Lovells elects 21 new partners

Lovells has elected 21 new partners with effect from 1 May 2010, the day that Hogan Lovells officially launches.  Hogan Lovells will have more than 800 partners in offices across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.  

Areas of specialisationreflect the broad spread of the firm's practice: 

• Seven in corporate - including corporate finance, corporate commercial and real estate
• Four in finance - including project finance, BRI and banking
• Five in IPMT
• Five in litigation - including product liability and employment  

The jurisdictional spread reflects the international nature of the firm's practice, covering 10 offices across the firm's network:  

• 10 in Continental Europe - Milan, Madrid, Paris, Munich, Hamburg and Dusseldorf,
• Five in London
• Six in Asia and the Middle East - Hong Kong, Dubai and Shanghai  

Full details are in the notes to editors.
 
Speaking today, John Young, senior partner, said:  

"These appointments acknowledge the hard work of each individual during very challenging economic times.  As we launch the new firm, Hogan Lovells, on 1 May, we will continue to invest in the associate community, to ensure legal talent rises to the top for the benefit of our clients around the world.  On behalf of the entire firm, I would like to congratulate our new partners.”

Previous years' elections to partnership  

2009- 19
2008 - 18
2007 - 31
2006 - 18
2005 - 12
2004 - 15
2003 - 17
2002 - 19
2001 - 24  

New partners in alphabetical order:  

Ed Bowyer- Employment, London Ed graduated from Durham University and went on to complete the CPE and LPC at The College of Law, Guildford in 1997.  Ed was a trainee solicitor at Travers Smith and qualified there in 2000.  After six months as an assistant solicitor at Travers, he joined the employment department of Clifford Chance in December 2004 and returned to Travers in May 2005. He joined the employment practice of Lovells' London office in January 2007. In May 2009, Ed was promoted to Of Counsel.  

Ana Castedo- IPMT, Madrid Ana graduated from the State University of Madrid (Universidad Complutense) with a specialisation in European Studies, qualifying as a lawyer in Spain in 1996. After some training in the UN (New York, Geneva and The Hague), she began her professional career with Uría Menéndez in 1998. She subsequently attended New York University - School of Law for a one year Masters' law course, after which she joined the IP litigation department of Clifford Chance in Barcelona. At the end of 2004, she moved to the IP department of Freshfields in Barcelona. Ana joined Lovells' Madrid office in February 2006 as a Senior Associate.  

Christopher Cross- Project Finance, London Chris graduated from King's College, London in 1994. He went on to take the CPE and LPC at The College of Law, London. He also obtained an MSc in construction law and arbitration from King's College in 2001.  Chris was a trainee solicitor at Beechcroft Wansbroughs and qualified at that firm in 1998. In 2000, he joined Buchanan Ingersoll in London. Chris joined Lovells in October 2001 and was promoted to Of Counsel in May 2009.  

Dirk Debald- Real Estate, Hamburg Dirk graduated from the University of Trier in 1999 and, following his compulsory training at the Court of Appeal of Koblenz, was admitted in 2002. He obtained his doctorate degree from the University of Trier in 2005.  In 2003, Dirk joined the real estate group in Lovells' Frankfurt office. He was promoted to Counsel in May 2008 and, in September of that year, relocated to Hamburg to lead the real estate group there.  

Cecile Derycke- Litigation (Product Liability/Life Sciences), Paris Cecile graduated from the University of Paris II Pantheon Assas in 2002 with post graduate degrees in business law and corporate consultancy.  Cecile completed an internship at Simeon & Associes from 2000 to 2001 and Lovells in Paris from 2002 to 2003 and she was offered an associate position there in September 2003. She was promoted to Senior Associate in 2008.  

Christopher Dobby- Litigation, Hong Kong Chris graduated from Royal Holloway & Bedford New College, University of London in 1994. He completed the CPE and LPC at the College of Law, London in 1996.  Chris was a trainee solicitor with Rimmer & Co, a Hong Kong based law firm associated with the German firm Beiten Burkhardt Mittl & Wegener. He qualified in Hong Kong in 1998 and in England & Wales in 1999. In 1998, he joined the litigation practice of BBLP and in 2000 moved to Johnson Stokes & Master where he practised until he joined Lovells Hong Kong as a Consultant in April 2008.  

