Cassidy splits to form Brussels lobby firm

A team of lawyers has quit lobbyists Cassidy & Associates Europe to set up its own law firm in Brussels.

Former Advocate General of the European Court of Justice Siegbert Alber and former CEO of Cassidy in Brussels Andreas Geiger set up Alber & Geiger, a specialist government lobbying law firm in the Belgian capital last month.

Founding partner Geiger said: "We're the first lobbying-focused law firm in Europe and we're following the lobbying law model from Washington [DC].

"It wasn't possible for us to have this set-up under the umbrella of Interpublic, which owns Cassidy & Associates."

Cassidy is a US public governmental lobbying firm bought by Interpublic Group and which has branched out into Europe after having set up an office in Brussels 18 months ago.

Cassidy & Associates Europe employs six lawyers, all of whom moved to set up Alber & Geiger.