Freshfields Cum-Ex Repercussions
It has been a difficult year for Freshfields. In PR terms it has been an annus horribilis, and the enormity of the challenge faced by the firm’s first female senior partner, Georgia Dawson, cannot be understated.
Seemingly unable to move on from damaging #MeToo allegations; suggestions of an inappropriate drinking culture; an incomplete UK move to Bishopsgate; and a succession of high-profile departures culminating in Skadden’s poaching of Bruce Embley on the eve of Dawson’s appointment; all have contributed to keeping Freshfields in the press for the wrong reasons.
At the same time, and perhaps most important of all, there is the reputational elephant in the room: namely, the cum-ex scandal in Germany. This involves aggressive tax strategies that were championed by a former Freshfields partner so as to take advantage of apparent loopholes in German dividends tax law. (See ‘Der Freshfields-Skandal‘ for detailed analysis.)
