FT Innovative Lawyers Awards
- Highly commended in three categories: responsible business, disputes and crisis management, and knowledge and data
- Commended in two categories: strategic direction and private finance
Global law firm Freshfields has been recognised as the Most Innovative Law Firm in Europe at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards Europe 2025. Hosted last night at the Natural History Museum in London, it recognised the firm’s work across multiple areas, assessed against four metrics: innovation, digital, people and social responsibility.
Freshfields was highly commended for its work in responsible business, after securing compensation for a modern slavery victim from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, setting a precedent for future claims.
The firm was also highly commended in disputes and crisis management, for helping reduce a €14bn antitrust class action involving Mastercard to €200m.
Its collaboration with Google to integrate the Gemini large language model into the Dynamic Due Diligence platform earned a further high commendation in the area of knowledge and data.
In private finance, Freshfields was commended for “advising CVC on its initial public offering of shares and stock market listing, completed in 2024. The work included complex multi-jurisdictional regulatory compliance and aligning the interests of diverse stakeholders.”
The firm also received a commendation for its strategic direction, recognising its ongoing US expansion.
The awards ceremony celebrates the best in innovation from law firms and in-house legal teams in Europe, recognising leaders in digital innovation, strategic advice, talent management and driving positive change in the profession.
The FT law firm index Europe 2025 placed Freshfields first out of the top 50 participating firms.
Freshfields Senior Partner Georgia Dawson (pictured) commented: “We are delighted to be awarded Most Innovative Firm by the FT. Our ambition to be the firm of the future with relentless focus on helping our clients succeed, investing in our people and leading with purpose is unwavering. We are enormously grateful to our colleagues around the firm for their dedication and commitment towards achieving our strategic aims.”
