Magic circle firm sets out international growth plans for disputes

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has hired former Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) Russia dispute resolution chief Maxim Kulkov to head up its Moscow litigation practice as part of a wider strategy to strengthen the firm's disputes practice internationally.

The magic circle firm has identified Russia, Asia, the Middle East and the US as key areas where it wants to expand its litigation practice in response to growing demand from existing clients and in order to capture new work.

Including Kulkov, Freshfields has four disputes lawyers in Russia and this figure is expected to double over the next three years, with similar expansion planned in Asia, where the firm currently has three partners.

Meanwhile, City disputes partner Jonathan Rawlings has relocated to Dubai this month to grow the investigations practice locally, with the firm also planning to significantly ramp up this practice in the US as companies face growing scrutiny from regulators. Freshfields has already built up a 12-partner disputes practice in the US from scratch over the last three years.

Closer to the firm's City headquarters, plans for the disputes practice in Europe could see the launch of a criminal advocacy arm across London, Germany and Italy over the next three years.

Freshfields already has white-collar crime practices in many jurisdictions but, with increasing numbers of companies facing regulatory investigations that also involve criminal proceedings, the firm is looking at bringing some criminal advocacy capacity in-house.

Freshfields global disputes head Chris Pugh (pictured) said: "Dispute resolution is a rapidly growing sector globally at the moment and we are always reviewing our practices to ensure we meet our clients' needs and anticipate workflows. Maxim's hire fits in with our wider strategy to grow our Russia practice, alongside a particular focus for the firm on growth in Asia, the Middle East and the US."

"The internationalisation of legal problems can be seen particularly in the field of litigation and we are aligning ourselves to make sure that we are in the best possible position to respond to this."

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