Clifford Chance

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Julia Baedorff advises national and international companies as well as individuals on all issues of white collar crime and compliance. In particular, Julia specialises in defending companies in criminal investigation proceedings of prosecution authorities, conducting internal investigations and advising on the prevention of criminal risks. The main areas of her expertise are criminal capital-markets law and criminal tax law.

Marc Benzler specialises in the area of banking and capital markets, with particular emphasis on regulatory issues, recovery and resolution planning and the regulation of derivatives and financial market infrastructures. Marc also advises on M&A transactions in the financial sector, on the establishing of banks and branches (including the provision of cross-border services) and on compliance matters. He has significant experience on the Banking Union and supervision by the ECB, and has also regularly advised clients on sustainable Finance and ESG related matters for many years. With in-depth expertise in financial regulation and financial markets infrastructure, Marc is a key individual in the firm's Fintech initiatives which is strengthened by his day to day advisory and transactional experience. He supports investors of Fintech start-ups and advises on tokenisation, token offerings and innovative ways of distributing investment products.

Marc Besen specialises in EC and German competition law, particularly mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, cartels, abuse proceedings, compliance programmes, distribution and licensing arrangements across a wide range of industry sectors. This primarily includes the pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech, food and chemicals sectors.

Jan Conrady specialises in multi-jurisdictional litigation and arbitration with a focus on construction and engineering disputes as well as infrastructure disputes. Having acted for both owners and contractors Jan advises on the selection, negotiation and realization of the respective construction contracts (e.g. general contractor agreements, EPC) and additional contracts (e.g. Direct Agreement, Stock/Account Pledge Agreement). On top of that he advises on all aspects of claims management and general legal issues during the construction phase. For a period of six months, Jan had been seconded to an energy group where he drafted and negotiated a contract for the installation of an offshore wind farm consisting of 54 wind turbines.

Hannes Deusch focuses on Banking and Capital Markets law and specialises in advising on German and international structured finance transactions. His experience includes the securitisation of trade, consumer, leasing, loan receivables and interest in funds and the establishment of ABCP Conduit Programmes, portfolio sales and other structured finance transactions. Hannes Deusch also advises insurance companies and funds in tailor-made alternative investments. He also advises on the restructuring of securitisation and other structured finance transactions, on regulatory issues as well as trustees and agents in the context of securitisation transactions.

Peter Dieners co-headed the global Healthcare & Life Sciences Sector Group at Clifford Chance until April 2024. He advises leading pharmaceutical, medical devices and chemicals companies on all their business-critical corporate, commercial and compliance matters, including investigations and related prevention counselling. He is author of the leading industry manual Compliance in the Healthcare Sector. Peter also acts for trade associations and companies vis-à-vis government agencies in relation to legislative projects and amendments. He frequently works with trade bodies to establish codes of conduct, thereby setting industry standards.

Mathias Elspaß

Mathias Elspass is head of the German Energy & Infrastructure Group. He specialises in public law, in particular public planning and environmental law as well as energy law and public commercial law. Mathias advises companies and public authorities on public permit and planning procedures as well as project developments, particularly in the energy sector. He also advises on energy regulatory topics as well as on issues deriving from the Renewable Energies Sources Act (EEG).

Dominik Engl advises clients on all aspects of national and international tax law. His work focuses on the tax structuring of national and cross-border transactions such as acquisitions, divestments, joint ventures and restructurings in particular in connection with energy, infrastructure, industrial and real estate projects. He also provides tax advice on respective financings (senior and mezzanine). Dominik’s clients are national and international (strategic) equity investors, financial investors and lenders (including mezzanine providers). He has many years of experience in connection with the structuring of M&A transactions as well as advice in connection with financings.

Anne Filzmoser specialises in EC and German competition law — in particular, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, cartels, compliance programmes, distribution and licensing arrangements across a wide range of industry sectors, including pharmaceutical, automotive, energy, food and consumer goods.

Cristina Freudenberger

Cristina advises issuers and investment banks on capital markets law. She focuses on the issue, underwriting and placement of bonds, Schuldscheine, Pfandbriefe, commercial paper and structured products of any kind, including equity linked bonds and green finance instruments. Furthermore, Cristina advises on liability management exercises such as consent solicitations and exchange offers. In addition, Cristina advises clients on the transactional as well as regulatory parts of the structuring and offering of innovative capital market products such as crypto securities as well as crypto ETPs.

George Hacket currently heads the equity capital markets practice and the U.S. securities team in the Clifford Chance Frankfurt office, specializing in cross-border debt and equity transactions and advising issuers and underwriters on legal aspects of international securities offerings. George advises on IPOs, capital increases, stock exchange listings and high yield and investment grade debt issuances. George also has experience in advising on corporate governance and compliance matters for listed companies. He has further gained experience in a number of industries, including industrials and mobility, energy, infrastructure and healthcare and life sciences.

