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Published byAudrey Cook Modified over 8 years ago
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How does MyKindaCrowd work? 2 of 11
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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
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The Challenge: How can Freshfields reduce their global travel footprint?
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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….
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“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?
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Reduce global travel How can Freshfields manage their environmental impact through reducing global travel?
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In 2010 a new target was introduced… …reduce travel by 10%
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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
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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
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Overall, what are the key reasons making it difficult to meet the travel reduction target? 5 minutes
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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”
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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”
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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
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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?
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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
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