Page 26 - DWF Annual Report 2017

Paris

DWF added a Paris office on 1 January 2017 by The merger with Heenan Paris also provided a link into
merging with Heenan Paris, a Paris-based Firm other international jurisdictions. It also brought a
with a similarly international outlook. Partners relationship with South African law Firm Thomson
Jean-François Mercadier, Ali Boroumand, Pascale Wilks, a full service Law Firm that has offices in each
Gallien and Anne-Sylvie Vassenaix-Paxton joined of the major commercial centres in South Africa and
DWF, and in the first few months since opening an established Chinese department that targets the
we have recruited several more new partners enormous amount of Chinese investment being made
into core service lines as we continue to target into Africa. France also plays an important role as a
growth opportunities. gateway to Africa, which is of strategic importance to
our clients in the Middle East and Germany. Africa is
As one of Germany’s largest and most significant an emerging growth region in its own right with many
trading partners, France is a strategically important opportunities to develop business and revenues in
region that complements DWF’s already-expanding sectors that play to our strengths such as Energy,
European footprint, and is not only a key market for Regulation, Regulated Activities, Insurance and
us in terms of size and importance within Europe, but Financial services.
also because our clients are increasingly instructing us
on work with a significant French legal component. “We are particularly happy to contribute
to the development of an international
The office has a strong international client base with
a particular focus on Corporate, Private Equity, platform whose ambition is to be present
Commercial, IP/IT and Litigation, and we also intend in key financial centres and with a focus
to look at further consolidation opportunities,
especially with insurance-focused Firms, to build on key growth markets such as Africa to
an insurance practice in France. the benefit of our clients.”

Jean-François Mercadier, Managing Partner of
DWF France.

Berlin

DWF opened an office in Berlin in April 2017 in “Having spent the last year focusing
order to strengthen its Financial services, Real on the strategic growth of our Cologne
Estate and Corporate/M&A service lines and
continue building its European presence. and Munich offices, including the
development of a strong technology
The Berlin office was DWF’s third in Germany, sector practice, DWF is in a good position
following the opening of Cologne and Munich in to take advantage of the opportunities
2015. The office focuses particularly on the Financial
Services sector, where we have a growing specialism presented in the Berlin market. The city
in Fintech, and we are also focused on growing our has become the digitilisation capital of
European Corporate/M&A practice, benefiting from Germany, with a thriving Fintech and
Berlin’s well-established private equity and
international venture capital scene. We will continue international start-up business scene
to build our International Real Estate practice to that is a natural fit for our expertise and
complement our strong national team in the UK as will be key as we build our German and
well as what is an increasingly active Construction
and Infrastructure practice in DWF Dubai. international client base.”

Michael Falter, Managing Partner of DWF Germany.