All the latest partner hires and other appointments within Continental European firms and offices.
Benelux
Bird & Bird has appointed Scott McInnes as a partner in Brussels. McInnes joins from MasterCard, where he was senior regulatory counsel. He previously worked as an associate in the Brussels competition law team of Jones Day, where he advised MasterCard for six years before joining the company in 2012.
GSK Stockmann & Kollegen has expanded its Luxembourg office with the hire of Mathilde Ostertag as a local tax partner. Ostertag joins from Stibbe, where she was a senior associate.
Dutch boutique Shearwaters has hired Barbara-Ellen Bruin as a lawyer in its employment team. Bruin joins from Baker & McKenzie, where she was an associate.
Central & Eastern Europe
K&L Gates has appointed Piotr Łaska as an of counsel in the real estate investment, development, and finance practice in Warsaw. He joins the firm from Hogan Lovells, where he was counsel.
Schoenherr has promoted Manuela Zimmermann to counsel. Zimmermann has been working at Schoenherr since 2010 in the firm’s insurance team.
France
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Paris office has seen its fifth senior departure in less than a month as tax partner Antoine Colonna d’Istria exits for Norton Rose Fulbright. D’Istria was a partner at Freshfields for 16 years, having joined from Gide Loyrette Nouel in 2000 where he was a partner.
August & Debouzy has hired Freshfields partner Jean-Claude Cotoni as a senior counsel in its corporate team. Cotoni was a partner at Freshfields for 25 years and managed the firm’s French office between 2004 and 2007.
Orrick Rambaud Martel has announced that project finance specialist Simon Ratledge has joined the firm’s energy & infrastructure group in Paris. Ratledge was previously a partner at Simmons & Simmons.
Mayer Brown has strengthened its banking & finance practice and energy group with the addition of Olivier Mélédo as a partner in Paris. He was previously a partner at Orrick.
Stephenson Harwood has appointed partner Pierre-Nicolas Sanzey to launch a dedicated real estate department in Paris. Sanzey joins from Herbert Smith Freehills, where he was also a partner.
De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés has appointed Myriam Delawari-de Gaudusson as a partner in its employment team. Delawari-de Gaudusson previously headed up the labour department at Scotto & Associés.
Gide Loyrette Nouel has announced the promotion to counsel of nine lawyers in Beijing, Brussels and Paris, in six practice areas. The appointments were effective as of 1 January 2016. The new counsel are: corporate lawyers Ronan Diot, in Beijing, and Matthias Grolier in Paris; Brussels competition lawyer Ségolène Pelsy and Paris-based Franck Audran; Paris banking lawyer Guillaume Goffin; employment lawyer Yan-Eric Logeais; IP specialist Julien Guinot-Deléry; and real estate lawyers Antoine Mary and Constantin Miliotis.
Germany
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has continued its German expansion with the hire of Baker & McKenzie’s EMEA M&A chair Sönke Becker. Becker joins HSF’s Düsseldorf office after nine years with Bakers. He joined the firm in 2007 from Hengeler Mueller and was German corporate co-head until 2014. Becker also sat on Bakers’ M&A global steering committee.
Dentons is to open its third German office with the hire of three partners from Norton Rose Fulbright including its German senior partner. Norton Rose German boss and corporate partner Alexander von Bergwelt will lead the team and becoming managing partner of Dentons’ Munich office. He joins with M&A and securities partner Michael Malterer and tax partner Igsaan Varachia.
Latham & Watkins has picked up Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer competition partner Michael Esser in a boost to its German competition practice. Esser joins Latham as a partner in the firm’s Düsseldorf office. He previously worked at Freshfields in Cologne.
Ince & Co is opening a second German office in Cologne with the hire of two partners and two associates. CMS partner Stefan Segger and Bach Langheid Dallmayr partner Eva-Maria Goergen will join Ince in due course. The duo specialise in non-marine insurance and reinsurance. Segger, a former head of CMS’s insurance group in Germany, is bringing CMS associates Barbara Lorscheid and Marie Holzhauer with him to Ince.
Allen & Overy has expanded its tax practice with the hire of Daniela Trötscher as a partner in Frankfurt, effective as of 1 June 2016. Trötscher joins from EY, where she was a partner.
Noerr is reinforcing the banking & finance practice group in Frankfurt with the hire of Tom Beckerhoff as a partner. Beckerhoff joins from Ashurst, where he headed the German banking team.
Goodwin Procter has also hired from Ashurst, picking up Heiko Penndorf as a Frankfurt partner in its tax team.
Arnecke Sibeth has hired Margarethe von Oppen to strengthen its energy team. Von Oppen joins from Geiser & von Oppen, which she co-founded in 2001.
Bryan Cave has expanded its banking and finance practice in Germany with the addition of Sandra Pfister, who joins as a partner together with associate Reinhard Bunjes. The duo previously held the same roles at Kaye Scholer.
Osborne Clarke’s German partners have re-elected their management board for further three years: managing partner Carsten Schneider, Joachim Breithaupt and Uwe Brossette.
Ashurst has appointed Holger Ebersberger as a partner in its Munich office. Joining from Linklaters where he was a managing associate, Ebersberger specialises in private equity and M&A.
Morrison & Foerster has hired Angela Kerek as a finance partner in Berlin. Kerek was also previously a managing associate at Linklaters.
Iberia
Portuguese firm Sérvulo has promoted four partners to senior partners, and nominated a new partner. Litigator João Saúde, public law specialist Mark Kirkby, EU and competition lawyer Miguel Gorjão-Henriques and corporate partner Sofia Carreiro are the four new senior partners. Meanwhile tax head Diogo Feio has been promoted to the partnership. He was previously of counsel.
Italy
Dentons has announced the hire of Luca Pocobelli in Italy. He joins as a corporate partner from Latham & Watkins with a team of two lawyers: senior associate Elena Martellucci and associate Claudio Segna.
Bonelli Erede Pappalardo has reappointed Marcello Giustiniani and Stefano Simontacchi as co-managing partners for a further three years.
K&L Gates has appointed Paolo Zamberletti as an energy partner in its Milan office. He joins K&L Gates from DLA Piper, where he was a partner.
Russia & CIS
French firm Jeantet Associés has launched in Moscow with the hire of a team from Gide Loyrette Nouel, following up a similar move in Budapest and Kiev last year. The 10-strong team is led by the former head of Gide’s Moscow office, David Lasfargue, and includes M&A counsels Vladimir Comte and Maria Yadykina.
Clifford Chance has appointed Jared Grubb as Istanbul office managing partner. He takes over from the office’s founding managing partner Simon Williams who is, after five years, returning to London to focus on client work. Grubb was previously the firm’s Kiev managing partner.
Nordics
Covington & Burling has hired Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister of Sweden, as a senior policy advisor in the firm’s global public policy and government affairs practice.
Roschier has appointed technology and IP strategist Niklas Östman as a partner. Östman rejoins Roschier from Microsoft Corporation in the US. He was previously an associate and partner at the firm until he joined Nokia in 2010 as head of patent licensing.
Norwegian employment law boutique Storeng Beck & Due Lund has hired Erik Råd Herlofsen as a partner in Oslo. Herlofsen was previously a partner at Ræder Law Firm.
Switzerland
Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle has announced the opening of an office in Geneva. The office will focus initially on international arbitration, international trade and international tax work.