Overview
As one of the powerhouse countries in the European Union, Germany continues to solidify its position as a global economic leader. As part of McDermott’s robust international practice, the lawyers in our Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich offices likewise provide top-quality, industry-leading legal counsel to privately held and publicly traded German clients doing business in Germany, as well as to non-German and German clients with operations and investments worldwide.
Clients value our approach to developing long-term relationships providing pragmatic counsel to solve legal issues and address business needs. These close relationships provide us with a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses and their specific economic and legal requirements, resulting in our ability to address local legal needs. At the same time, we also work closely with lawyers in McDermott’s European locations for pan-European needs, along with our US and Asian offices for cross-border needs. Together, our familiarity with diverse cultures and in-depth knowledge of jurisdiction-specific legal systems enables us to provide the highest-quality legal counsel to domestic and international companies, investors, financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals.
We regularly advise clients on the full spectrum of corporate and commercial matters, including cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, establishment of subsidiaries (and related personnel and visa matters), cross-border financings and securities issues. We also have substantial experience in the areas of antitrust and competition, capital markets, corporate law, health services and life sciences, intellectual property, labor and employment, private equity and venture capital, restructuring and insolvency, real estate, taxation, and telecommunications, media and information technology.
Our Germany-based practice teams and individual lawyers have been recognized year after year for the quality, consistency and creativity of our legal counsel by respected industry publications and ratings agencies, including Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, JUVE Handbook, The Legal 500 EMEA and Euromoney Legal Group.
Related Capabilities
Capital Markets
McDermott’s German capital markets practice has extensive experience representing issuers, underwriters and other related parties on all types of equity issues, in cross-border matters and within the German market. We advise clients on transaction structuring, initial public offerings, private placements, registered underwritten offerings, high-yield debt, and more creative hybrid instruments involving multiple issuers, unique regulatory issues and evolving disclosure requirements. In conjunction with the Firm’s experienced securities lawyers, we provide guidance on compliance, corporate governance and responsibility, and related issues arising out of mergers, acquisitions, tender and exchange offers, and private investments.
Health & Life Sciences
Our health care lawyers provide comprehensive advice in the health services, medical devices and pharmaceutical sectors. We advise on corporate, regulatory and competition law, and have managed numerous investment projects in the outpatient and inpatient health care sectors. Our lawyers have handled the founding and approval of the first German medical health care center in the legal form of a GmbH (LLC under German law) and the emergence of the largest European clinical lab established as a joint venture between a medical school and the largest public hospital carrier. We represent companies and investors with respect to participation and approval procedures, product liability, statutory health insurance law, public procurement industry codes of conduct, data protection, intellectual property, and promotions and advertising. We draft and negotiate company and shareholding agreements, ensure compliance with tax laws and other requirements, and represent the interests of bidders in contract award procedures (i.e., public tenders) of public payers.
International Arbitration
Our international arbitration team represents German and non-German clients in domestic arbitrations and in mediation, arbitration and negotiated settlements worldwide. We are particularly skilled at forging creative and efficient solutions to all types of transnational commercial disputes, and have extensive experience under the rules of all of the major international arbitration institutions. We regularly assist clients in drafting practical, enforceable arbitration clauses in contracts, prosecute and defend against litigation in relation to international arbitration, and represent States and private entities in proceedings under bilateral investment treaties, multilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements. Chambers Global and The Legal 500 EMEA have ranked our international arbitration practice and individual lawyers as top practitioners in this area.
