Strong growth at gunnercooke with 47 new employees in second quarter

International professional services firm gunnercooke has continued its rapid growth in the second quarter of 2024, welcoming 48 new colleagues in the UK, Germany, Austria and USA. This includes 27 Partners, four Operating Partners, three associates, four paralegals and ten other support staff. This brings the total number of new starters to 98 since the beginning of the year.

The gunnercooke Real Estate team has expanded with the addition of Jason Lewis and Stavros Theophilou as Real Estate Finance Partners. Additionally, Joy Plummer has joined as an Agricultural and Commercial Real Estate Partner.

Partners Rita Sheth, Tim Tyndall, Alex Doughty, and Ronald Carter have joined the London office. Ronald joins the expanding firm as a Commercial Partner. Tim, an Employment Law Partner has joined with three decades of experience. Alex is the newest Banking and Finance Partner and, finally, Rita is a Dispute Resolution and Commercial contracts lawyer.

Up in the north of England, an additional three Partners have joined the Leeds office. Adam Wilkinson has been appointed a Commercial Property Partner, having previously worked as Partner and Head of Commercial Property at Lupton Fawcett LLP. Joining him are Gary Swann, Litigation Partner, and Emma Bowens, Corporate Defence and Compliance Partner.

Rounding off the UK new starters, Lisa Walton has joined in Manchester as a Commercial Partner, and Ed Marlow as a Banking and Finance Partner.

gunnercooke’s focus on international growth continues, with 10 new partners being welcomed to the firm in Germany and Austria in the last three months.

Prof. Dr Robert Risse and Oliver Huq both joined in March as Taxation, International Taxation & Digital Transformation Partner and Commercial, Data Protection & Compliance, IP and IT Partner, respectively. Dr Robert Risse served for over 20 years as Global Head of Taxes and Customs at the DAX-listed company Henkel and at the international law firm WTS.

Moving into April, we saw another four Partners join: Dr Frederik von Essen, who focuses on banking & finance and regulatory (supervisory law), particularly in the areas of blockchain and cryptocurrencies; Dr Volker Beissenhirtz, who has over 25 years of experience in international law firms is an expert in restructuring & insolvency, white-collar crime, and governance, risk & compliance;

Dr Guido Donath, who focuses on IP & IT matters and competition and corporate law; and finally, Arnold Lukas, who specialises in IT contract law, data protection law, artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technologies (blockchain), and banking and capital markets law.

In May, gunnercooke welcomed Georg von Bronk, previously Group General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of the legal and compliance department of an international conglomerate joined. His focus areas are corporate governance, compliance, and construction law.

The most recent new starters in June include Dr Marc Pauka, a Public Procurement, Public Pricing and Public Law Partner, who has more than 20 years of experience in national and EU-public procurement law, Uwe Brix, a Tax Partner, and Dr Christoph Dally who specialises in IP & IT, Competition & Antitrust law.

gunnercooke US welcomed four as the office moves into its second year. Michael Jahnke, Competition and Antitrust Partner, Tina Hu, Real Estate Partner, Bonnie Levine, Employment Partner, and Eric Pelz have all joined over the past quarter, with a wealth of knowledge and experience in their respective fields.

The firm’s International Director, Matthew Dashper-Hughes, added: “We’re already halfway through 2024, and what a fantastic achievement to mark such a milestone. With 48 new colleagues having joined us since March, across a variety of disciplines and sectors, continues to highlight our growth and commitment to delivering top quality services through our renowned lawyers.

“We will continue to grow at a fast past, ensuring that those lawyers who join us believe in the same purpose as us: to deliver positive impact for our clients, improve the lives of our people and to leave a better world than we found.”