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Focus: Hengeler Mueller

Lawyer headcount 264

Partners 90

Revenue €257m (+6%)

Offices Berlin, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, London, Munich, Shanghai

Key clients General Electric, KKR, METRO, RWE, Siemens

Managing partners Dirk Bliesener, Georg Seyfarth

Recent work highlights Advising RWE on the €5bn IPO of innogy on the Frankfurt stock exchange – the largest IPO since 2000 and the fourth largest in German history; advising KKR on its acquisition of Airbus Defence Electronics Business Companies; Linde on its merger with Praxair.

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Focus: Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners

Lawyer headcount 425

Partners 87

Revenue €124m (+5%)

Offices Rome, Milan, Bologna, Padua, Turin, Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Hong Kong, London and New York

Key clients Hitachi, UniCredit, BNP Paribas, Gruppo COIMA, Leonardo

Managing partners Antonio Auricchio, Rosario Zaccà

Recent work highlights Advising the Italian state railway, Ferrovie dello Stato, in the privatisation of Grandi Stazioni – sold by auction for €953m; advising Leonardo-Finmeccanica in the agreement with Space2 in its acquisition of 81% in Avio – a space propulsion system provider – from Cinven.

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Focus: Wolf Theiss

Lawyer headcount 307

Partners 64

Revenue €70m (-10%)

Offices Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Kiev, Ljubljana, Prague, Sarajevo, Sofia, Tirana, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb

Key clients REWE Group, PORR, Erste Group Bank, FACC, Advent International

Managing partners Erik Steger, Richard Wolf, Nikolaus Paul

Recent work highlights Advising Allianz Capital Partners and several insurance companies of the Allianz Group on the acquisition of a 49% stake in Gas Connect Austria from OMV; representing Total on the €3.2bn sale of its speciality chemicals business Atotech to The Carlyle Group; advising South African-listed healthcare brands company Ascendis Health on its acquisition of a 100% stake in Hungary-headquartered Scitec Nutrition for €170m.

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Focus: Garrigues

Lawyer headcount 1,408

Partners 297

Revenue €349.4m (+3%)

Offices Spain: A Coruña, Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo, Zaragoza. Portugal: Lisbon, Oporto. International: Beijing, Bogotá, Brussels, Casablanca, London, Lima, Mexico City, New York, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo, Shanghai, Warsaw

Key clients BBVA, Carrefour, Iberdrola, Santander, Telefónica

Managing partner Fernando Vives

Recent work highlights Advising Coca-Cola European Partners on its €16.9bn listing on multiple stock exchanges; advising Spanish hospital operator Quirónsalud during its €5.8bn takeover by German healthcare provider Fresenius; advising Global Infrastructure Partners on its €3.8bn purchase of 20% of Gas Natural from Repsol and Criteria Caixa.

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The Euro Elite Methodology

Legal Business‘ Euro Elite comprises independent law firms based in more than 40 European jurisdictions, rather than the local offices of international firms.

To compile the 100 firms featured in this report Legal Business analysed more than 150 of the largest law firms in Europe by the number of lawyers, as well as more than 150 of the top-ranking firms in the current edition of The Legal 500 EMEA. A combined score was given for the size of the firm and its The Legal 500 rankings, providing a qualitative as well as a quantitative analysis. The 100 firms with the highest combined score make The Euro Elite. Continue reading “The Euro Elite Methodology”

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Freshfields to deploy second-tier lockstep for more partners as profit drive continues

As Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer continues its profitability drive, almost a quarter of the global partnership is expected to be on the firm’s second-tier lockstep as early as 2020.

When the firm introduced the second-tier lockstep around three years ago, less than 10% of the then 400-strong partnership was on the separate track. However, from 2020, the proportion of the partnership on the second lockstep is expected to be a quarter.

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Market report: Germany – Wennschon, dennschon

With Brexit dominating the EU agenda and causing widespread paralysis in the continent, Germany’s law firms are simply going about their business

Turbulence and trauma may have been the global hallmarks of 2016 – at least according to the headline writers – but not so in Germany. For the third year in a row, the German government did not borrow any money, unemployment fell to a 26-year low of 5.8% while GDP grew by 1.9%, the highest rate in five years. Meanwhile, Germany’s trade surplus has hit another record high.

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Market report: Italy – Bravissimo

Despite a testing political backdrop to business, the Italian elite is still outperforming the domestic economy

‘Reforms are the major challenge for Italy. For many years, we didn’t have the political strength – Renzi had it,’ says Carlo Croff, senior partner at Chiomenti. Matteo Renzi was Italy’s prime minister until December 2016 when his constitutional reforms were rejected in a referendum. ‘Clients, particularly those with investments in Italy, have been disappointed,’ Croff observes.

