European moves: 12 November 2015

Baltics

Lithuanian law firm SKV Law has become a member of network CEE Attorneys, expanding its geographical coverage from the Czech Republic, Poland and the Slovak Republic.

Benelux

Clifford Chance has appointed Jeroen Ouwehand as its new Amsterdam office managing partner. His four-year term started on 1 November 2015. Ouwehand succeeds Bas Boris Visser, who was appointed as Clifford Chance’s global head of innovation and business change earlier this year.

DLA Piper has also appointed a new managing partner in the Netherlands. Paul Hopman took over from Richard Fens on 1 November. Fens has led the office in Amsterdam for almost five years and will now focus on his corporate practice.

Dutch firm Van Doorne has strengthened its corporate private equity team with the addition of corporate partner Jeroen Sombezki. Sombezki will split his time between London and Amsterdam and joins from Stibbe, where he was a counsel.

Central & Eastern Europe

French firm Jeantet is launching in Hungary and Ukraine with the hire of Gide Loyrette Nouel’s teams in Budapest and Kiev. Jeantet is picking up two partners through the hires – Paris-based Karl Hepp de Sevelinges from the Ukraine team, and Budapest head François d’Ornano. Gide local partner Bertrand Barrier, in Ukraine, is also making the move and will be a local partner at Jeantet, leading the office on the ground. In total, around 30 lawyers are expected to join Jeantet although a number have recently left the two offices.

White & Case has lost former disputes head Pawel Pietkiewicz to Greenberg Traurig in Warsaw, at the same time as three of its litigators are understood to be departing for Baker & McKenzie. Pietkiewicz joined White & Case in 2011 and has been appointed to head up Greenberg Traurig’s litigation and arbitration team. Meanwhile local partners Łukasz Hejmej, Tomasz Manicki and Sebastian Pabian are all understood to be making the move to Bakers.

Romanian firm Maravela & Asociaţii has made its first partner promotion since its foundation in 2013. Ioan Roman has joined the partnership and will also act as co-head of the dispute resolution department.

Bird & Bird has announced the promotion of three counsel to partner, effective from 1 November. Prague IP group head Vojtěch Chloupek, Warsaw IP and TMT head Piotr Dynowski and Brussels tax head Brent Springael all join the partnership.

France

Gide Loyrette Nouel has absorbed the Paris office of Spanish ally Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira, picking up partner Nuria Bové and three other lawyers to create an Iberian desk. The Iberian desk will support Iberian and Latin American companies on their operations in France, as well as French clients on their operations in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America.

Meanwhile four senior associates have quit Gide to establish a boutique, Almain. The quartet – Cécile Davanne-Mortreux, Jérôme Debost, Thomas Fleinert-Jensen and Edgard Nguyen – have all worked together at Gide for a number of years. Davanne-Mortreux and Nguyen bring expertise in corporate law, Debost is an employment specialist and Fleinert-Jensen focuses on contracts and commercial litigation. The four are joined by two of counsel specialising in tax and public law.

Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier has hired François Kopf as a restructuring partner. Kopf joins from Dethomas Peltier Kopf Juvigny, where he was a partner, having previously worked at Sullivan & Cromwell. Following his departure his old firm has renamed itself as Dethomas Peltier Juvigny.

De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés has hired Anne-Hélène Le Trocquer as a corporate partner. Le Trocquer was previously general counsel of CBRE Global Investors France since July 2013.

Bird & Bird has hired Thomas Oster as a partner in its competition and EU group in Paris. Oster has joined from Baker & McKenzie, where he was a counsel.

Germany

US firm Goodwin Procter is opening its first office in mainland Europe, hiring four Ashurst partners to launch its Frankfurt base. Real estate partners Marc Bohne and Peter Junghänel will kickstart Goodwin Procter’s German launch, with Junghänel having served as Ashurst’s Germany managing partner between 2009 and 2013. They will be joined by finance partner Stephan Kock and private equity partner Lars Jessen.

Herbert Smith Freehills is launching a third office in Germany, opening in Düsseldorf with the hire of former Clifford Chance partner Thomas Weimann. Weimann has started work at the firm but the Düsseldorf office will go live in the New Year, once the firm has organised the necessary infrastructure. Competition partner Michael Dietrich and his team will also relocate to Düsseldorf when the office is open.

DLA Piper has appointed Okko Behrends to strengthen and grow its finance and projects practice in Frankfurt. Behrends joins the firm from Latham & Watkins, where he was a partner.

McDermott Will & Emery has appointed Christian Krohs as partner in its Düsseldorf office. Krohs will join the firm with two associates at the end of the year and will be responsible for developing McDermott’s antitrust practice in Germany. He joins from KMPG Law in Cologne where he was the head of its antitrust group.

Fish & Richardson has announced that Martin Burda has joined the firm as a principal in the patent group in its Munich office. Previously, Burda was a patent attorney at IP firm Mitscherlich in Munich.

Rödl & Partner has announced the death of its founder and senior partner, Bernd Rödl, who passed away on 9 November 2015 at the age of 72 after suffering from cancer.

Iberia

PLMJ has appointed Rui Soares Pereira as a member of its arbitration team. Soares Pereira was most recently lecturing at the University of Lisbon and held a number of government positions.

Italy

Macchi di Cellere Gangemi has launched a London representative office. Stefano Macchi di Cellere will lead and supervise the new venture.

Nordics

Baker & McKenzie has appointed Costin Mihailescu as partner and Christian Reineby as associate from White & Case. Both were associates at their former firm and practise corporate law.

Switzerland

The Swiss Chambers’ Arbitration Institution has announced the appointment of Caroline Ming as executive director and general counsel. She was previously international legal counsel at inspection, verification, testing and certification company SGS.