Category: On the Move

Squire Sanders has announced its merger with the American Patton Boggs law firm, and as of June 1, 2014 — when the merger goes into affect — will begin operating under the name Squire Patton Boggs.

The new entity — which will add Patton Boggs’ 300 lawyers to Squire Sanders’ 1300 — will have 1,600 lawyers and 45 offices in 21 countries, which the firm claims will place is squarely among the top 25 firms globally by headcount, and 8th in number of offices around the world. According to a jointly-issued press release, “the combined firm will bring together Squire Sanders’ top ranked global legal platform and Patton Boggs’ preeminent public policy, white collar and other practices to provide clients with unparalleled geographic reach, breadth and depth of practice capabilities and unmatched knowledge in matters where law, government and business intersect.” 

Jim Maiwurm, the Chair and Global CEO of Squire Sanders, is unsurprisingly enthusiastic about the news. “Today marks an important day in the history of our firm. Patton Boggs is the premier public policy firm in the world, and this combination establishes us as the ‘go-to’ firm for public policy work. We also gain a leading position in the Middle East and several new locations in the United States, while deepening our bench in a number of important practices areas, all of which strengthen our service platform,” he said.  “Through our discussions we have gained a great deal of respect for the partnership and culture of Patton Boggs. We are very pleased to combine leading global and public policy firms with diverse and strong practices and client bases, strong regional positions and international orientations. Together we will be uniquely positioned to respond to the needs of business clients around the world.”  

Ed Newberry, the Managing Partner of Patton Boggs, shared Maiwurm’s confidence. “Squire Sanders is recognized as a one of the industry’s leading global law firms with practice and industry expertise in key financial markets spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East,” he said. “The platform and collective expertise created through this combination provide considerable opportunities to access new markets, engage clients in new ways and attract and retain top talent. I couldn’t be more excited for the future of our firm.”  

Just days after announcing that it is closing its Prague office, Hogan Lovells has announced a series of changes to its International Management Committee (IMC) effective as of July 1,2014 — including the news that Continental Europe Regional MP Christoph Kueppers will be stepping down, to be replaced by Madrid-based Partner Burkhart Goebel.

According to Hogan Lovells, “the IMC is the body that is responsible for setting and implementing the strategic direction and business operations of the firm and is made up of the heads of Hogan Lovells’ five practice groups and five administrative regions.” The other changes announced by the firm include the addition of four new members (Cole Finegan, David Gibbons, Burkhart Goebel, and Sharon Lewis), and that (1) Steve Immelt will be stepping down as co-head of Litigation, Arbitration and Employment to become Hogan Lovells’ CEO, so that the practice group will now be solely led by Michael Davison (current global co-head); (2) David Hudd will be stepping down from the role of Finance practice group head to become deputy CEO, to be replaced by Paris-based Finance Partner Sharon Lewis; (3) Andrew Skipper and Stuart Stein will be stepping down from their roles as Corporate practice group co-heads, and the group will now be led solely by Baltimore-based Partner David Gibbon; and (4) Dennis Tracey will be stepping down as RMP for the Americas, to be replaced by Denver-based Cole Finegan.

According to incoming CEO Steve Immelt: “I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to those members of the IMC who are stepping down for their considerable contribution, in many cases stretching back a significant number of years. The changes that I am making are designed to build on what we have achieved under the leadership of David and Warren. They are designed to reinforce the foundations for the continued growth and development of the firm.” 

White & Case has strengthened its UK Banking practice with the addition of new Partner Colin Harley in the firm’s London office.

Harley, who joins the firm’s Global Banking Practice, focuses primarily on advising financial sponsors and alternative capital providers on all forms of borrower finance. He joins from Maclay Murray & Spens, and previously worked at Dickson Minto. He brings with him over 12 years of experience.

“The addition of Colin will enhance our bank finance capability in the UK,” said White & Case Partner Eric Berg, Global Banking Practice Leader. “As a dedicated borrower-side lawyer, Colin will have a particular role to play in our drive to establish a leading pan-European, cross-border private equity practice based in London.”

“Colin is an energetic, technically astute lawyer with excellent experience,” said White & Case Partner Lee Cullinane, Regional Section Head, EMEA Banking. “He has developed strong borrower-side characteristics to his practice which will help intensify our focus on the representation of sponsors, with clients benefiting from increasingly sophisticated finance advice to support the English, US and local law capability White & Case already provides in all the major jurisdictions in which private equity funds invest or raise finance.”

