Herbert Smith Freehills partners Will Glassey and Silke Goldberg named in this year's Hot 100 List

 Herbert Smith Freehills partners Will Glassey and Silke Goldberg have been showcased in this year's Hot 100 list, compiled by The Lawyer magazine to celebrate the very best of the legal profession. 

The annual report identifies the UK lawyers working on the “biggest trials and deals of our time”, and those who through their efforts are “making the legal profession better in one way or another: more sophisticated, more innovative, more diverse, more fair”.

Lauded by directories as "outstanding" and as being "unrivalled in intellectual firepower", Will Glassey is part of Herbert Smith Freehills Insurance and Professional Risks Practice and is focused on defending negligence claims against solicitors, barristers, pensions actuaries and property professionals. The subject matter of the claims he defends is diverse, but he has a particular focus on claims arising from transactions, including corporate, commercial, real estate and finance transactions, and he has extensive experience in claims arising from pensions and tax issues.

In addition, Will represents professional firms and individual professionals in regulatory investigations and disciplinary proceedings: he has handled matters before the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, the ICAEW, the Serious Fraud Office, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the FCA, and the Takeover Panel. He also advises insurers on policy coverage issues arising in claims against professionals, and represents insurers and reinsurers in reinsurance coverage disputes. He has acted on many complex cases including most recently: Raffeisen Bank International AG v Asia Coal Energy Ventures Ltd & Ashurst; Civil Aviation Authority v Jet2.Com Ltd; and Briggs v Clay.

Cited by the Lawyer as "one of the leading figures" in ESG and helping the firm to be "ahead of the game" in this area while other firms "struggle to play catch-up", Silke Goldberg is Herbert Smith Freehills' Global Head of ESG and leads the firm's Climate Change practice. Silke is an energy lawyer of two decades' standing – advising on climate change issues with a focus on renewable energy and the energy transition – long before ESG has become a hot topic. In addition to being a highly regarded lawyer, Silke is also an esteemed academic. Recently, she led the firm's commitment in climate change as an industry partner of the Sustainable Innovation Forum 2021, which ran in parallel with the COP26.

She advises clients on all aspects of European and UK energy law and regulations, and specialises in 'tricky regulation' issues. She has long standing experience in electricity and gas trading arrangements and has advised interconnectors and other transmission and distribution system operators. The Lawyer highlighted her recent work including acting on a landmark energy transition deal: BP’s strategic partnership with Equinor for the development of US offshore wind for $1.1bn, and advised an international mining company on its climate change strategy and many other companies on climate change-related risks and opportunities.

The Lawyer’s annual Hot 100 list is compiled following extensive research into candidates’ client work and contribution to their firms, companies, and the wider legal profession.