Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is establishing a special unit in Germany to deal with mass 'dieselgate'-style claims that will entail four new office openings and potentially hundreds of new hires across the country.

The firm will open the first office in Münster in western Germany in February, with three further locations to follow, according to a spokesperson at the firm, to be populated by new staff numbering "up to three digits", including lawyers and business staff.

The move comes amid a sharp rise in large and complex mass claims in Germany, including, notably, the 'dieselgate' emissions scandal that prompted actions involving over 300,000 participants.

According to the spokesperson, the new unit will operate under the Freshfields brand, rather than through a coordination with other law firms, and will be led by Hamburg partner Patrick Schroeder—one of the partners who guided Volkswagen through the court proceedings that spun out of dieselgate. 

In 2020, Freshfields successfully argued that Volkswagen should not have to compensate consumers who acquired their vehicles only after the company admitted to manipulating its cars.

Freshfields' latest move is reflective of a similar innovation in the U.K., where in 2015 the firm established a legal services hub in Manchester comprised of more than 700 staff who manage much of the firm's process-led tasks, including document reviews, due diligence and verification work.

'Mass claims' are becoming more prominent in Europe, and involve a looser set of legal designations than, for example, class actions, which entail more rigid conditions when it comes to court proceedings.

Freshfields is not the first firm to respond to the emergence of mass-scale litigations.

In September, Deloitte Legal and Frommer Legal founded a new firm specialised in defending against mass lawsuits.