Three European firms have expanded their partner ranks, each promoting five new members in the past week.
In Spain, Pérez-Llorca appointed Fernando Bedoya, Beatriz García, Javier Gómez, Pedro Marques da Gama and José Suárez to bolster the firm’s corporate, public law, tax and litigation and arbitration practices.
The new additions increase the total number of partners at the Spanish firm to 38.
Senior partner Pedro Pérez-Llorca said: “[The appointments] accomplish a twofold objective. They are both a recognition of the excellent work of these five lawyers who have spent a substantial part of their careers at the firm and also something which will strengthen the corporate, litigation and arbitration, tax and public law practices, where we are experiencing significant and continued growth.”
Pérez-Llorca has been expanding globally over the last four years, opening a London office in 2014 and a New York office in 2015.
Noerr has also appointed five new equity partners across its German offices, four of whom are women.
In the Berlin office Meike von Levetzow specialises in civil, commercial and company law disputes as well as cartel damage claims. Bärbel Sachs focuses on German and international foreign trade, including export control, investment, customs, embargo and financial sanctions law.
Based in Munich and Düsseldorf, Annette Pospich is co-head of the real estate investment group and advises on real estate transactions in the retail, office and hotel sectors. In Munich, Ralph Schilha is a company law expert and advises national and international corporate groups and large family businesses on stock corporation, corporate group and capital markets law, and annual general meetings.
Dresden-based Marlies Raschke is an insolvency law specialist. She advises on restructuring and insolvency issues, as well as on M&A transactions.
The appointments mean that six of Munich’s 44 equity partners and five of Berlin’s 25 equity partners are now women.
In March 2017 Noerr launched a new office in Hamburg, making it the firm’s sixth base in Germany. They have 16 offices globally.
Walder Wyss has further announced its partner promotions for 2018. The new partners – Alexandre Both, Michael Cartier, Michael Feit, Hubertus Hillerström and Olivier Sigg – hail from across the Swiss firm’s practice areas.
Both and Hillerström specialise in corporate and finance work while Cartier and Feit focus on international arbitration and cross-border disputes. Sigg works in the firm’s private client practice.
The appointments come after the firm advised on some large deals in December, including Metall Zug Group’s acquisition of 70 per cent of Haag-Streit Holding and Deutsche Private Equity’s acquisition of a majority interest in AWK Group, one of the largest independent Swiss consulting companies for information technology and digitalisation.
Also looking to boost its ranks, Dutch firm Houthoff (previously Houthoff Buruma) has announced plans to double the size of its tax team to 30 tax advisers by the end of 2018.
Houthoff kicked off the expansion with the appointment of Paulus Merks as a partner in the tax team at the start of the year. This follows the recent addition of Peter Josten to the practice group.
Previously a tax lawyer for DLA Piper in Holland and before that, EY, Merks advises on M&A transactions, restructurings, reorganisations, public offerings and transfer pricing.
Houthoff managing partner Edward de Bock said: “Adding these new faces means a stronger market position for our tax team. With specialists in every discipline of tax law, we can further improve our services to our clients.”
Houthoff currently has 300 lawyers and 46 partners across all of its practice areas. In October it announced a re-brand in which it shortened its name, unveiled a new website and announced a new recruitment campaign.
