JUVE Handbuch 2015/2016: “Culture change is done“ – GvW Graf von Westphalen moves up one category

“The culture change is done, the locations and practice groups have moved closer together.” JUVE-Verlag attests this success to the law firm Graf von Westphalen and its management Christof Kleinmann and Dr. Robert Theissen  in the JUVE Handbuch 2015/2016. The independent editors reward the firm’s successful cooperation across locations and practice groups as well as the high professional specialization of the lawyers with a jump into the next higher category of the TOP 50 ranking.

The firm again confirms its excellent perception in the market as a full-service firm with a broad range at a high level of specialization: Employment law, foreign trade, state aid, banking law and bank supervision, energy industry, corporate law, real estate and private construction law (including commercial tenancy law, real estate transactions and notary office), insolvency administration, IT (including data protection), capital markets law, antitrust law, procurement, constitutional and administrative law and distribution systems - these are fields in which GvW is expressly recommended.

The firm is valued for its practice “with a high share of international business”. As exemplary for the firm’s international focus, the editors state “the German-Chinese practice which has recently become increasingly visible” at the GvW office in Shanghai and in Germany. “The in- and outbound business is developing successfully”, it further reads.

For the first time, the aspiring Energy field at GvW is recommended. In this sector, the firm has “invested heavily” and strengthened the “established practice at the interface to public law” with experienced transaction specialists. Only recently, Helmut Kempf in Düsseldorf as well as Dr Ulf Liebelt-Westphal and Jens Suhrbier in Hamburg joined the firm as partners (“well-known for a focus in the energy industry”/”good network among German SMEs and international competence”). The recommended M&A team benefits from that, it “continues its strategy towards even more specialization” after having implemented a change. Furthermore, the energy and nuclear law experts Dr Lothar Brandmair and Gerald Hennenhöfer could be won over to the firm. Gerald Hennenhöfer was very recently appointed as a member of the new BMWi committee to examine the financing of the German nuclear phase-out, together with Dr Werner Schnappauf.

The firm impressively continues to position itself in the fields of trade and distribution. In foreign trade, the “market-leading foreign trade practice” is listed at the highest position as one of now only two firms. Competitors and client respectively praise “profound know-how, a lot of practical experience - unmatched” and the “particularly pleasant personal and professional atmosphere” of the cooperation. “Hardly anyone has such profound distribution law knowledge”, JUVE appreciates the strong position of the Hamburg-based distribution law partner Dr Raimond Emde. At the same time, GvW‘s Germany-wide “very specialized” distribution law competence is praised.

In the real estate and construction sector, the firm convinced the editors in particular with its competence at the interface of private/public law. In this regard, JUVE states ”As a result of the close cooperation of the two teams and the competence in real estate law, the firm positions itself increasingly better for project development”. GvW is among the three law firms which are recommended in most regions in Germany in the category projects/plant construction and engineering.

The firm is traditionally well-positioned in disciplines with relevance for the public sector. According to JUVE, the firm is not just among the recommended law firms in Germany in environmental and planning law, but also in the fields of administrative and constitutional law, state aid law and restructuring/PPP/project finance. In particular, the procurement team “could significantly increase its perception in the market” and “concurrently expand its expertise”. As an advisor of several university hospitals, amongst others, GvW is among the “proven advisors of hospitals, pharmacies and medical practitioners”.

The “extensive experience in IT procurement” is also praised for GvW’s focus area IT. However, in addition to IT procurements, the firm is also appreciated in the fields IT law (in particular system implementations, software licensing and development agreements), outsourcing and BPOs. The practice around Stephan Menzemer who is frequently recommended “would have further advanced the development of the aspiring practice”. Finally, JUVE also attests a continuous further development to the employment law practice (“very competent”).