How does MyKindaCrowd work? 2 of 11

One of the world’s 10 largest law firms 250 year history 2,500 lawyers worldwide £1,229.4M turnover 28 offices around the world across 4 continents Work for clients in over 200 jurisdictions – from Afghanistan to Zambia, Greenland to Guyana

The Challenge: How can Freshfields reduce their global travel footprint?

Define in one sentence what Freshfields does – 5 minutes Recent work includes: 1. Xstrata’s €90bn merger with Glencore – the biggest mining deal in history 2.The Greek government’s privatisation programme to meet its bail- out conditions – the first time a law firm has taken a role of this nature 3.The restructuring of the Royal Mail, the world’s oldest postal system They advise clients on transactional, contentious & regulatory work across all sectors….

“At Freshfields we want to be known as the world-wide firm…” …how can Freshfields balance this aspiration against their desire to reduce their global travel footprint?

Reduce global travel How can Freshfields manage their environmental impact through reducing global travel?

In 2010 a new target was introduced… …reduce travel by 10%

No global travel policy But a new taxi policy from 2013 in the London office reduced taxi mileage by 25% compared to the year before

Freshfields’ lawyers can work anywhere in the world, even in jurisdictions where they don’t have an office Air travel has increased every year since 2010/11 The main reason is international business development – particularly in Asia, Latin America & Africa However, just 40% of business air travel is when Freshfields is acting for a client What do you think the single biggest driver of the increase in air travel is? Discuss

Overall, what are the key reasons making it difficult to meet the travel reduction target? 5 minutes

Summary – we can group the reasons into two key categories: 1.Client expectations Very demanding clients – pay a lot of money for Freshfields’ expertise Expect legal advice when and where they want it – anywhere in the world “Providing fee paying clients with excellent service is a priority. There can be a conflict between our aim to reduce travel and our desire to serve our clients in a particular way”

2. Culture Strong focus on excellent client service Partnership structure – difficult to force change “The partners have an equity stake in the business, they act a bit like shareholders. It can therefore be difficult to enforce travel restrictions upon them”

Freshfields has already invested in high quality video conferencing equipment in all their offices Since 2010/11 the use of video conferencing has doubled Video conferencing can work well but also has limitations Discussion: come up with the pros and cons of video conferencing in groups – what are the key trade offs? 5-10mins Case study - video conferencing is part of the answer

The Challenge Apart from video conferencing, what other ideas will allow Freshfields’ lawyers to remain first choice for clients while reducing their global travel footprint?

Apart from video conferencing, what ideas will allow Freshfields’ lawyers to remain first choice for clients while reducing their global travel footprint? The Task 1.Read the fact sheet 2.Write a 500 word essay 3.Make sure your essay demonstrates: – An understanding of Freshfields, its international reach and the culture of the firm – An understanding of the legal sector and how it might differ from other sectors – Specific knowledge about Freshfields – Innovation – Consideration of cost/resources of the ideas you come up with