Christof Häfner

Christof Häfner specialises on structured finance transactions, in particular international project finance transactions in the infrastructure and energy sector, on real estate finance transactions as well as on asset finance transactions in the aviation and rail sector. Christof advises sponsors and lenders on all aspects, including managing and structuring, of international projects.

Dominik Heß advises national and international clients on takeovers, investments in listed companies, business combinations, joint ventures and private M&A transactions. He also advises on corporate, capital markets, group and reorganization law as well as ESG matters, also in the context of equity capital markets transactions.

Uwe Hornung has been a partner in the Frankfurt office since 1994. He is a member of the Commercial Litigation Group and specializes in litigation as well as national and international arbitration proceedings with industrial, corporate or transactional background. He has served as an arbitrator in ICC-, Stockholm- and DIS-Arbitration proceedings as well as pleaded before the European Court of Justice.

Heiner Hugger advises on investigations, legal proceedings, compliance and fraud-prevention measures and all other issues in connection with criminal, regulatory or other penalties. Heiner has particular experience in defending against investigations against companies and their staff members, advising on internal investigations and on the prosecution of offences committed to the detriment of companies, as well as in advising companies on compliance and fraud-prevention measures.

Tobias Nogami Kamerling

Tobias Nogami Kamerling specialises in M&A transactions. He advises international corporations and financial investors on national and cross-border deals, in particular acquisitions, dispositions, and joint ventures, with a special focus on the energy and infrastructure sector. Tobias is Co-Head of the Japan Group Germany. He has extensive experience in advising Japanese corporations and has previously worked in Japan, including in our Firm's Tokyo Office.

Moritz Keller is a disputes partner based in our Frankfurt office. He represents clients in commercial litigation and arbitration proceedings as well as in investment arbitration proceedings. Moritz acts for private individuals, companies and corporates, the public sector and States in arbitration proceedings under the ICSID, ICC, UNCITRAL, DIS, Austrian Chamber and many other arbitration rules. Many of the proceedings have a focus on Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the CEE or CIS Region. Moritz has dealt with disputes in a number of sectors, most prominently the energy, infrastructure, construction and banking sectors. While regularly representing clients in post-M&A disputes, clients also often reach out to Moritz because of his in-depth knowledge of the energy, gas or financial markets. In recent years, he has been instructed repeatedly in cases in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries.

Oliver Kronat advises on German and international structured finance transactions, portfolio trades and alternative investments. His experience includes the securitisation of trade, consumer, leasing and loan receivables and the structuring of ABCP Conduit Programmes. He also advises on the restructuring of securitisation and other structured finance transactions as well as on securitisations by insolvent companies. He advises insurance companies and funds in tailor-made alternative investments, i.e. in loans, debt and infrastructure funds.

Holger Lutz advises German and international companies on all aspects of information technology law, including artificial intelligence as well as intellectual property law, data protection law, telecommunications law and leasing. He particularly focuses on the legal issues related to (out-)sourcing contracts, hardware and software contracts, e-commerce and data protection.

Sebastian Maerker

Sebastian Maerker advises issuers and underwriters on domestic and international securities offerings, stock exchange listings and securities law.

Florian Mahler is co-head of the Worldwide Projects Group. Florian acts for sponsors and lenders on structured finance transactions, in particular project and asset finance. Florian acts for sponsors and lenders on all aspects of projects in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa, including infrastructure, airports and roads. He is experienced in managing and structuring international airport transactions, in particular in China, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Middle East and Africa.

Felix Mühlhäuser

Felix Mühlhäuser is the Practice Area Leader for TPE Germany. He has been a lawyer with Clifford Chance since 2000 and partner since 2008. He is qualified as tax advisor and specialised tax lawyer. Felix advises a broad range of clients – corporates, banks and financial intermediaries, financial investors – on domestic and international tax planning and associated legal questions. He is specialised in advising on the structuring of financing and corporate structures, with a particular focus, inter alia, on mergers & acquisitions, financing transactions, financial instruments, securitizations and restructurings relating thereto. Felix also regularly acts for clients in large-scale tax disputes and advises on relating internal investigations.

Christoph Nensa

Sonya Pauls

Anselm Raddatz advises private equity and infrastructure funds as well as corporate enterprises on complex and large-scale M&A transactions and joint ventures, both cross-border and domestically. He is regarded as an eminent practitioner in the German market with deep experience across a wide range of sectors, including regulated industries such as infrastructure, energy and healthcare. Clients value his business-oriented approach and hands-on manner.

Ulrich Reese co-headed the global Healthcare & Life Sciences Sector Group at Clifford Chance until April 2024. He advises a broad range of international co-operations on the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and reimbursement of medicinal products and devices and is a private lecturer for pharmaceutical law at the University of Marburg. Further, Ulrich Reese is a regular advisor of the leading trade associations on a national and European level.

