It may be nearly 300 years old, but Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer finds itself at an important crossroads in its development.

This time next year, the firm's partnership will elect replacements for senior partner Edward Braham and managing partner Stefan Eilers.

The pair's legacy is likely to be mixed. For all they have achieved in helping the firm grow, they  will also be remembered for last year's fateful decision to supplant its time-honoured lockstep with a modified lockstep, only to return to the same conversation within a year.

And following a spate of star exits that coincide with questions about the contentment of junior partners, insiders and rivals say that whoever replaces them will need to work hard to restore partner loyalty and to communicate a clear long-term strategy.

So who is best prepared to take this on?

Short and Long odds

The two favourites to lead the firm are Berlin-based competition partner Helmut Bergmann, and Freshfields lifer and City corporate partner Julian Long. One person who has previously worked with the pair casts Bergman as senior partner, and Long as managing partner.

"It was in the making even before Ed [Braham] and Stefan [Eilers] took over"

Helmut Bergmann

For those familiar with the inner workings of Freshfields' partnership, talk of these two veterans as future leaders will come as little surprise.

One person with knowledge of Freshfields' leadership nomination process said of Bergman and Long's possible candidacy: "It was in the making even before Ed [Braham] and Stefan [Eilers] took over."

But on Long, there is division. While some say he's a perennial favourite, other insiders suggest he is "at the peak of his powers", and that he may not want it just yet. Another suggests he is "too London" for a firm yearning for a leader with "transnational blood".

On Bergmann, however, there is little doubt. A former global competition, antitrust and trade co-head, Bergmann is the firm's current continental Europe managing partner. Of both continental and U.S. pedigree, his leadership credentials are undisputed. He was Berlin office head between 1998 and 2006, as well as being a member of the hallowed partnership committee.

Having trained at pre-merger German firm Deringer Tessin Hermann & Sedemund in the 1980s, he was made up in 1996. And his name came up more than a few times during the 2014 leadership race, when Braham and Eilers unseated Will Lawes and David Aitman respectively.

He is known as a "client man through and through", a "class act" and "a formidable market player". One person said he was an "obvious choice", not least because of his "dominance" in the field of competition and antitrust, which is "the one area in the U.S. where the firm excels", bestowing him a "legitimate mandate for U.S. growth".

"At Freshfields, future leaders are grown. You're marked out as a leader pretty much the day you qualify"

Whoever the next leaders are, the names will not just be plucked out of a hat.

Julian Long

An ex-partner of 20 years said: "At Freshfields, future leaders are grown. You're marked out as a leader pretty much the day you qualify."

They added: "This is how it was with Ed [Braham]. He was primed for years for the role. He was a favoured son. When he became senior partner, it was more a coronation than a competition."

In this vein, a recent partner leaver suggested that Long too had been "primed". But they also indicated that, while Bergmann and Long are "by some way the frontrunners" and are both "very well respected", anything can happen.

"In fact, if you look at the fine grain, you wouldn't really call Long a major global player," another ex-partner said. "He's had a City domestic focus for a generation. He's London establishment. But what the firm needs is two people with an international outlook, especially if it wants to peel away from the sticky spot it's in."

Star of Bethlehem

If Long proves too divisive, another popular option appears to be London healthcare and M&A co-head Jennifer Bethlehem.

"Bethlehem's a born leader, highly ambitious, with international credentials and an exceptional client base"

Nearly all the people Legal Week spoke to agreed that she was one person "destined" to steer the firm, "in whatever capacity".