Graf von Westphalen reappoints law firm's management and adds new partners

The Graf von Westphalen law firm held its partners' meeting on November 11 and 12, 2011. In addition to many issues, the meeting's agenda included a number of elections.

1. The regularly scheduled election of the managing directors of the Graf von Westphalen law firm, Dr. Robert Theissen and Christof Kleinmann, was held. Both managing directors were re-elected by large majorities.

2. The regularly scheduled election of the members of the Board of Partners, which acts much as a Supervisory Board by monitoring and advising the firm's management team, was also held. Dr. Ronald Steiling (Chairman), Ulrich Stuhlfelner and Carsten Liersch were also re-elected by large majorities.

3. A decision was also made to add four of the law firm's attorneys to the ranks of its Equity Partners. Effective January 1, 2012, Ms. Andrea Torka and Mr. Patrick Heid will become Equity Partners. The long-time Of counsels Dr. Cornelia Erdl and Dr. Markus Knell have been named full partners.

By appointing partners from the ranks of the firm's own lawyers, Graf von Westphalen has once again demonstrated its aspiration to expand strategically. At the same time, it underscored its commitment to offering the best career opportunities to its own staff of lawyers. In employee surveys, Graf von Westphalen regularly ranks highly in terms of working conditions, professional growth opportunities, partnership prospects and flexible work models, including part-time equity partnerships.

"We give our employees responsibility from the very start and invest in their professional growth," Christof Kleinmann says. "At our firm, everybody has a real opportunity to become an Equity Partner. We are also really happy about increasing the number of women among our Partners." The four new partners are based in Frankfurt, Shanghai and Munich.

Andrea Torka, LL.M., joined the Frankfurt office of Graf von Westphalen in 2009, with a focus on real-estate financing. Ms. Torka studied in Freiburg and London. She began her legal career at Schiedermair Rechtsanwälte.

Patrick Heid became head of the Shanghai office of Graf von Westphalen in 2010. His specialties are Chinese and German commercial law, M&A and capitalmarket law. He assists companies with investments in China and transnational corporate acquisitions and divestments. After attending universities in Cologne, Paris, Berlin and Taipeh, he began his career at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Frankfurt am Main and Beijing.

The new full partners, Dr. Cornelia Erdl and Dr. Markus Knell, work in the Munich office of Graf von Westphalen. Dr. Erdl, whose procurement practice has gained a national reputation, also specializes in privatization and public-private partnerships. The focal points of Dr. Knell's work are company and commercial law, distribution law and contract law. He is well-known for his expertise in direct sales law.

4. Effective January 1, 2012, Katharina Feddersen (Hamburg), Ansgar Hain (Berlin), Christian Kusulis, Dr. Marco Zessel (both Frankfurt) and Dr. Daniel Michel (Munich) will become Associate Partners. The law firm introduced the associated partnership model this past spring as a way to provide recognition to Associates who are on the career track and help them set up the business case.