MBR&M raids US rival for Brussels expansion

Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw (MBR&M) has raided the Brussels office of US firm Keller and Heckman for a three-person team and halved the size of the Washington DC firm in Belgium.

EU regulatory specialist Jean-Philippe Montfort joined MBR&M on 8 March. Associates Anna Gergely and Sébastien Louvion are set to follow in the next few weeks.

Montfort is chairman of the Chemical Working Group of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (Amcham EU) and is one of the leading legal experts on 'Reach', the upcoming EU regulatory regime for chemicals.

Kiran Desai, a partner in MBR&M's Brussels office, said: "The value of work concerning Reach and other EU regulatory standards will grow materially over the next 10 years. Having in-house expertise on these regulations places us in a prime position to help clients address such major governmental pressures."

MBR&M has recently been busy ramping up its Brussels office. In October it landed a trio of Coudert Brothers lawyers, including international trade law partner Paulette Vander Schueren.