K&L Gates LLP

The Firm:

The three K&L Gates offices in Germany—Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich—work closely together to form the seamless German team. The distinctive feature of the combined legal services in the German region is efficient transaction and project management combined with increased partner involvement. The firm provides comprehensive commercial law advice to international and German industrial companies, banks, and financial investors, as well as the public sector.

Lawyers in the Berlin office focus primarily on corporate mergers and acquisitions, emerging growth and venture capital, and real estate. The team is also active in the fields of investment management; intellectual property; information technology and media; litigation and dispute resolution; and labour, employment, and workplace safety; as well as advising on regulatory matters related to public procurement and antitrust law.

The Frankfurt team traditionally has a strong advisory practice in the areas of corporate, mergers and acquisitions, finance, and tax, including a private clients practice. The team also advises on restructuring and insolvency, capital markets, and dispute resolution covering intellectual property litigation and international and national arbitration.

Focal points of the Munich office are the investment management, procurement, and portfolio management teams. The Munich team also has extensive experience in both mergers and acquisition transactions within the industrial market and in private equity. Additional areas of focus include corporate law for German and international corporations, Finance, as well as a strong Real Estate practice seamlessly working with the Berlin real estate team.

Furthermore, the Intellectual Property practice, which includes litigation and patent law, plays an important role in light of the implementation of the Unified Patent Court agreement to enforce European patents across Europe.

K&L Gates is one of the largest law firms in the world located in key capital cities and world commercial and financial centres. Its many offices operate as one firm, offering clients local market knowledge and access to both national and international capabilities.

Main Areas of Practice

Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions:

Through its German offices, K&L Gates advises on mergers, as well as on private and public corporate acquisitions, all questions of general corporate law, corporate litigation processes, cooperation with the public sector, and privatisations in various sectors, especially in the areas of infrastructure; automotive; healthcare; and telecommunications, media, and technology.

Banking and Finance:

The German Banking and Finance team is interconnected with various practice groups of the firm and is experienced in acquisition financing, asset financing and leasing, real estate financing, project financing (including public-private partnerships), secured and unsecured corporate financing, refinancing and restructurings, nonperforming loans, distressed assets financing, export financing, regulatory issues, and banking regulatory law.

Restructuring and Insolvency:

This experienced team has been working in the field of reorganization, restructuring, and insolvency law for more than 25 years. The focus is on out-of-court restructurings, protective shield proceedings, and the takeover of operational functions (self-administration). In the area of restructuring, the practice group pursues a full-service approach, including insolvency-related employment law, tax law, distressed mergers and acquisitions, refinancing, and litigation.

Private Equity:

The German Private Equity practice group provides legal and strategic advice to private equity funds, hedge funds, family offices, and other opportunistic investors on their investments in the DACH (German speaking) region, in particular on leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, management buy-ins, private investment in public equity or public to private transactions, venture capital investments, management participation programs, and special situations.

Tax:

The Tax practice group focuses on advising investors, financing banks, opportunity funds, developers, initiators, and service companies on German and international tax law; structuring corporate acquisitions, optimizing real estate transactions, and ongoing asset management; financing; refinancing and restructuring; joint ventures; and regulatory and tax law advice on European, nonregulated investment structures.

Investment Management:

K&L Gates’ German investment management team provides advice on investment funds, as well as tax and regulatory issues in connection with the structuring of various collective investment schemes investing in private equity, real estate, renewable energy, leasing, and other asset classes. The practice advises fund initiators, investors, and other market participants in transactions in these asset classes.

Private Client:

The team for private clients fulfils a multitude of legal services to entrepreneurs, family businesses, high-net-worth individuals, artists, athletes, private banks, and family offices. Services include private and corporate wealth and succession planning; drafting of gifts, wills, inheritance, partnership, and marriage contracts; tax declaration; and defence of the chosen form. Private tax planning, departure and relocation planning, sale or restructuring of the (family) business, investment in capital assets, and establishment and management of trusts and other nonprofit entities also are available. Furthermore, lawyers advise on all kinds of inheritance matters, including estate settlement.

Telecommunications, Media, and Technology:

In the areas of telecommunications, media, and technology, K&L Gates provides comprehensive support of media, telecommunications, and information technology companies in matters of telecommunications law, operational contracts, and regulatory issues; media law, including film financing, collecting societies, and music rights; and technology licensing and information technology contracts in the areas of outsourcing, Internet and e-commerce, data protection, and intellectual property issues.

Real Estate:

The Real Estate practice advises on a variety of legal issues, including domestic and international real estate transactions, project developments, joint ventures, restructuring of real estate portfolios, and advice to real estate funds. This team also addresses construction law, commercial landlord and tenant law, project planning, environmental protection, and litigation concerning commercial real estate.

Industrial Property Rights:

K&L Gates provides advice in connection with the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, focusing on patent infringement disputes. Noncontentious intellectual property issues—in particular, research and development projects, licensing, and distribution agreements—are also a focus of this team. The field of activity covers complex technologies, including automotive, industrial, medical, electronics, telecommunications, and computer hardware and software.

Public Procurement, Public-Private Partnerships, and Antitrust:

The team consistently advises clients on the design of procurement procedures for public contracting authorities. Furthermore, the firm’s lawyers support bidders in national and international projects in the fields of transport, energy, supply and disposal, information technology, and healthcare. The team also advises on corporate transactions on issues of German and European antitrust and public procurement law, as well as European state aid law.

Employment:

The employment team operates across the different German offices and advises on service agreements and liability issues of board members, managing directors, and executives; the development of compensation systems; and pension plans. Furthermore, the team provides advice and represents employers in negotiations with works councils on company agreements, reconciliation of interests and social plans, and employment law accompaniment of transactions.

Procedural and Arbitration Law:

Dispute resolution within the commercial arbitration system to proceedings before state courts, including interim relief and enforcement law, are all addressed by this team. Additionally, clients receive assistance in the avoidance or amicable settlement of disputes.

Germany Co-Managing Partner: Dr. Martina Ortner

Germany Co-Managing Partner: Dr. Thilo Winkeler

K&L Gates Offices:

Austin, Berlin, Boston, Brisbane, Brussels, Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Doha, Dubai, Dublin, Fort Worth, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, Houston, Kansas City, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Miami, Milan, Munich, Nashville, Newark, New York, Orange County, Palo Alto, Paris, Perth, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Washington, DC, and Wilmington.