James Fong- Corporate, Hong Kong James graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1997.  He trained at Johnson Stokes & Master in Hong Kong and qualified in 2000. He joined the Corporate group of Lovells' Hong Kong office as an associate in 2004 and was promoted as a Consultant in 2008.  James has been advising sponsors and issuers on a number of Hong Kong Main Board and GEM IPOs.  He has also worked on different types of corporate finance matters including block trade, private equity, listing of exchange traded funds, partial offer, joint ventures and regulatory compliance.  James was seconded to ExxonMobil in Hong Kong for three months in 2006 and UBS in Hong Kong for two months in 2007.  

Christian Herweg- BRI, Munich Christian graduated from the University of Passau in 1999, having completed a two-year apprenticeship at Dresdner Bank, AG in Hamburg before starting with law. He then did his compulsory two-year training at the Higher Regional Court Hamm. In 2003, he obtained both his doctorate degree from the University of Münster and his LL.M. degree from Cambridge University and was admitted in September of that same year. In 2003, he joined Lovells' BRI practice in Munich. In 2007, he joined the banking practice area. In 2008, Christian was promoted to Counsel and he returned to the BRI practice in 2009.  

Paul Joukador- Corporate (including Commercial), London Paul graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1997 with a bachelor of laws (honours) and a bachelor of commerce (accounting and finance).  Paul trained as an articled clerk at Minter Ellison in Melbourne and qualified in 1998, both as a solicitor and a barrister. He practised at Minter Ellison until 2001, when he joined Lovells' London office. Paul was admitted as a solicitor of England and Wales in February 2003. In May 2008, Paul was promoted to Of Counsel.  

Sebastian Lach- Litigation (Product Liability), Munich Sebastian graduated from the University of Munich in 2001 with a German law degree. In the following two years, he continued his German legal education at the Higher Regional Court Munich. Sebastian trained in the US (Kirkpatrick and Lockhart LLP), Germany (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) and Spain (Goehmann Wrede Haas Kappus & Hartmann). On qualifying, he was invited to take up a post as a deputy notary public in Germany. In 2006, he obtained a doctor of law (magna cum laude). In 2005, Sebastian joined the dispute resolution team in the Lovells' Munich office with a view to specialising in product liability. He was promoted to Counsel in June 2009.  

Geoffrey Lin- IPMT, Shanghai Geoffrey graduated from New York University in 1997 with a degree in Neural Science.  He then went on to obtain a doctor of law from Cornell Law School, US. He qualified as a lawyer in California in 2000 and in New York in 2003, and qualified as a patent attorney in 2004. Geoffrey began his professional career as an associate at Fenwick & West LLP in California, before moving to Proskauer Rose LLP in New York in 2001. He joined Lovells' Shanghai office in 2005 and was promoted to Consultant in 2008.  

Kim Mehrbrey, Litigation, Dusseldorf Kim graduated from the University of Cologne with a degree in law. He completed a two year internship with the Higher District Court of Düsseldorf and qualified in October 1999. Kim received his doctorate degree from the University of Cologne, graduating magna cum laude, and worked as an assistant professor at the University of Düsseldorf before he joined White & Case Düsseldorf in May 2000. He worked mostly in corporate law until 2003, when he joined Aderhold, v. Dalwigk, Knüppel (AvDK) Law Firm where he specialised in litigation and became a partner in 2006. Kim joined the dispute resolution practice of Lovells’ Düsseldorf office as Counsel in August 2007. He was seconded to the London office in 2009 and is also qualified as a solicitor of England & Wales.  

Imran Mufti- Banking, Dubai Imran graduated from Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London with a law degree in 1992. He then completed the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law, London before passing the New York Bar Exam in 1997. He qualified in New York in 1998 and in England and Wales in 2000. In 2002, Imran obtained a post-graduate diploma in lnternational Commercial Arbitration at the University of London.  Imran started his legal career at Clifford Chance in London in 1998. He joined Curtis Davis Garrard in London in 2001 before moving to the Middle East where he worked at Baker & McKenzie (Riyadh) and Denton Wilde Sapte (Dubai) before joining Lovells Dubai office in 2007. He was promoted to Of Counsel in 2008.  