In the past year White & Case has expanded its EMEA Private Equity practice with the addition of Partners Ian Bagshaw, Richard Youle, and Ross Allardice in London, as well as the recent hire of Equity Capital Markets Partner Inigo Esteve.

Since the beginning of 2014 the firm’s Private Equity-related work has included advising Polish mobile telecoms operator Play on its inaugural EUR 870 million high yield bond issue (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 7), Innovia Group on its debut floating rate high yield bond issue, Avast Software on its sale of a significant minority stake to CVC Capital Partners (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 7), Mid Europa Partners on the sale of T-Mobile Czech Republic to Deutsche Telekom (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 12), and DX (Group)’s IPO and admission to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Dentons has hired three new partners, four counsel, and six associates for its Real Estate Group in Europe so far in 2014.

The firm’s recent hires include Paris-based Partner Alexandre Poupard from Allen & Overy, Partner Oren Harpaz and Counsel Nir Assido from Tel Aviv law firm Yehuda Raveh & Co, and Partner Philipp Windemuth, previously with Orrick, who joined the group together with two Counsel, Olga Sandler (working out of the New York office) and Joachim Homeister. Windemuth will divide his time between Berlin and Moscow. The Frankfurt real estate practice also added Counsel Sabine Wieduwilt from Orrick.

In addition to the new partner and counsel arrivals, six real estate associates joined the European Real Estate Group in the Dentons London, Madrid, Berlin, Prague and St. Petersburg offices.

In an official statement, Eric Rosedale and Pawel Debowski, Co-Chairs of Dentons’ European Real Estate Group, expressed their shared enthusiasm at the new hires, saying, “the recent additions of 12 new European real estate specialists to our team signify our commitment to growing our talent pool in the midst of a very positive real estate cycle in virtually all of our European markets.” And Evan Lazar, who co-chairs the Global Real Estate Group with Eric Rosedale, added that “these additions reflect our longstanding strategy of growing our Western European capacity while maintaining our market leading position in Central and Eastern Europe.”

CMS has announced the appointment of 31 Partners across Europe — including 8 in CEE.

Among the newly-made Partners are Simona Marin (Romania-Banking), Przemyslaw Kucharski (Poland-Real Estate), Assen Georgiev (Bulgaria-Regulatory/Disputes), Martin Wodraschke (Hungary-Regulatory/Disputes), Lukas Janicek (Czech Republic-Energy, Projects, and Construction), Loredana Mihailescu (Romania-Energy, Projects, and Construction), Valeriy Fedoreev (Russia-Employment), and Monika Ploier (Austria-Lifesciences). With the exception of Ploier, who’s with CMS Reich-Rohrwig in Vienna, the promoted lawyers are all with CMS Cameron McKenna (though Fedoreev, in Russia, works in an office jointly-managed by several CMS firms).

CMS Executive Chairman Cornelius Brandi said of the promotions that, “with the creation of 31 new partners across a wide range of jurisdictions, we are establishing the ‘next generation’ of colleagues who will continue to take CMS forward.”

Musat & Asociatii announced today that four more lawyers have joined its partnership ranks.

The four are Madalina Berechet, Madalin Enache, Iulian Iosif, and Razvan Graure, all former Managing Associates within the firm. Graure was appointed to co-head the firm’s Tax practice, while Enache will co-head the Business Penal Law practice. This promotion round brings the firm’s partnership number to 20.

Berechet is a litigator with over 10 years of experience in civil and commercial litigation. She has represented firms in litigations related to real estate and construction, banking, energy, utilities, PPP and infrastructure, tax, and restructurings and insolvency.

Enache focuses on Business Penal law and has represented clients in the IT/TMT, banking/finance and capital markets, pharmaceutical, real estate, energy, and utilities industries.

Iosif specializes in insolvency work. He advises clients in both pre-insolvency and insolvency/bankruptcy prevention procedures as well as debt recovery. He also advises on corporate restructurings, labor law and general corporate matters.

Graure has over 12 years of experience working primarily in tax. He is a member of the ACCA and an Authorized Fiscal Consultant, and has advised clients in a variety of industries such as FMCG, retail, automotive, and energy.

According to Mona Musat, Managing Partner of Musat & Asociatii, a promotion to Partner is by far “the strongest proof of trust and the most sincere reward” that a firm can offer its lawyers. She further stated that these promotions are meant to acknowledge the four’s input towards the successes and growth of their practice areas within the firm.

