An Engage for Success case study from the cross cultures subgroup

1. Cross-Cultures Engagement
A Case Study
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
International Film Festival, 2011

2. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Introduction
“Challenging times call
for creative and bold
solutions and running an
International Film
Festival was the best
way for us to achieve a
sense of unity and
pride.”
Global Managing Partner
 An International Film Festival created in the heart of the credit crunch as a bold, confident
and robust way to support the continued excellence of delivery of services to our clients in
unprecedented markets requiring entirely innovative thinking. The International Film Festival
reinforced firm values, increased engagement and unleashed our lawyers’ creativity.
 Firm management’s strong belief was that at this time of crisis, the firm must pull together
across our - at the time - 27 office network and challenged the internal communications
department to deliver a global campaign which resulted in closer international ties, lived the
values of the firm (in particular ‘imagination’ and ‘outstanding teamwork’) and raised
engagement levels.
 A small central team worked closely with local office film teams who were each tasked with
creating a five-minute film which creatively demonstrated our firm’s values. Offices wrote
scripts, acted in the film and 17 completed films were submitted, covering 24 offices
(several offices collaborated to produce combined films within their country).
 Each office showed all 17 of the films within an agreed timeframe. Films were screened in
large rooms with the entire office attending. Popcorn and ice cream were provided and in
one office, a cinema was hired. A supporting global communications campaign ran
throughout the International Film Festival, running ‘teasers’ of the films to be shown and
featuring the firm’s top management.
 Working closely with our IT department, we developing an on-line voting system where the
whole firm was invited to vote on their favourite film in three categories: Best Film; Best
Cast; the Angel Award for the film that best captured the spirit of the firm.
 A globally coordinated Awards Ceremony was held, with offices around the world holding a
celebratory party at the same time and, in an unprecedented use of technology, a great
many offices took part in the Awards Ceremony via a live video link-up.
 The number and quality of the films, the huge numbers of votes, the number of people
hooking into the Awards Ceremony and the terrific amount of feedback on the benefits of
the International Film Festival made it clear that we had achieved our goals.

3. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Rationale
With the credit crisis severely impacting the global economy, our lawyers more than ever
needed to draw support from the firm’s values. We wanted to reinforce what makes the firm so
capable and reassure our lawyers that our 250 year history meant we would not only survive
but thrive under such intense conditions.
We wanted people to feel a strong sense of connection to the firm at a time when the world felt
very uncertain, and we wanted people to feel confident when there was little to be found
externally.
We knew it would not be easy to positively engage our global workforce of around 5,000
people in an exercise requiring them to look away from their local markets, and temporarily
away from the intensity of their working environment.
Through exercising significant collaborative skills and a deep understanding of the firm, we
were able to ensure a truly engaging experience across the entire network, as well as utilise
untested technological solutions to global communications which will be used in the future.

4. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Impact
A huge proportion of our offices chose to take part in the International Film Festival – 23 of 27
in total – and about a fifth of the firm participated in the online voting (with around 80 per cent of
the votes coming from outside London).
The screenings held in each office had a very high turn-out. Some offices even chose to hire
external venues – such as a local cinema, complete with red carpet and popcorn.
And, despite the challenges of time differences around the world, 16 of our offices took part in
the live video link-up – at that time, the firm’s first ever ‘virtual’ global party.
We built on the foundations of greater global collaboration achieved through the International
Film Festival by subsequently developing the firm’s first and only global on-line communication
platform. Utilising social media and video, the vehicle ‘Freshfields ThisWeek’ intends to
continue connections, all in a confident and informative way.
The International Film Festival was recognized as the “Most Effective Internal Communication”
in The Lawyer HR Awards 2011.