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January 22, 2026
Freshfields Expands Top Tier Recognitions in Legal 500 U.S. 2025

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AI-made summary
- Freshfields has been recognized in the 2025 Legal 500 United States rankings across multiple practice areas, including Tier 1 rankings for Dispute Resolution – International Arbitration and M&A/Corporate and Commercial – Corporate Governance
- The firm received additional recognition in antitrust, finance, healthcare, international trade, labor, media, technology, and tax
- Thirty-four lawyers were individually ranked, with several receiving Hall of Fame or Next Generation Partner status
- Rankings are based on Legal 500’s research and client feedback.
Freshfields received cross-practice recognition in the 2025 Legal 500 United States rankings. Highlights include Tier 1 rankings for Dispute Resolution – International Arbitration, for which the firm has been continuously ranked Tier 1 for the past 16 years; M&A/Corporate and Commercial – Corporate Governance; along with four newly ranked lawyers and numerous improved individual rankings. Additional recognitions include: Antitrust – Civil litigation/class actions: defense Antitrust – Merger control Dispute resolution – International litigation Dispute resolution – M&A litigation: defense Dispute resolution – Securities litigation: defense Dispute resolution – General commercial disputes Finance – Capital markets: debt offerings Finance – Capital markets: debt offerings – Advice to underwriters Finance – Capital markets: equity offerings – Advice to issuers Finance – Capital markets: equity offerings – Advice to managers Finance – Commercial lending – Advice to borrowers Finance – Commercial lending – Advice to direct lenders/private credit Finance – Commercial lending: Advice to bank lenders Finance – Financial services regulation – Banking Finance – Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate Healthcare – Life sciences International trade and national security – CFIUS – CFIUS International trade and national security – Customs, export controls and economic sanctions Labor and employment – Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional M&A/corporate and commercial – M&A: large deals ($1bn+) M&A/corporate and commercial – Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+) Media, technology and telecoms – Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection) Media, technology and telecoms – Technology transactions Tax – International tax Tax – U.S. taxes: non-contentious Freshfields’ lawyers received 34 individual rankings, in addition to recognition for dozens of other U.S. lawyers across the firm’s corporate, dispute resolution and regulatory practices: Elizabeth Bieber (Next Generation Partners), Corporate governance (Next Generation Partners: Advice to boards), Shareholder activism Nigel Blackaby (Hall of Fame), International arbitration Stephanie Brown Cripps (Next Generation Partners), Customs, export controls and economic sanctions Colin Costello (Leading Associates), CFIUS Mary Eaton (Leading Partners) M&A litigation: defense and Securities litigation: defense Sebastian Fain (Leading Partners), M&A: large deals ($1bn+) Boris Feldman (Hall of Fame), Securities litigation: defense Valerie Ford Jacob (Hall of Fame), Capital markets: debt offerings and Capital markets: equity offerings Nicole Foster (Leading Partners) Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional Elliot Friedman (Leading Partners), International arbitration Jenny Hochenberg (Leading Partners), M&A: large deals ($1bn+) Vinita Kailasanath (Next Generation Partners), Life sciences Ethan Klingsberg (Hall of Fame), M&A: large deals ($1bn+) Meredith Kotler (Hall of Fame), M&A litigation: defense; (Leading partners), Securities litigation: defense Christine Lyon (Leading Partners) Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection) Pamela Marcogliese (Hall of Fame), Corporate governance; (Next Generation Partners), Capital markets: debt offerings Noiana Marigo (Leading Partners), International arbitration Aimen Mir (Leading Partners), CFIUS Caroline Richard (Leading Partners), International arbitration Lee Rovinescu (Next Generation Partners), International arbitration Jordan Salzman (Leading Associates) Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional Sarah Solum (Leading Partners), Capital markets: equity offerings Claude Stansbury (Leading Partners), International tax Paige von Mehren (Leading Associates), International litigation Nabeel Yousef (Next Generation Partners), Customs, export controls and economic sanctions Marissa Yu (Leading Associates), Technology transactions Kimberly Zelnick (Next Generation Partners), International litigation Damien Zoubek (Leading Partners),M&A: large deals ($1bn+) Taryn Zucker (Next Generation Partners), Capital markets: equity offerings Rankings are determined by Legal 500’s research team based on data pertaining to matters and innovations achieved by the firm for clients, thought leadership introduced by attorneys and feedback from peers and clients, including industry-leading, publicly traded companies in the U.S.
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