Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Architect: F.S. Braun & AssociésOffice Planning: ADYAL – Eurythmic, Paris
Sales Office: Silvera Mobilier, Paris
A strong local player with international expertise
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is considered one of the world’s leading law firms. With over 2,400 lawyers worldwide and ample experience in a wide range of fields, Freshfields provides its clients with comprehensive legal counsel, including national and international corporations, financial institutions and governments. A short while ago, this fast growing company moved into a new building located right in the heart of Paris.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, a global joint partnership of lawyers, has offices in all major EU countries in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. To Freshfields, a definite willingness to deliver is a matter of course: To provide optimal client service, the firm can build teams that are not limited to individual fields of law or geographical boundaries.
The firm’s varied activities are clustered into individual practice groups, with each lawyer belonging to at least one of them. In addition, the company has established sector groups for major branches to bundle sector-specific know-how. Freshfields thus meets its commitments of local impact, international expertise and trans-national consultation from approximately 20 different locations.
A prestigious project
In France, Freshfields is committed to local impact: Its Paris office dates back to 1972. The firm’s fast growth as experts in business law has now made it necessary to search for new premises. In June 2004, Freshfields chose a new office in Paris’ 8th arrondissement located in an 18th century building that was skilfully renovated and remodelled by architects F.S. Braun & Associés.
The new offices are located in two independent, opposite buildings separated by a green pedestrian zone. The offices accommodate more than 500 employees and partners who share five floors covering a total area of approximately 14,000 square metres. To ensure maximum confidentiality, each department is assigned one specific floor.
Freshfields commissioned Christian Liaigre, an architect widely known in France, to provide the design of the public office zones. All conference rooms, meeting areas and lounges were eventually furnished with top-quality, hand-made products.
In a consistent scheme, Bene’s Management programme AL_Group was delivered in grey beech for the generously-sized rooms assigned to the 35 partners, and for the offices of senior and junior staff. Bene’s X9 was used for the back offices. "Freshfields became convinced of the quality of products and homogeneous colour scheme", says Susanne Danzer, of Bene France sales management, adding that "Freshfields figures among our finest and most prestigious projects in Paris".
