Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
Technical innovation, platform migration and digital brand evolutionA story of technical innovation, platform migration, digital brand evolution and seamless integration following a major merger
A global challenge
Integration of two leading firms
Over the past two years, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has embarked on a bold digital transformation to strengthen its global presence and deliver a best-in-class client experience.
This journey combined technology modernisation, a refreshed digital brand, and strategic content restructuring, all culminating in the successful integration of two leading firms.
Services employed
Platform Selection
Magnolia DXP
HSF Kramer selected Magnolia DXP in partnership with Konstructive and Magnolia, moving beyond traditional enterprise CMS solutions to embrace an open, flexible architecture. Content applications were built to deliver curation workflows and client engagement spaces. This choice enabled:
- Intuitive editorial workflows for faster content delivery.
- Integration with internal systems for operational efficiency.
- Personalisation and governance capabilities to support global compliance and client engagement. Magnolia’s capabilities in this area were essential in creating a technology landscape of change and competitive innovation for the firm
The result: a future-ready platform designed to drive innovation and competitive advantage.
UX design and migration
marketing engineering
Our end-to-end approach and delivery included:
- Comprehensive UX and creative direction aligned with brand guidelines.
- Collaboration with HSF Kramer’s branding teams in Melbourne and London to refine their digital voice
- WCAG-compliant design system for accessibility
- Front-end and back-end development
- Migration of thousands of pages from Drupal to Magnolia
- Strategic consulting to ensure scalability
By adopting a continuous staged delivery model, we mitigated risk and delivered on time and within budget.
Global integration
Risk-mitigated launch
In June 2025, HSF Kramer was formed through the merger of Herbert Smith Freehills and Kramer Levin, strengthening its position as a global legal powerhouse.
Leveraging Magnolia DXP and our prior work enabled a seamless digital integration:
- Unified taxonomies across both firms for consistent content creation
- GEO-IP targeting and personalisation to target content for Asia-Pacific, EMEA, and Americas.
- Smooth domain migration and data import from Kramer’s legacy CMS
- Risk-mitigated launch of a unified global digital presence with the strategic alignment of practice taxonomies and partner bios targeted to jurisdiction.
Key takeaways
increased market share, traffic and engagement
Technology as a growth enabler: a modern DXP unlocks personalisation, governance and scalability.
Content strategy matters: Structured migration and taxonomy alignment drive engagement.
Digital readiness accelerates integration: A robust platform simplifies mergers and global expansion.
Rising from 25th to 8th place
with UK traffic up 145.86% YoY*
The Konstructive Top 560 Legal Report shows that Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer entered the top 10, climbing impressively from outside the top 25 into 8th place with a substantial total UK traffic growth of +145.86% YoY*
* Comparing FY2024 vs FY2025