News | Commercial Litigation

Tuesday 22nd April 2008

European law firm SJ Berwin LLP is pleased to announce that it has promoted eight lawyers to partnership, which will come into effect on 1 May 2008. Of these, six are in the firm’s London office, one in Germany and one in Italy.

The new partners are:

Shaistah Akhtar, Litigation, London

Nick Brocklesby, Litigation, London

Emidio Cacciapuoti, Tax, Italy

Polly Daines, Corporate, London

Andreas Kirchner, Finance, Germany

Ajay Pathak, Financial Markets, London

Matthew Priday, Real Estate, London

Anthony Shatz, Corporate, London

This brings the total number of partners in the firm to 175.

Managing partner Ralph Cohen, who chaired the firm’s partnership advisory committee, said: "We are very pleased to welcome lawyers of such quality into our partnership. Every one of them has delivered extraordinary value for our clients and our firm over recent years. These appointments are testimony to our confidence in their capabilities and in our firm’s future growth."

Senior partner Jonathan Blake added: "On behalf of the whole firm I would like to congratulate all our new partners and thank each for his or her contribution to the success of the firm. This year’s promotions reinforce strategic areas of growth for SJ Berwin in corporate, finance, real estate and litigation, as well as our commitment to the further development of our pan-European practice."

This week’s announcement follows two lateral hires into the partnership last month, when Davide Balboni joined SJ Berwin’s EU & Competition department in Milan, and Nicolas Theys joined the Reconstruction & Insolvency team in Paris.

For further information please contact:

Ralph Cohen, Managing Partner, on +44 (0)20 7111 2701, email ralph.cohen@sjberwin.com; or 
Richard Gerrard, Head of Marketing Communications, on +44 (0)20 7111 5099, email richard.gerrard@sjberwin.com

Notes to editors:

SJ Berwin LLP is a full-service pan-European legal practice with more than 750 lawyers and 1300 staff across its offices in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.

SJ Berwin was created and thrives as a leading-edge legal services business, focusing on the European and international market place. Our clients are sophisticated buyers of legal services, principally entrepreneurial companies and financial institutions, whom we advise on a comprehensive range of services including Corporate Finance, Commercial, Real Estate, Banking, Reconstruction and Insolvency, Financial Services, Litigation, Employment & Pensions, EU & Competition & Tax.

Our approach has resulted in the firm winning a number of recent awards including UK Firm of the Year at the Global Chambers Awards 2007, European Law Firm of the Year (EVCA) for the third consecutive year, Private Equity Law Firm of the Year (EVCJ) for the 4th consecutive year, Best Law Firm (Fund Formation) (Private EquityOnline and Private Equity International) 2007 for the 6th consecutive year; Competition Team of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2006; No 1 in Legal Week’s Law Firm Satisfaction Survey 2005; UK Firm of the Year - Legal Week Awards 2005; Real Estate Team of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2005; Real Estate Team of the Year - The Lawyer Awards 2005; Stephen Kon  was awarded Best Achievement in Copyright Practice at the World Leaders European IP Awards 2005; Jonathan Blake was named Global Private Funds Lawyer of the Year by The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers.

On 1 June 2005, SJ Berwin became SJ Berwin LLP, a limited liability partnership www.sjberwin.com.