Gunnar Sachs specialises in intellectual property law, with long-standing experience in the healthcare, chemicals and consumer goods sectors. Beyond regulatory advice, he works on strategic M&A and private equity transactions, corporate reorganisations, complex litigation and commercial projects as well compliance audits. Above all, he has particular expertise in digital topics as well as IT-based business models and advises clients across all sectors on digital transformation and data protection. Gunnar is an active member of the firm's worldwide industry groups Healthcare, Life Sciences & Chemicals, Consumer Goods & Retail, Telecommunications, Media & Technology as well as the global Tech and Data Protection focus groups. Between 2012 and 2015, Gunnar consecutively stood in, as external advisor, for the heads of the German legal departments of QVC, an affiliate of Liberty Interactive Group, as well as of Genzyme, an affiliate of Sanofi Group. During his further legal education, Gunnar has also worked, inter alia, for the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, for the French Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industry in Paris, for the French Ministry of Defense in Paris, for the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Paris, for the German Institution for Arbitration in Berlin/Bonn as well as for the State Parliament North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf.

Stefan Sax is Managing Partner for Germany and specialises in corporate and insolvency law with a focus on cross-border financial restructuring and insolvency. He has worked at Clifford Chance’s London office and is a qualified attorney (Germany) and a qualified solicitor (England & Wales). He advises German and international financial institutions on insolvency issues and companies in financial difficulties on obligations arising in crisis situations.

Kerstin Schaepersmann

Kerstin Schaepersmann specialises in the area of banking and capital markets, with a particular emphasis on regulatory issues and structured finance transactions. She advises on licensing and approval procedures, cross-border banking and investment services as well as the regulation of derivatives and financial market infrastructures. Her experience in respect of German and international structured finance transactions includes advising sponsors, arrangers, lenders, lead managers, issuers and originators on synthetic and cashflow securitisations (including CLOs, CMBS, repackagings and securitisations of trade and lease receivables) and secured loan transactions, as well as the restructuring thereof.

Diana Schoch is counsel in the Frankfurt office and specialises in restructuring and insolvency law. She works on national as well as international restructurings and also advises clients on insolvency proceedings. Diana has also been active in cross-border transactions as well as in corporate advice.

Tobias Schulten

Tobias Schulten specialises in Banking and Capital Markets Law. Tobias acts for banks and sponsors on structured finance transactions, both domestic and international, in particular asset and project finance (especially energy and infrastructure) and PPP projects. He also advises on real estate finance transactions.

Patrick advises companies, investors, sponsors and secured and unsecured creditors on financial and operational restructurings both outside and in the context of insolvency proceedings. He focuses on cross-border and multinational restructurings and distressed transactions, in particular in cases involving complex financing structures. He also advises on all aspects of German insolvency and restructuring law. Furthermore, he taught at King’s College London and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens as visiting lecturer.

Marco Simonis specialises in tax and legal advice in relation to investment funds and other asset management structures. Marco also advises clients on the structuring, implementation and operation of investment structures, including real estate funds for institutional investors and on fund-linked structured products.

Andreas Steiger

Andreas advises secured and unsecured creditors, distressed investors, debtors, shareholders and sponsors on financial and operational restructurings in both non-insolvency and insolvency situations, predominantly in a cross-border context with a focus on complex capital structures. He also advises on all matters regarding German insolvency law.

Bettina Steinhauer

Bettina Steinhauer specialises in acquisition finance and general bank lending, including restructuring. Bettina advises leading German and international banks, private equity houses and corporates on domestic as well as cross-border financings, including transactions involving mezzanine and/or high yield debt and public to private transactions. Bettina's other areas of expertise include restructuring, infrastructure finance and property finance.

Anna Thwaites specialising in complex infrastructure and energy projects across mature and emerging markets – with a notable focus on energy, particularly renewable energy, LNG and gas infrastructure. Anna has particular expertise on cross border infrastructure projects, in Europe and Africa, and brings to bear two decades of experience in advising on project development and financing.

Thomas Voland specialises in German, EU and international public law. He has advised national and international clients from both the private and the public sector on complex legal and compliance issues under European, international and German public law for 18 years. In particular, he has vast experience in cross-border transactions, high-stake disputes, e.g. concerning climate change or human rights risks, and strategic advice on questions of trade, sustainability and regulatory requirements. Thomas co-leads the Firm’s European ESG Board and he is a member of the Firm’s Global Tech Group. Thomas holds a Ph.D. degree in public international law. He frequently lectures and publishes on EU law and public international law. Prior to his career in private practice, Thomas gained work experience with the German Mission to the United Nations and with the European Commission.

Katharina Vollmer

Katharina Vollmer advises on all issues concerning public law, in particular environmental and planning law issues. Furthermore, she has expertise in advising projects concerning public building law.

Kolja von Bismarck

Kolja has extensive experience advising borrowers, secured and unsecured creditors, distressed investors, private equity funds as well alternative credit providers on the restructuring of financially distressed companies, predominantly in a cross border context. He also regularly advises management teams and boards of directors regarding their duties in financially distressed situations. Kolja has been involved in numerous major cross-border financial restructurings with a German COMI and is constantly rated and widely considered as one of the leading German practitioners in his area of practice.