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
McDermott counsels and represents clients in out-of-court settlements, before the courts, and in mediation and arbitration proceedings. We cover a broad range of civil law sectors, with a focus on real estate, investment, joint ventures and other cooperation agreements, mergers and acquisitions (including disputes involving corporate law and transactions, rescission from company purchases and warranties), product liability and distribution. Our lawyers often are brought in to handle complex case facts or legal questions, many of which are international in scope or involve issues, operations and investments in several jurisdictions. Our primary goal is to identify and implement commercially useful solutions that allow our clients to refocus on achieving their business goals.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Our lawyers have extensive experience consulting on complex national and international transactions ranging from public takeovers of listed companies to mergers and acquisitions from private sources, and joint ventures. We advise clients in all stages of such transactions, from the determination of appropriate legal and tax structures to the negotiation and preparation of contracts and the conduct of due diligence. To serve clients most effectively, we create effective, transaction-specific teams, working closely with Firm colleagues with deep experience in tax, antitrust, capital markets and labor law. We have advised companies in many sectors, including plant engineering, automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical, health care, steel, logistics, energy, e-commerce, tourism, retail, information technology, publication, media and telecommunication.
Private Equity
McDermott advises leading private equity and venture capital firms, entrepreneurs and emerging young entrepreneurs in management buyouts (MBOs) and leveraged buyouts (LBOs), venture capital investments, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, refinancings, recapitalizations and restructurings. Private equity investments do not occur in a vacuum, and we regularly advise clients on management participation programs, disclosure obligations in security and stock exchange laws, fund set-up, early and late-stage investments, and intellectual property and licensing. We provide counsel in all phases of a transaction, from corporate law and tax law structuring, design of acquisition financing and due diligence, to drafting and negotiating contracts, transaction implementation and post-implementation transitions.
Real Estate
Our real estate law team provides advice on the full spectrum of real estate transactions (including asset and share deals), joint ventures, financings, project development, leasing and inventory management in all of the top markets in Germany, including Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. In addition to our German clients, we have counseled real estate companies (including owner-operated companies), institutional investors, private equity funds, asset managers, insurers, pension funds, real estate consulting companies, family offices and financial institutions from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Austria and other countries. Regularly named as a top practice in JUVE Handbook, The Legal 500 Deutschland and Chambers Europe, our lawyers are also praised for our “legal and commercial know-how” and our “quick, clear and practically oriented legal advice.”
Restructuring & Insolvency
McDermott advises businesses extensively on all areas of law related to restructuring, reorganization, refinancing and insolvency, including matters with an international or cross-border component. We also help shareholders, creditors and business partners of companies in crisis secure, pursue and enforce their interests. We have in-depth experience representing investors in the acquisition of companies before or out of insolvency, and assisting insolvency administrators in the handling of their fiduciary duties, particularly with respect to M&A processes and insolvency plan procedures and in disputed enforcements of claims in Germany and internationally. We have advised clients in numerous industries, including the automotive, energy, health care, retail, sports, telecommunications, transport and logistics sectors.
Tax
As international leaders in tax law, our tax advisors work across disciplines to provide legal tax advice independent of auditing services, which is mandatory not only in the United States (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), but also for listed companies in Germany (Accounting Control Act – Bilanzrechtskontrollgesetz) and other European countries. Through our network of tax lawyers across offices, we work closely with top tax advisors in other countries to provide “best in field” tax and transactional services in major business and financial markets worldwide. Our tax lawyers are also highly regarded in court representation and regularly enforce our clients’ interests and rights vis-à-vis tax authorities and tax courts, the Federal Finance Court and the European Court of Justice.
Telecommunication, Media & Technology
McDermott provides comprehensive legal counsel to companies and financial institutions with interests in a broad range of TMT-related sectors, including mobile and fixed-line telephony and internet services, cable and satellite TV, entertainment, film production and financing, software, hardware, outsourcing and telematics. Our lawyers have extensive experience in copyright, patent, data protection, telecommunications, broadcasting, antitrust and competition law, as well as general commercial law. We advise on mergers, acquisitions and other major transactions, negotiate and draft licensing, end-user and e-commerce agreements, consult on IT and BPO outsourcing projects, and provide guidance on regulatory compliance and government lobbying. When disputes arise, we offer full-spectrum litigation and alternative dispute resolution advice on all regulatory and strategic questions relating to this constantly evolving market.
