Kanzleien in Deutschland 2014 / Law Firms in Germany

P+P has "established itself as a market leader with clearly positive prospects", thanks to its "excellent personnel and acquisition politics, as well as the expertise of its many renowned professionals".

P+P founding partner Reinhard Pöllath is considered a pioneer of the private equity business in Germany and his colleague Andreas Rodin is a "congenial successor and innovator", who "with his excellent knowledge, admirably complements the impressive M&A and restructuring specialist and founding partner Matthias Bruse", who is also an "outstanding corporate lawyer". In a lateral career move, Wolfgang Grobecker has succeeded in quickly elevating the "already highly reputable and strongly positioned division to a truly excellent position". Together with his colleague Eva Nase, he specializes in corporation and corporate group law issues and the team is "very successful in serving well-known conglomerates". Mr. Grobecker also advises on corporate law matters of family companies and high net worth individuals.

P+P is considered one of the leading firms in this practice area. Berlin partner Andreas Richter, who specializes in working with family foundations and large single family offices and has an "exceptional position in this market", directly contributes to P+P's "extremely positive prospects". This practice area is also reinforced by Christoph Philipp's "particular talent" for foundation and endowment law.

The existing contacts with large family companies have been continually developed and, in the last year, P+P has advised significantly more clients in the practice areas of succession, handling of estate matters and executions of wills. Stephan Viskorf of the Munich office is a "highly qualified tax specialist... at the summit of the private clients group". His team includes the succession and tax specialist Maximilian Haag, who is considered a "rising star".

The entire tax team comprises "well-known names with excellent references" in this practice area, including Dieter Birk and Thomas Töben and Michael Best. Mr. Birk specializes in tax disputes, while Mr. Best and Mr. Töben are renowned for their tax expertise for private equity clients and fund structuring issues. Frankfurt partner Pia Dorfmueller is a "well-known specialist" in international corporate tax law and has contributed to P+P's "continual and rigorous development in expertise" in this practice area.

This is also true for P+P's real estate practice. The development and expansion of the Munich office has been "clearly positive" due to Wolfram Pätzold and his team's "strengths in acquisitions". The Berlin partners Matthias Durst, Stefan Lebek and Carsten Führling have already received numerous accolades due to their "excellent networks in the German capital" and have once again increased both the number of mandates and the total transaction volume.

However, the "greatest concentration of renowned specialists" is in P+P's private funds practice, with its "outstanding experts and extremely knowledgeable professionals", who have helped give the firm its reputation as one of the "most successful private equity practices".

Mr. Rodin is "outstanding and highly acclaimed", along with his "brilliant" colleague, Patricia Volhard, who "sets the standards" with her expertise on regulatory issues in cross-border fund structuring. In Berlin, the partners Uwe Bärenz, a "very experienced and distinguished investment specialist", and the "well-known mezzanine and secondaries expert [Amos] Veith" are widely recognized. P+P participated in the German legislative procedure on the implementation of the EU directive for alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) for its clients and national and international industry associations with regard to both regulatory and tax law issues. Patricia Volhard, Andreas Rodin and Uwe Bärenz, as well as Berlin counsel Ronald Buge and Jens Steinmüller, were all involved in this process.

Counsel Tarek Mardini and partner Uwe Bärenz and his team are responsible for the dynamic development and successful consulting in the secondaries practice area. Thanks to the expertise of Philip Schwarz van Berk, the funds litigation practice has also expanded with regard to advice on corporate law litigation and tax proceedings.

Another cornerstone of P+P, its transactional practice, has also shown "stable growth", despite the volatile environment. This is due to the "highly valued expertise" of P+P professionals, such as Otto Haberstock, Barbara Koch-Schulte, Michael Best and Peter Peschke, who have advised many clients on tax and legal structuring issues. Counsel Jens Linde broadens the spectrum with his "noteworthy legal expertise in the areas of M&A, real estate, banks and finance". The Chinese attorney Weirong Zhang contributes to P+P's participation in the development of business with China; P+P already has a significant number of mandates in this area.

Benedikt Hohaus holds undisputed "sovereignty over the Munich consulting market" with regard to management participation and is "superbly" complemented by his colleague Philipp von Braunschweig. P+P is also active in the venture capital market, thanks to the "excellent" Michael Inhester and Christian Tönies, who has also made a name for himself as a venture capital expert. The transaction, restructuring and joint venture specialist Ralf Bergjan is also a "highly esteemed expert", as well as two other colleagues who were also named partner in 2013, Eva Nase (corporate, partnership, group company and capital markets law specialist) and Philip Schwarz van Berk (private equity and venture capital funds expert).

The firm is not only known for its legal and tax expertise; its employees appreciate the support of the firm in reconciling their family and professional lives. Flexible part-time working hours, remote access, as well as cooperation with bilingual kindergartens, family service companies, "Ladies Day" and many other supportive measures give them the feeling that they are "in a better position than associates at other firms".