LAWFUEL – The Law Firm Service – Linklaters announces the launch of a new office in Düsseldorf with the election of Dr Ralph Wollburg and Achim Kirchfeld, two of Germany’s leading M&A lawyers.
Wollburg and Kirchfeld will join forces with Linklaters partners from Cologne to form a team of around 12 partners establishing the new Düsseldorf office. The office will be the flagship in Linklaters’ integrated German corporate/M&A practice spanning Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin. The Düsseldorf practice will focus on high-end corporate work covering the entire German market. Wollburg will lead the Düsseldorf team.
This new development will further strengthen Linklaters’ pan-European corporate/M&A capability serving premium clients.
Wollburg and Kirchfeld, previously with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, are first-tier corporate lawyers and each has around 20 years’ experience on many of the highest profile and complex cross-border and domestic German corporate/M&A transactions. Wollburg will join as co-head of global M&A, as well as a member of Linklaters’ International Board, the governance body of the firm. Kirchfeld will be appointed a member of the German executive team and become co-head of the industrials sector group.
With the opening of a new office in Düsseldorf, Linklaters will wind down its nearby Cologne office. A number of partners in the Cologne office do not share the strategic vision of opening an office in Düsseldorf and the firm is engaged in constructive discussions with them.
David Cheyne, Linklaters senior partner, said:
“This is an exceptional opportunity to build our corporate strength in Germany as a significant element of our pre-eminent pan-European corporate/M&A practice. Ralph Wollburg and Achim Kirchfeld are leading figures in this market and we look forward to working with them to deliver outstanding service to clients.”
Wollburg said:
“I am delighted to be joining forces with a great German team as well as the international M&A capabilities of Linklaters globally. We share the same vision of dedication to our corporate, industrial and banking clients, and to building long-term and trustful relationships with those clients.”
Kirchfeld said:
“I am very excited to be an important part of Linklaters’ new Düsseldorf office, which will be the flagship of the firm’s German corporate/M&A practice, focusing on complex corporate/M&A transactions and high-level boardroom advice.”
Dr Michael Lappe, Linklaters German senior partner, said:
“This is a significant step in our ambition to become the leading corporate/M&A firm, both globally and in Germany. Clients will benefit from Ralph Wollburg and Achim Kirchfeld’s tremendous expertise and experience in the German and international M&A markets.”
