Herbert Smith Freehills retains top tier rankings for ESG and Crisis Management in Chambers Crisis Management Guide

International law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has been recognised in the top tier of the 2023 Chambers Crisis & Risk Management Guide.

For the third year running, the firm's global Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practice has achieved a Band 1 ranking. The guide also recognised partners Rebecca Perlman (Band 1, up from Band 2) and Silke Goldberg (Band 2) for their ESG expertise.

For the second year, the firm's Crisis Management team has retained its Band 1 rankings in both the UK and Global-wide guides, once again the only firm to be ranked Band 1 in both categories. In addition, partner Andrew Moir was ranked Band 2 for his leadership in cyber and data security.

According to Chambers the ESG team is "accomplished in guiding businesses through climate and human rights international guidelines and standards, hard law requirements, activist risks, and litigation". Chambers also noted that the Crisis Management team (Global) is "relied upon by multinational businesses for its lawyers' deep sector expertise and crisis experience across numerous jurisdictions worldwide".

In this year's guide, clients praised the firm's ESG team as "outstanding in managing wide-ranging sources of complex data to synthesise into practical advice", and the Crisis Management team in the UK as "very responsive and pragmatic", with a "high degree of business acumen".

Chambers & Partners research is conducted across 200 jurisdictions to provide independent analysis, insight and rankings of the world's leading lawyers and law firms. Its rankings are based on lawyers' technical legal ability, business planning and client commentary.

Silke Goldberg, Global Head of ESG at Herbert Smith Freehills, comments: "Now, more than ever, ESG is recognised as a core strategic issue for businesses, and to navigate the risks and harness the opportunities the issue entails, businesses need a cross-border, joined-up team. We are proud of this continued recognition for our global team."

Damien Byrne Hill and Greg Mulley, Co-Heads of Crisis Management at Herbert Smith Freehills, comment: "Our Crisis Management partners draw on expertise from a broad range of practices and technical disciplines across the firm to support clients facing crisis situations. This ranking, which is based on client feedback, underlines the success of that approach."