commercial priorities”.

Stephane Harmand, Vice President of Legal and Compliance at Volvo Group Trucks Sales & Marketing in Japan, described Herbert Smith Freehills in the report as “a class act”, that is “head and shoulders above the competition for arbitration work." He also highlighted the fact that the firm "goes far beyond pure legal advice" and is seen as "trusted business adviser."

Herbert Smith Freehills'  international arbitration practice now has a network of over 35 partners across the firm’s offices, spanning 24 offices in the US, UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. We represent clients worldwide, ranging from Fortune 500, multinationals to financial institutions, governments and state-owned entities. Just last month we secured a significant victory for the Kingdom of Spain in an investor-state arbitration. This is an extremely important victory for Spain as it faces another 26 cases before international arbitral tribunals on similar facts.

The full GAR 30 can be found here.

Paula Hodges QC, who heads Herbert Smith Freehills' Global Arbitration Practice, said: "This is a richly deserved, high-profile endorsement of the strength and growth of our global practice and the talent of our teams around the world.  I would like to thank our global team for their hard work and enthusiastic contribution to such an impressive caseload, together with the many victories secured for our clients over the last year."  

For further information, please contact Paul Hodges QC, Partner, Peter Godwin, Partner, Laurence Shore, Partner or your usual Herbert Smith Freehills contact.