Following on the already-reported news that Wolf Theiss has made Ileana Glodeanu a Partner in its Bucharest office, the firm announced today that it had made four more partners in various CEE offices. Lawyers Laura Struc (Ljubljana), Katerina Kraeva and Radoslav Mikov (Sofia) and Sebastian Oberzaucher (Vienna) all joined the Wolf Theiss partnership along with Glodeanu.

Struc joined Wolf Theiss in 2007, after graduating from the University of Vienna in 2001 and earning an LL.M. degree in U.S. and Global Business Law from Suffolk University, Boston. Laura works in the fields of Corporate/M&A, Insolvency & Restructuring, Banking & Finance and is specialized in cross border transactions and restructurings. Her professional experience includes work at the European Court of Justice and a Viennese insolvency law firm. She is a lecturer for Slovenian Business Law at the Vienna University of Economics and author of several publications on Slovenian law.

Kraeva has over fifteen years of professional experience in Bulgaria. She started her career as in-house lawyer in Bulgarian banks and subsequently moved to international private practice, where she held senior positions at Cameron McKenna and DLA Piper before joining Wolf Theiss. In her practice she advises lenders and borrowers  on a variety of projects such as Islamic finance, mezzanine finance and aircraft financing. Her core practice areas are Banking & Finance and Corporate/M&A, and she is specialized in financial services regulation.

Mikov joined Wolf Theiss as Senior Associate in January 2010 as part of the merger with the DLA Piper Bulgaria team. He gained experience in the Energy and Regulatory sectors in Bulgaria and his previous work includes an in-house lawyer position at a Nuclear Power Plant in Bulgaria and head of regulatory management at E.ON Bulgaria. Mikov covers a wide spectrum of issues related to the energy regulatory framework. In addition, he is experienced in the legal aspects of multi-disciplinary due diligence projects with respect to regulatory and real estate law matters in the energy sector. He has been involved in the decision making processes of several large energy sector stakeholders operating in Bulgaria. 

Oberzaucher joined the public procurement team of Wolf Theiss in 2010, after working several years for CMS. He studied law at the University of Vienna and was admitted to the Austrian Bar in 2011. His main area of expertise is public procurement law where he advises Austrian and international clients – both bidders and contracting authorities – on matters related to public tenders. He regularly advises contracting authorities on planning and implementing tender procedures, particularly in the infrastructure and the health care sectors. He advises and represents both contracting authorities as well as bidders in reviewing procedures. Moreover he advises bidders during tender procedures to safeguard full compliance of their bids with public procurement law. 

Partner and Spokesman of the Wolf Theiss Management Board, Erik Steger, commented: “It gives me great pleasure to announce that the partnership has promoted five new Partners. It is a privilege to have them on board – these promotions show the extraordinary potential of the firm, even in the prevailing economic situation.”

Dentons announced today that Philipp Windemuth has joined the firm, bringing his Russia/Germany/U.S. Corporate/M&A practice and team with him from Orrick.

Windemuth specializes particularly in M&A, Real Estate, and Financing transactions. H will be based in Dentons’ Moscow and Berlin offices, and joins together with Of Counsels Olga Sandler and Joachim Homeister and Associate Elena Homeister.

After working at Cleary Gottlieb in New York from 1987 and 1991, Windemuth became one of the founders of legacy Salans’ Moscow and St. Petersburg offices. He then left the firm in 2005 to work at White & Case, and moved to Orrick in 2010/2011.

Windemuth is a member of the Russian Venture Capital Association Working Group on Russian Legal Improvement, a member of the US/Russia Legal Innovation Working Group and a member of the Board of the East and Central Europe Association (Germany). He is a native bilingual English and German speaker and is also fluent in Russian.

Florian Schneider, Dentons’ Moscow Office Managing Partner, said of the acquisition that: “We are very enthusiastic about Philipp joining our team. He is a well-known lawyer with prodigious expertise in Russian M&A and financing transactions. The fact that one of our former partners—one of our founders in Russia—is back with the firm, is another positive sign of the impact of Dentons’ combination on our practice.”

Andreas Ziegenhagen, Managing Partner of Dentons Germany, is also pleased: “It couldn’t be better. We are always happy to welcome new arrivals, and in this case, we are already familiar with Philipp’s exceptional work as an advisor; this makes the cooperation within the teams easy and safe.”

Dvorak Hager & Partners has announced that lawyers Jan Krampera and Jiri Smatlak have been made Managing Associates at the firm.

Krampera was also promoted to head of the firm’s Litigation team. Smatlak will remain in the firm’s Corporate and Real Estate Practices and continue to advise the firm’s German speaking clients. 

Both Krampera and Smatlan joined Dvorak Hager & Partners in 2009.