Kelly Naphtali- BRI, Hong Kong Kelly graduated from Deakin University (Australia) in 1996 with degrees in both law and commerce (economics). After spending one year working as a judicial research associate to the Victorian Court of Appeal, she joined a Melbourne firm as a trainee in 1998 and moved to Clayton Utz in 1999.  In 2002, she moved to Hong Kong and joined White & Case. Kelly qualified in Australia in 1999 and in Hong Kong in 2003.  Kelly joined Lovells in 2005 and was promoted to Consultant in 2008.  

Amit Nayyar- Corporate, London Amit graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in law. He completed the LPC at Nottingham Law School.  Amit qualified in 2001. He trained at Pinsent Masons LLP and was an associate there until 2004 when he went to White & Case LLP. Amit joined Lovells’ London office in 2006 and was promoted to Of Counsel in 2008.  

Morten Petersenn- IPMT, Hamburg Morten specializes in trade mark, design and unfair competition litigation. Between 1992 - 1998, Morten attended and graduated from, the University of Gottingen (Germany) and the University of Salamanca (Spain In 1999, he prepared a doctorate thesis at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and obtained a doctorate (magna cum laude) at the University of Gottingen in 2000. Morten undertook his training at Taylor Wessing (Hamburg), in the legal departments of SEAT S.A, (Barcelona) and the German Embassy (Buenos Aires), and at the District Court Hamburg, before qualifying in 2002. He joined Lovells' Alicante Office in 2002, and moved to the Hamburg office in 2004. Morten was promoted to Counsel in 2008.  

Alessandro Piermanni- Corporate, Milan Alessandro graduated from the State University of Macerata (Italy) in 1997 and achieved his LL.M. in 2005 from the University of California (Berkeley and Davis).  In 1997, Alessandro joined the law offices of Paolo Tanoni and worked mostly in criminal law before moving to towards corporate law with EY Law in Italy. Alessandro was admitted to the Italian bar in 2000.  He joined Lovells in 2007 as a Senior Associate in the Corporate/M&A practice area in Milan.  

Guy Potel- Corporate Finance, London Guy graduated from the University of Leeds in 1996. He completed the CPE and the LPC at The College of Law, London.  Guy joined Clifford Chance, London as a trainee solicitor in 1999 and qualified in 2001. He moved to Slaughter and May in 2005, before joining Lovells in June 2008. Guy was promoted to Of Counsel in 2009.  

Steffen Steininger- IPMT, Munich Steffen graduated from the University of Regensburg (Germany) in 1998.  In 1996/97 he studied at the University of Paris-X (France). He received his master’s degree from University College, Oxford. He has a doctorate from the University of Regensburg.  From 2000 to 2002, Steffen was a trainee at the Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg. In addition, from 1999 to 2002 he was a Trainee with Linklaters (Cologne), Haarmann Hemmelrath (Paris), and Dissmann Orth (Munich). Steffen qualified in 2002 and joined Lovells’ Munich office in March of 2003.  He was promoted to Counsel in May 2009.  

Deanna Wong- IPMT, Hong Kong Deanna graduated from Victoria University in New Zealand with a degree in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology. She has a degree in law from the same university.  Deanna worked at Booz Allen & Hamilton as a Management Consultant in Melbourne. She practised at AJ Park in New Zealand before moving on secondment to Hong Kong firm Sit Fung Kwong and Shum. Deanna joined Lovells’ Hong Kong office in 2004.  

Nikolas Zirngibl- Corporate, Munich Nikolas graduated from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich in 2000 with a degree in law. He received his doctorate (magna cum laude) from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in 2003. He was admitted to the bar in April 2004.  Nikolas joined the corporate department of Lovells Munich in 2004 and was promoted to Senior Associate in May 2007. In 2007 Nikolas was seconded to the private equity team of Lovells London and in 2008 to the corporate team of Lovells Dubai. Nikolas specialises in corporate transactional work (M&A, including Private Equity).