Four new equity partners at Noerr – new speaker duo takes up the reins

Noerr has appointed four new equity partners from 1 January 2019. Sebastian Fischer, Arun Kapoor, Maurice Séché and Stephan Schulz have been promoted to partnership. Karsten Fink, Christoph Rieken and Evelyn Schulz have been made new senior counsel (non-equity partners). The firm has also promoted ten other lawyers to the position of associated partner and five to the position of counsel. “The new partners and counsel are outstanding colleagues and reflect our standing as a premium law firm,” says co-leader  Alexander Ritvay.

With the start of the new year, the terms of the new co-speaker duo Torsten Fett and  Alexander Ritvay also started. The two of them will jointly lead the firm over the next three years. Noerr’s equity partners reaffirmed Ritvay’s appointment last April and elected Fett as successor to Tobias Bürgers, who stood down after 15 successful years as co-head of the firm. Bürgers will continue to be closely involved in client work and academic activities. “Tobias has made a major contribution to the successful position enjoyed by Noerr at the top of the European market. We plan to maintain our concentration on qualitative growth going forward,” stresses Torsten Fett.

Alongside his new role as a co-speaker of the firm, Torsten Fett will carry on advising management boards and supervisory boards on corporate, capital markets and financial regulatory law, with a special focus on compliance matters. He will head the Compliance & Internal Investigations practice group jointly with Frankfurt-based partner Sophia Habbe in the future. As a corporate litigation expert, her practice focuses on advising corporate bodies and their members on liability issues.

There were also personnel shifts in the Litigation, Arbitration & ADR practice group. Anke Meier and Oliver Sieg, two internationally leading litigation lawyers, have taken charge of the practice, which comprises more than 100 experts. Frankfurt-based partner Anke Meier specialises in international arbitration proceedings and litigation and has extensive experience notably in trade and investment arbitration. Oliver Sieg also acts for clients at an international level before courts and arbitral tribunals and is himself an arbitrator. He is one of the best-known experts on issues involving managerial liability and D&O proceedings.

Michael Molitoris, who has headed the practice group for many years, will devote himself completely to client work in the future. “Michael is a superb litigation lawyer and product liability expert. He has made his mark on the practice group and a great deal of credit is due to him for our firm’s excellent standing in the field of litigation,” highlights Alexander Ritvay.

There was also a change in roles at the top of the Antitrust & Competition practice group, where Fabian Badtke has taken over from group head Alexander Birnstiel. “The practice group has seen sustainable growth under the lead of Alexander Birnstiel and is one of the first calls of port for national and international antitrust and competition law,” says Alexander Ritvay. This is also illustrated by the successful positioning of the firm’s office in Brussels, which Noerr opened in 2014.

New practice group head Fabian Badtke, who is based in Frankfurt, advises primarily on merger control, antitrust investigations, defending against and enforcing claims for damages under competition and antitrust law, and compliance issues.

The new equity partners

Dr Sebastian Fischer (41), lawyer in Munich. Sebastian is a corporate litigation specialist with years of experience advising shareholders, companies and their governing bodies on corporate, banking and capital markets law. Apart from representing clients before state courts and arbitral tribunals, his core practice areas include dispute avoidance and out-of-court dispute resolution. Sebastian was a member of the team advising entrepreneur Clemens Tönnies on the negotiations and successful settlement on the reorganisation of the Tönnies Group and the Zur Mühlen Group and representing him in court.

Dr Arun Kapoor (42), lawyer in Munich. Arun specialises in product liability, product safety and product compliance. His clients include national and international companies from various industries, both the consumer goods and capital goods sectors. Arun advises manufacturers and retailers on all issues relating to product liability, product compliance and technical product regulation. He represents clients in liability disputes before the courts and in product-related administrative proceedings before German and European authorities.

Dr Maurice Séché (43), lawyer in Düsseldorf. Maurice advises national and international groups and financial investors on domestic and cross-border transactions. His core practice areas are M&A transactions, complex corporate restructurings, spin-offs and financial restructurings, especially involving energy law. On the corporate law side, he has specific expertise in advising listed German stock corporations. His instructions include advising the Steinhoff Group on the sale of its shares in the POCO furniture chain, Bayer on the sale of its global digital farming division to BASF, the Schwarz Group on the takeover of waste disposal contractor Tönsmeier and Daimler on the takeover of Taxibeat.

Dr Stephan Schulz (43), lawyer in Hamburg. Stephan is an expert in stock corporation and capital markets law. His practice focuses on share issues and public takeovers and providing ongoing advice to listed companies. In capital markets transactions Stephan advises both the issuing banks and enterprises, such as recently Quirin Privatbank AG as the underwriter in a capital increase with subscription rights by Epigenomics AG and DAP Industrial AG in the squeeze-out of the minority shareholders of Dürkopp Adler AG under merger law. He was part of the core team assisting US investor J.C. Flowers in the successful privatisation of HSH Nordbank.

The new senior counsel

Dr Karsten Fink (41), lawyer in Frankfurt. Financing specialist Karsten mainly advises on national and international real estate and acquisition financing. His clients include credit institutions and pension fund bodies as well as investors and funds. He recently assisted real estate company CA Immo Deutschland GmbH on financing for the ONE office and hotel high-rise project development in Frankfurt am Main. He regularly advises clients such as Postbank and LBBW in financing transactions on the lender side.

Dr Christoph Rieken (42), lawyer in Munich. Intellectual property expert Christoph advises rights holders on trademark, unfair competition, design and copyright law and in connection with offline and online sales of branded products, including selective distribution. Apart from strategic advice, he also helps clients to defend their IP rights in court. 

Evelyn Schulz (42), lawyer in Dresden. Evelyn is a healthcare expert who heads the area of food and commodities at Noerr. As an adviser to national and international clients, particularly from the food and pharmaceutical sectors, she advises on matters related to product compliance and distribution. Another of Evelyn’s core practice areas is e-commerce/digital commerce.

The new associated partners

Dr Armin Bartsch (Berlin; Private Equity), Dr Steffen Burrer (Munich; Litigation, Arbitration & ADR), Dr Christian Dolff (Düsseldorf; Litigation, Arbitration & ADR), Dr Viktor Füzi (Budapest; Employment & Pensions), Dr Petr Hrncir (Prague; Corporate/M&A), Dr Benjamin Jahn (Munich; Employment & Pensions), Raphael Lischka (Düsseldorf; Litigation, Arbitration & ADR), Susanne Rummel (Munich/New York; Capital Markets), Dr Laurenz Tholen (Berlin; Private Equity), Michael Tommaso (Berlin; Tax & Private Clients)

The new counsel

Ekaterina Kalinina (Moscow; Real Estate Investment Group), Cornelia Kaueroff (Düsseldorf; Employment & Pensions), Ben Kempe (Berlin; Litigation, Arbitration & ADR), Dr Steffi Kindler (Berlin; Litigation, Arbitration & ADR), Dr Bettina Röder (Frankfurt; Banking & Finance)