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En Marche!

With France’s political landscape settled and its EU status reconfirmed, the country’s law firms are feeling confident

The French presidential election in May drew widespread attention, but now that Emmanuel Macron is safely installed in the Élysée Palace, will it make any difference to businesses and their law firms? ‘It’s a great relief for the whole business community,’ says Stéphane Puel, managing partner of Gide Loyrette Nouel, France’s largest independent full-service law firm with 503 lawyers. ‘It’s difficult to tell whether this will have a huge impact generally, but it will have a huge impact on the confidence of business players in France.’

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Market report: France – En Marche!

With France’s political landscape settled and its EU status reconfirmed, the country’s law firms are feeling confident

The French presidential election in May drew widespread attention, but now that Emmanuel Macron is safely installed in the Élysée Palace, will it make any difference to businesses and their law firms? ‘It’s a great relief for the whole business community,’ says Stéphane Puel, managing partner of Gide Loyrette Nouel, France’s largest independent full-service law firm with 503 lawyers. ‘It’s difficult to tell whether this will have a huge impact generally, but it will have a huge impact on the confidence of business players in France.’

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Simmons amends partnership deed following A&O departures

While Herbert Smith Freehills became embroiled in a very public court battle over a team defection to White & Case in Australia earlier this year, Simmons & Simmons has quietly amended its partnership deed following a group exit to Allen & Overy (A&O) in 2016.

In the space of four months from last summer, Simmons lost four intellectual property (IP) partners to A&O, including highly-regarded patent specialist Marjan Noor in June, followed by London IP head Marc Döring in August, and Mark Heaney and David Stone in September.

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Simmons amends partnership deed following A&O departures

While Herbert Smith Freehills became embroiled in a very public court battle over a team defection to White & Case in Australia earlier this year, Simmons & Simmons has quietly amended its partnership deed following a group exit to Allen & Overy (A&O) in 2016.

In the space of four months from last summer, Simmons lost four intellectual property (IP) partners to A&O, including highly-regarded patent specialist Marjan Noor in June, followed by London IP head Marc Döring in August, and Mark Heaney and David Stone in September.

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Market report: Iberia – Out of the storm

Dominant in their home markets, law firms from Spain and Portugal have weathered the tempest by heading for far-flung locations

Last year, Spain endured a period of political turbulence. In the space of 12 months, it blundered through two elections and the fear of not being able to produce a budget for 2017, narrowly avoiding EU sanctions for overshooting its deficit target. Despite this unease, the economy has now seen two consecutive years of 3% growth, fuelled by an accelerated industrial output. As a result, Spain has become one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies and unemployment is at its lowest level since 2009.

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Market report: Central and Eastern Europe – Here to stay

Increased stability and diversified investment is keeping independent law firms in the CEE region busy

Despite the impact of recent political tension in western Europe triggered by Brexit and several high-stakes leadership elections, according to management at some of the strongest firms in the CEE region, there are patches of growth and they are there for the long haul.

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Market report: Switzerland – Feeling lucky

2017 is shaping up to be another strong year for the leading Swiss firms, particularly on the back of a frothy M&A market

‘Compared to other European jurisdictions, Switzerland has been doing well,’ says Benjamin Borsodi, managing partner of Schellenberg Wittmer. ‘2016 was a very good year for many Swiss firms, especially the major ones. It was our best year ever and it looks positive for 2017 as well.’ His sentiment is echoed by Daniel Daeniker, managing partner of Homburger: ‘I was expecting the end of the M&A cycle: it’s simply not happened. Our first quarter numbers in 2017 are well above last year.’

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GCs take on corporate sustainability briefs as plcs strive to protect brands

Angry shareholders, rising demands for transparency, tougher regulation, declining trust in business and the need to access new markets. Just some of the reasons why a growing number of plcs are moving to improve their focus on long-term performance and ethical standards… and calling in their general counsel (GCs) to help.

As part of an Insight report on sustainability, Legal Business gathered responses from more than 250 senior in-house counsel to gauge the extent that such initiatives are impacting on the day jobs of plc law chiefs.

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Market report: Baltics – Still waters

Following a raft of consolidation, the biggest players in the Baltics are experiencing a much more settled market

Baltic firms have experienced their fair share of consolidation over the past couple of years, creating a clear breakaway of four significantly sized firms for a relatively small legal market: Sorainen, Cobalt, Ellex and the recently rebranded TGS Baltic (previously Tark Grunte Sutkiene), following its merger with Varul Estonia.

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