Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has maintained its customary place at the top of an annual Legal Week poll that asks UK partners to vote for the best-managed UK-based firms. Meanwhile, its old rival Linklaters continues to lag behind it in the rankings.
One is left with a lingering suspicion that Linklaters’ status as one of the most heavily managed UK firms often counts against it when it comes to how partners in rival practices view it. And nowhere have the different management styles of Freshfields and Linklaters been more apparent than in Germany, following their respective mergers with Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Loeber and Oppenhoff & Raedler.
