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Freshfields leaders discuss carving out AI unit Freshfields Lab for outside investors
Senior Freshfields partners have discussed placing the firm's legal AI unit, Freshfields Lab, into a separate legal entity that could take external investment or list publicly, according to a leaked internal email exchange first reported by the Financial Times on October 14, 2026. Leaders believe a carve-out could create a company worth billions.
Announcement (The Lawyer) → · Legal Business, Australian Financial Review
Key points
- Global managing partner Alan Mason and U.S. corporate and M&A co-head Ethan Klingsberg discussed the idea in an internal email exchange.Legal BusinessAustralian Financial Review
- Mason wrote that he was putting "a lot of work" into a separate entity that could bring in external investors or pursue an IPO.Australian Financial Review
- Mason named two Wall Street banks that he said had approached the firm about the plan.Australian Financial Review
- The unit at the center of the discussions is Freshfields Lab, the firm's legal artificial intelligence business.Australian Financial Review
- Leaders believe a carved-out AI business could be worth billions.Legal BusinessThe Lawyer