Beiten Burkhardt Energy and Techno­logy teams join GvW

GvW Graf von Westphalen continues to move forward on its fast-track path of strategic and dynamic growth. The latest additions to the firm are equity partners Dr Maximilian Emanuel Elspas, Dr Sebastian Heim and Dr Axel von Walter, who are joining the firm with their teams from Beiten Burkhardt and will strengthen its Energy and Digitalisation & Technology Focus Areas. GvW thus sees its Munich and Berlin offices grow by three teams with almost 20 attorneys.

Dr Maximilian Emanuel Elspas is a seasoned expert in the energy sector and is set to head GvW’s Energy Practice Group. With his experienced team in Munich and Berlin and their excellent reputation on the market, he advises companies, investors and the public sector on all matters of energy law. As the long-standing co-head of Corporate/M&A with Beiten Burkhardt, he has advised on numerous commercial transactions and contentious matters in the sector.

Working out of Munich, an international patent hub, Dr Sebastian Heim and his team provide their clients with highly specialised advice in patent law, in trade secret protection and on matters of technology related IP law. Dr Heim is a recognised patent litigator and specialist in intellectual property law. His core areas are litigation, strategic IP advice, employee invention law and technology transfer (R&D cooperation schemes, licensing agreements, transactions).

Together with his team, Dr Axel von Walter advises on all aspects of digitalisation and electronic business models. He also lectures media and information law at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and is renowned for his work in data protection. Dr von Walter and his team are also much sought after for their advice on IT, e-commerce, copyright, competition and media law matters.

“GvW has a unique dynamic culture and clear focus”, said the new partners, explaining their move. “GvW is one of Germany’s leading full-service law firms. We see a great deal of synergies in the firm’s cooperation across its various locations and practice groups that we want to continue to leverage together.”

In recent years, GvW has steadily expanded its range of advisory services in the Energy and Digitalisation & Technology Focus Areas. Matters handled by the firm include major infrastructure projects such as the expansion of Germany's north-south electricity interconnector or the dismantling of nuclear power plants as well as issues relating to the German energy revolution such as digital energy solutions.

The systematic expansion of the firm's technology and digitalisation teams helps GvW provide even more comprehensive advice tailored to future technology- and data-driven issues. This perfectly complements the firm's special expertise in TC law brought in by Dr Grace Nacimiento as she joined GvW. GvW is a one-stop shop for advice on all digitalisation and technology projects as well as regulatory issues. By acquiring Dr Sebastian Heim’s patent law team well known on the market, GvW successfully establishes a further centre of competence in the strategically important Digitalisation & Technology Focus Area in Munich. This is a key step in GvW’s targeted expansion of its patent law practice, which has hitherto consisted of Dr Joachim Mulch in Düsseldorf and was strengthened just recently with the arrival of Nicolas Dumont at the Frankfurt office at the beginning of the year. Having a large and highly specialised team of lawyers specialising in this field will increase the firm’s presence and visibility in Munich as a key location for patent law work.

Christof Kleinmann and Dr Robert Theissen, both Managing Partners of the law firm, are pleased with this development: “Getting further renown specialists and experts on board is invaluable for our energy revolution, digitalisation, innovation and technology practices. They will give a boost to our profile as leading advisors in these future key areas of society and law. This gain will thus benefit not just our offices in Munich and Berlin.”

“We are delighted with the further enhancement of our professional clout these new teams bring to our Focus Area”, said Stephan Menzemer, lead of the Digitalisation & Technology Focus Area at GvW. “Special expertise and larger teams at all our offices will be of huge benefit to our clients in their many different digitalisation projects”.