New development and expansion at Gleiss Lutz
Patrick Kaffiné joins corporate team in Frankfurt;
New office planned in Düsseldorf
Gleiss Lutz continues its dynamic development, expanding the practice in line with the firm’s strategic focuses: This past weekend, Gleiss Lutz’ partners agreed to hire Patrick Kaffiné as a lateral for the Frankfurt office’s corporate team. Gleiss Lutz also promoted two further lawyers from each of its Frankfurt and Stuttgart offices to partner status (from its labour, antitrust and real estate practices). In addition, Gleiss Lutz decided to open a new office in Düsseldorf. Its offices in Prague and Warsaw will become part of Austrian law firm Schönherr and will continue to cooperate with Gleiss Lutz and its international alliance.
1. Latest hire Kaffiné will help Gleiss Lutz further expand its corporate practice
Dr. Patrick Kaffiné, who has worked for Lovells’ Frankfurt office since 2004, will be joining Gleiss Lutz as a partner, further strengthening its corporate practice. Dr. Kaffiné will be joining the Frankfurt office, which currently boasts a 60-strong team of lawyers. The exact transition date has yet to be set.
Dr. Kaffiné specialises in international M&A transactions with a particular focus on advising private equity investors, and thus perfectly complements Gleiss Lutz’ corporate team. Dr. Kaffiné has been named by JUVE Handbook as one of the leading German lawyers in M&A for the fourth year in a row, as well as by Chambers Global Handbook as a leading practitioner in private equity over the past two years. Some of his work includes advising RWE on the sale of the RWE Solutions Group to Advent International, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG on the acquisition of the ICTS Group from Fraport AG and EQT on the sale of the Sirona Group to Madison Dearborn Partners.
Dr. Kaffiné on his decision to join Gleiss Lutz: “The move is not an easy one, above all due to my close personal ties to Lovells, but Gleiss Lutz’ outstanding reputation and its strategic alignment offer a great platform for enhancing my practice. Combined with Gleiss Lutz’ exceptional corporate culture, this was a very rare opportunity.” Rainer Loges, managing partner of Gleiss Lutz, has this to say: “Patrick Kaffiné is a fantastic lawyer, who fits very well into our Frankfurt office and will bolster it in the crucial areas of corporate and private equity. He will help us become bigger, better and more successful.”
2. Gleiss Lutz elects four new partners
From 1 January 2009 four associate partners will join the partnership:
Dr. Ulrich Denzel started out at Gleiss Lutz’ Stuttgart office in 2003. He specialises in German and European antitrust law, merger control and distribution law and advised HeidelbergCement AG, South African Sasol Group and ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG in antitrust proceedings.
Dr. Steffen Krieger, who joined the Stuttgart office in 2003, specialises in labour law, especially restructuring, litigation and antidiscrimination. An additional focus of his work is on the labour law aspects of transactions, such as, for example, his advising of the Swedish SCA Group on the purchase of Procter & Gamble’s European tissue business (including brands such as Tempo, Charmin, Bounty etc.).
Dr. Tim Weber has been with the Berlin office since 2003. He advises clients on real estate deals, in particular, as well as M&A transactions with a real estate dimension, such as STRABAG SE’s recent acquisition of DeTe Immobilien from Deutsche Telekom AG. Tim Weber will be joining the Frankfurt office as partner.
Dr. Thomas Winzer joined Gleiss Lutz’ Stuttgart office in 2002. He has been working for the firm’s Frankfurt office since 2007. He advises companies on labour law issues, with a focus on restructuring and transactions. His clients include Dresdner Bank and DZ Bank, and he recently advised Blackstone on its purchase of the Hilton Hotel Group.
3. New office in Düsseldorf
Gleiss Lutz is planning – likely during the first half of 2009 – to open an office in Düsseldorf. For this purpose very distinguished partners will be relocating to the Düsseldorf office. Corporate will be a major focus of the office. Two patent litigation partners will also be moving to the Düsseldorf office. The team will be strengthened by new additions beforehand. The office will also include additional practice areas.
The opening of the office in Düsseldorf underscores Gleiss Lutz’ commitment, as a leading international law firm in Germany, to providing first-class legal advice for high-profile clients.
The partners opening the Düsseldorf office include:
Dr. Stefan Mutter, with Gleiss Lutz’ Stuttgart office since 1996. His focus is on stock corporation law in particular. He advises on group and transformation law, takeover and securities trading law as well as M&A. In the last eleven years he has advised eleven DAX 30 groups and numerous listed stock corporations in other market segments. For example he was the lead lawyer advising T-Online International AG on its merger with Deutsche Telekom AG and is currently advising Allianz Lebensversicherungs AG in connection with its squeeze-out. With well over one hundred publications, Stefan Mutter has also made a name for himself in the area of stock corporation law as an author and referee.
Dr. Alexander Schwarz has been with Gleiss Lutz since 1998. He is an experienced transactional lawyer and advises clients on international M&A and private equity transactions as well as on joint ventures. He recently advised RREEF and Pirelli RE on its acquisition of the Karstadt real estate portfolio as well as Gruppo Banca Leonardo on its merger with Drueker & Co. In “European Legal Experts” he is cited as a leading expert in Germany for his area, JUVE lists him as a frequently-recommended lawyer.
Dr. Thomas Bopp has been a lawyer at Gleiss Lutz since 1989. He set up the firm’s patent law practice and ranks among the top patent lawyers in Germany. His focuses are on pharmaceuticals, medical technology and electronics. He has been very successful in representing renowned national and international clients and, particularly in the area of pharmaceuticals, he has played a leading role in nearly all significant patent proceedings over the last several years.
Dr. Matthias Sonntag, a lawyer at Gleiss Lutz since 2002, advises clients in patent-related disputes, particularly in the areas of consumer electronics and IT. Other focuses of his are technology transfer and transaction-related advising, for example for Blackstone on its recent investment in a wind farm worth billions. JUVE also lists him as a frequently-recommended lawyer for patent proceedings.
4. Gleiss Lutz offices in Prague and Warsaw set to become associated offices of Gleiss Lutz and its international alliance
From 1 January 2009, Gleiss Lutz’ offices in Prague and Warsaw will become part of leading Austrian law firm Schönherr and will continue to cooperate with Gleiss Lutz and its international alliance.
Gleiss Lutz opened the offices in Prague and Warsaw in 1992 and 1998 respectively. Its partners Martin Nedelka, Martin Kubánek (both Prague), Pawel Siekierzynski, Przemyslaw Pietrzak (Warsaw) and Torsten Bogen (counsel in Warsaw) and their teams have well-established practices in their local markets and will be a good strategic fit for Schönherr who already has nine offices throughout Central and Eastern Europe. In return, this co-operation will provide the Czech and Polish lawyers with ample opportunities to build on their leading positions in their domestic markets.
Rainer Loges, managing partner of Gleiss Lutz, comments: “To be successful as a law firm, you regularly have to review your strategy. We opened our offices in Prague and Warsaw initially to help our clients enter these markets. Today, our clients’ demands have changed and we believe that our clients’ needs will be better served by aligning our Eastern European offices with a firm whose strategic focus is on CEE. We look forward to working closely with our colleagues as part of our alliance. We, as a firm, will continue to focus on our core strengths, namely providing high-end advice to domestic and international companies.”
Gleiss Lutz’s international strategy is based on providing clients with a service that is completely integrated and provides consistently premium quality throughout Europe, Asia, the US and the Middle East.
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