European moves: 6 December 2012

Benelux

Stibbe has named four lawyers as partner in its annual promotion round. Employment lawyer Jérôme Aubertin is made up in Brussels, while Amsterdam gains three new partners. ICT lawyer Judica Krikke, corporate specialist Eva Das and litigator Matthijs Kuipers have all been promoted.

Central & Eastern Europe

Austrian firm CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati has promoted commercial lawyer Hans Kristoferitsch, and corporate specialist Heinrich Foglar-Deinhardstein to partner.

France

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is opening its fourth European office in January, launching in Paris with the hire of arbitration partner Philippe Pinsolle from Shearman & Sterling (3 December 2012). The Paris office will officially launch on 7 January 2013 and, like the rest of Quinn’s offices, will focus only on litigation and arbitration. Pinsolle has been a partner at Shearman since 2001 and has a particular focus on oil and gas. He acts both as counsel and arbitrator and is also admitted as an English barrister. Pinsolle will be the managing partner of the new office.

De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés has picked up three partners from Belgian firm Koan to launch a litigation and competition capability in Brussels. Partners Jean-Paul Hordies, Geoffroy de Foestraets and Bruno Lebrun have all joined De Gaulle Fleurance as the firm sets up a Brussels subsidiary. Hordies is based in Paris, while de Foestraets and Lebrun are in Brussels.

Gide Loyrette Nouel has promoted two lawyers to equity partner. Brussels competition lawyer Laurent Godfroid and Paris-based public law specialist Bénédicte Mazel have both been promoted.

French firm STC Partners has strengthened its teams with three new partner appointments in its corporate and tax teams. Of counsel Christine Le Breton becomes a partner in the corporate departments while of counsel Jérôme Talleux and associate Bertrand Araud have been promoted in the tax team.

Germany

Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek has appointed four new partners and five new salaried partners, with all appointments effective 1 January 2013. Hamburg corporate lawyer Kai Bandilla, Cologne insurance specialist Stefan Jöster, white-collar lawyer André-M. Szesny in Düsseldorf and Frankfurt employment lawyer Bernd Weller all become partners. Hamburg-based Johan-Michel Menke, Cord Tomhave and Dominik von Wissel as well as Cologne lawyers Tim Remmel and Madeleine Zipperl become salaried partners. The firm also announced a new management team; Andreas Urban was reelected managing partner responsible for strategy and marketing and Hans Gummerts was reelected managing partner responsible for finance. Pär Johansson succeeds Ulrike Gantenberg as the managing partner responsible for HR.

Friedrich Graf von Westphalen & Partner has re-elected joint managing partners Barbara Mayer and Carsten Laschet for a further two-year term.

Iberia

Baker & McKenzie has strengthened its white-collar crime team with the hire of Spanish National Court public prosecutor Jesús Santos Alonso as a partner. Santos Alonso became a public prosecutor in 1985 and joined the National Court in 1989.

Italy

Clifford Chance Italy managing partner Charles Adams has been elected to the firm’s management committee for a four-year term starting on 1 January 2013 (29 November 2012). Adams, a banking partner in Milan, will represent the firm’s Continental European offices alongside existing committee members Yves Wehrli in Paris and Andreas Dietzel in Frankfurt. He replaces Moscow finance partner Jan ter Haar, who has also confirmed he will be standing down as managing partner for the office at the end of 2012. He has been on the committee for four years. Ter Haar’s replacement as office chief will be finance partner L00ogan Wright, who takes over on 1 January next year.

Legance has appointed two new partners, effective as of 1 January 2013, Giuseppe Abbruzzese, who advises on administrative law, and Vito Auricchio, who advises on EU, antitrust and regulatory matters.

Nordics

Bird & Bird will cement its presence in Denmark in the new year by merging with its best friend in the country, Bender von Haller Dragsted (BvHD) (22 November 2012). The Danish boutique IT/IP firm, which has 15 lawyers, will be acquired by Bird & Bird in January 2013. The firms signed a strategic cooperation agreement, expanding Bird & Bird’s northern European network, at the start of the year.