Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has signed a 15-year lease to move into larger offices in Lower Manhattan’s 3 World Trade Centre building.

The Magic Circle UK firm will take up 180,000 sq ft of space across four floors in New York's fifth-tallest skyscraper, significantly increasing its footprint from the 110,000 sq ft it occupies at its current base at 601 Lexington Avenue in Midtown.

Scheduled for early 2024, Freshfields said the move would support its growth push stateside, which has seen it hire more than 200 lawyers in the US over the last three years. A spokesperson said Freshfields' Midtown office had reached capacity.

The firm currently lists 189 lawyers as based in New York, out of a total US workforce of 289.

Olivia Radin, Freshfields’ New York office managing partner, said: “We are nothing short of thrilled to announce these plans. 3 World Trade Center is one of the most technologically advanced, sustainable and transit-oriented buildings in the country.”

Freshfields secured a landmark lateral hire in New York last September when Cravath Swaine & Moore partner Damien Zoubek came on board to co-head its US corporate and M&A practice. Then in May, former Cravath colleague and M&A partner Jenny Hochenberg joined him at the UK firm. 

In February last year, the firm signed a 10-year office lease in Redwood City to house its Silicon Valley team. By opening a permanent home in Silicon Valley, Freshfields became the first Magic Circle firm to enter the West Coast legal market since Clifford Chance exited the region in 2007.

Freshfields will join companies including Uber, McKinsey, Diageo and Hudson River Trading at 3 World Trade Centre. 

In June, Clifford Chance announced it would be moving its 500 New York-based employees to Brookfield Properties’ Two Manhattan West, which is under construction and set to be finished next year. It is leasing 144,000 sq ft and will begin moving its workforce there in 2024, according to Law Teller.