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Information on our Frankfurt office

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Information on our main practice areas in Germany

Our Berlin  office, located in the heart of Berlin ’s political and business district, comprises a team of more than 40 attorneys. Over the past 20 years, Berlin has not only regained its position as the political center of Germany but also has become one of the principal and the fastest growing markets for the media and entertainment industry as well as the bio-tech, life sciences, IT and advertising industries.

The Berlin  office works closely with the Frankfurt office to compose a seamless German practice. Our main German practice areas are corporate/M&A, real estate, telecoms, media & entertainment, General IP and IT as well as employment, dispute resolution and public procurement, antitrust and trade, tax, banking and finance, and equipment leasing.

The corporate group encompasses private and public mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and finance & projects work including PPP schemes as well as high-end company law matters. The group also specializes in joint ventures, distressed M&A and restructurings, corporate governance and risk management across a variety of sectors, in particular in the TMT and private equity sectors.

The group’s focus on transactional work affects a variety of industries, including infrastructure, travel, health care and media, and the group also has extensive experience in corporate litigation.  Clients include German and international blue chips, major international utility service providers, investment banks and private equity funds as well as a variety of national and international businesses.  The group has regular experience in cross-border deals.

The real estate practice focuses on international and national transactions (offices, logistics, residential, health sector, care homes and hospitals, retail), project development, infrastructure and commercial developments (e. g. wind parks, shopping malls, zoning), joint ventures, corporate restructurings and funds work, as well as leases, leaseholds, sale and lease backs, and restructuring, creditors’ rights and insolvency issues. The group also covers environmental and public planning law, and construction and real estate litigation.

Our intellectual property, media and entertainment practice focuses on broadcasting, both television and radio, film including film financing, collecting societies, music rights and licensing, unfair competition, press law, IT contracts and trademarks.  The group also has substantial experience in dealing with intellectual property and IT aspects of corporate transactions.  The telecoms group has an emphasis on regulatory and industry related transactions.

The employment group provides integrated services on all legal issues concerning directors and staff including advice on employment law, compensation and benefits, social security, wage tax, the law on sales agents and business immigration. Our clients range from mid-size companies to large corporations with a focus on the technology industry.

Our employment team has profound experience in the structuring of employment contracts with board members and advising on questions of liability of executives, in the structuring of benefit and incentive schemes, in the establishment and restructuring of pension schemes, the restructuring of businesses and outsourcing, in the termination of employment relationships including mass dismissal, and in trans-border secondments. In addition we offer general advice on day-to-day employment matters and the representation of employers before employment courts and general civil law courts.

Our public procurement team advises upon all aspects of privatizations, Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Private Financial Initiatives (PFI), plant construction (including shipbuilding), large building and infrastructure projects and their related financing. Our team has many years of experience in national and international tenders and has had a decisive involvement in the largest PPP infrastructure projects in Germany of the recent decades, including airports, highways and ports. Our practice includes advising contracting authorities and bidders, particularly on complex Public Private Partnerships (PPP), such as in the areas of IT, eGovernment and Real Estate. We have specific expertise in the area of public utilities and municipal development projects and represent our clients before the procurement review bodies set up in Germany, the competition authorities and national and European courts.

Our German finance team has extensive experience in structured finance, asset finance and equipment leasing, acting for lenders, borrowers, lessors and lessees (airlines, train operators, public entities and corporates). K&L Gates offers the right platform for developing a German finance practice, building on the firm’s international finance practice spanning the United States, Asia (including the Middle East), and other parts of Europe.

Our tax team focuses, inter alia, on the tax optimization and structuring of cross-border real estate transactions and financing, and advises institutional investors on European unregulated investment structuring.

Our German practice has been acknowledged in several legal handbooks. Legal 500 and JUVE recommend our corporate practice for middle market M&A transactions, as well as our real estate and construction practices, both in 2009 and 2010. Our TMT practice and practitioners are not only recommended by Legal 500 and Chambers, but also received two JUVE awards in 2009, both as “Law Firm of the Year for Media” as well as “Law Firm of the Year for Telecommunications.” JUVE also recommends us for PPP and public procurement law. Our employment team is listed among the leading firms by Chambers 2009.

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