King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (KWMSJB) yesterday (30 April) announced the hire of former Allen & Overy antitrust and competition partner Martin Bechtold to its Frankfurt office, as globally the Sino-Pacific-UK giant promoted a total of 26 lawyers to partner, including nine in Europe.
Bechtold, who before A&O in 2006 was a partner at Clifford Chance, has over 30 years’ competition experience, covering areas such as German and EU competition law and antitrust litigation, along with general competition counselling, advisory and compliance work.
This is a significant hire for KWMSJB, building its global EU competition and regulatory practice to over 100 lawyers, with around 30 partners spread across the firm’s separate partnerships in Europe, China, Hong Kong and Australia.
‘Martin is a heavyweight lawyer with an impressive track record. His hire strengthens our offering to clients, as part of an ongoing strategy to develop our business in Germany in terms of lateral hires, strategic focus and market presence,’ said Tilman Siebert, head of the EU, competition and regulatory practice in Germany.
Meanwhile, the latest partner promotions saw nine associates made up in KWMSJB’s European arm, with the remainder in Australia and China, where the firm is known simply as King & Wood Mallesons (KWM).
Rob Day, managing partner of KWMSJB, said: ‘Nine partner promotions is a testament to the priority we place on our homegrown talent. As client-first and commercially minded people, these individuals are a true asset and reinforce our strategy and commitment to growing our business.’
The firm’s push in the corporate sector is reflected by its promotion of two corporate partners in London and two in Paris, with corporate constituting over a third of promotions across the whole of KWM.
Seven partners were promoted in Australia across the firm’s Sydney and Perth offices, while ten were promoted in China.
‘As a people business, it is important that these global promotions reflect our diversity, in terms of practice, culture, geography and gender. It is particularly pleasing that just over one-third of our new partners are women,’ said Stuart Fuller, global managing partner of the firm.
‘These 26 new partners will continue to make a big impact on our clients and our business, and are integral as we drive forward with our strategy to build a genuinely different kind of law firm for the future,’ he added.
David.stevenson@legalease.co.uk
The full list of partner promotions:
Australia
Paul Schroder (Corporate, Sydney)
Claire Rogers (Banking & Finance, Sydney)
Nathan Collins (Banking & Finance, Perth)
Katherine Vines (Projects & Real Estate, Perth)
Mark Bayliss (Projects & Real Estate, Sydney)
Juliana Jorissen (Dispute Resolution, Perth)
Jerome Tse (Tax, Sydney)
China
Rong Fan (Corporate, Beijing)
Jingchuan Zhao (Corporate, Beijing)
Hui Li (Patent, Beijing)
Ke Jiang (International Trade, Beijing)
Ya Peng (Dispute Resolution, Beijing)
Hui Xu (Securities, Shanghai)
Guojun Ye (Securities, Hangzhou)
Ming Yang (Corporate, Hangzhou)
Haidi Teng (Dispute Resolution, Shenzhen)
Jun Sha (Dispute Resolution, Guangzhou)
Europe & Middle East
Martin Brockhausen, (International Funds, Munich)
Tom Calnan (Real Estate, Dubai)
David Fitzgerald (Corporate, London)
Joe Newitt (Corporate London)
William Robert, (Corporate, Paris)
Gretchen Scott (Commerce & Technology, London- currently on secondment to the Dubai office)
Pierre-Louis Sevegrand-Lions (Corporate, Paris)
Natasha Tardif (EU, Competition & Regulatory, Paris)
Axel Walz (Intellectual Property, Munich)