Senior Associate
Bird & Bird LLP
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Counsel
Partner
Partner, Dispute Resolution
Partner
Alexandre’s breadth of experience enables him to provide his clients with strategic commercial solutions. Alexandre is a partner in our International Commercial Group, based in Paris. With both French and English postgraduate qualifications in commercial and corporate law, Alexandre has extensive experience of transactional matters. He is able to offer comprehensive advice on all aspects of general business law including supply and manufacturing agreements; standard terms and conditions of supply and purchase; sales; joint ventures; co-operation and collaboration agreements; strategic partnerships; and procurement and outsourcing, particularly in the telecoms, media, IT, internet and ecommerce sectors. His practice also includes advertising, marketing, sales promotion and sponsoring matters and he specialises in broadcasting and media regulation. In addition, Alexandre advises and acts on real estate matters for institutional investors, in relation to acquisition of buildings, as well as the preparation of leases and provide assistance for negotiating, renegotiating or terminating commercial leases. He has significant experience in drafting and negotiating property development agreements, agreements for delegation or assistance in project management, or general construction contracts. Complementing his commercial expertise, Alexandre leads our initiatives to support entrepreneurs in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sector, using this experience to assist our clients in the implementation of their CSR initiatives.
Partner
Partner
Partner, Intellectual Property
Anders is the managing partner for the UAE and head of our corporate and aviation practices in the Middle East.
Counsel
Anne-Cécile has built a unique practice advising French, Swedish and Nordic clients on a broad range of corporate and commercial issues. Anne-Cécile is a partner in our International Corporate Group, based in Paris. Working with clients from the industrial, life sciences and new technologies sectors, her practice is focused on advising French, Swedish and Nordic companies on corporate and commercial law issues. Anne-Cécile has particular expertise in mergers and acquisitions, cross border transactions, investments, restructurings, as well as the negotiation and drafting of commercial agreements. Her practice also involves commercial and civil litigation, labour and employment law. Before joining us in 2014, Anne-Cécile worked for Jones Day in Paris for twelve years.
Anne-Charlotte has significant experience in both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters, developed over the past 15 years. While her major forte is patent litigation, notably in the pharmaceutical, electronics and telecommunications sectors, she also has vast experience in soft IP matters. Within this area she notably advises major pharmaceutical, luxury, sports and electrical goods companies on sensitive trademark and design related matters. Anne-Charlotte regularly advises clients in negotiating IP related contracts. She also advises her clients on pharmaceutical regulatory questions. Anne-Charlotte teaches Intellectual Property Law at the Universities of Paris II Panthéon Assas and Orsay Paris Sud. She is a regular speaker at major legal and industry conferences such as ABA, LESI, or ABPI. She is the author of many legal articles among which SPCs: Three new pillars buttress case-law, (Revue Propriété Industrielle, March 2014). MIP ranks her as an "IP Star".
Anne-Florence has a particular interest in the civil and criminal risks in industrial public firms, especially on matters related to responsibilities in these fields. Her practice encompasses public administration, government departments and private firms, on both nationally and internationally. Anne-Florence advices on litigation cases before the Courts of first degree or Appeal Courts together with civil, criminal and public issues cases before the Administrative Courts.In addition, Anne-Florence advises on tort and criminal cases together with claims for damages; commercial cases; shareholder claims and cases based on contractual links and contract law, especially related to international contract or foreign contract policies.She is a regular speaker at conferences for public and private firms on torts, risks and civil or criminal liability, Anne-Florence draws upon her experience of European issues, particularly on recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.Anne-Florence conducts audits on criminal risks for public and private companies and works on criminal risks prevention with her clients; she wrote a book aimed to business leaders to help them understand their personal risks and the organisation of the internal prevention of risks.
Partner
Partner, Eurpean and Italian Patent Attorney
Antonio is an experienced lawyer in Bird & Bird's Intellectual Property/Dispute Resolution department in the Madrid office.
His practice covers all IP-related matters including patents (in mechanical, chemical, electrical and biotechnology patent areas) as well as designs, trade marks, domain names, copyright and unfair competition, with particular expertise in trade secrets.
He has a broad practice, covering all areas of IP, advertising, unfair competition and trade secrets and he advises clients on the creation and evaluation of their IP, through exploitation, defense and enforcement where necessary. He also has wide experience in trade secrets litigation.
He specializes in advising retail and consumer-facing clients, particularly global fashion brands and also consumer goods businesses and food and beverage producers. This experience has come from being a key legal adviser to some of the largest leading fashion retailers in Europe over a 20 year period.
In recent years he has been handling complex disputes relating to IP rights. Because of his strong litigation profile, he also works with clients in litigation and dispute resolution outside of the realms of IP. This has included the renowned Musaat case, on which he obtained a successful result for the client and which is one of the most important anti-trust enforcement actions in Spain.
Hall of fame
Ariane is renowned for her in-depth knowledge of data protection matters and advising some of the world’s most innovative and technologically advanced companies Ariane is joint head of our International Data Protection Group and is one of the leading lawyers in personal data protection law. She is based in our Paris office. Ariane advises French and international companies and public services clients on all aspects of personal data protection and privacy, particularly international data transfers and businesses, monitoring at work and data protection issues. She also assists her clients with their relationships with the CNIL and with other national or local Data Protection Authorities. She advises clients on technologies, privacy and individual liberties and on the application of personal data protection laws, audits of information systems and compliance of data processing systems. A member of the Paris Bar since 1995, Ariane previously worked within the Legal Department of the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) focusing on international matters before becoming an expert to the DG XIII of the European Union Commission where she helped to draft the 1995 Directive on Personal Data Protection. In 2008, Ariane was admitted as a Legal Expert to the EuroPriSe project launched by the EU Commission, allowing her to offer assessments to manufacturers and vendors of IT products and IT-based services in order to obtain EuroPriSe privacy certification. In June 2012, CNIL awarded her the "label CNIL”, for her data protection training seminar, "Loi Informatique et Libertés - le regime juridique des traitements et des fichiers". She is a frequent speaker at data protection related conferences and training seminars. She is also a regular contributor to newspapers and specialist legal magazines.
Arnoud is a partner in the Tax Practice of Bird & Bird in The Hague and his in-depth knowledge and expertise in tax matters complements Bird & Bird’s key focus on innovation and energy. With more than 16 years of experience, Arnoud advises on a broad array of international tax matters with a specialized focus on international structuring and restructurings, tax control and compliance matters and tax litigation, all with a particular focus on innovation, technology and energy matters. Over the years he specialised in the structuring of corporate foundations, not-for-profit organisations as well as Dutch and international charitable funds and social impact investments. Furthermore, he regularly advises our sector clients on energy taxes, tax incentives, VAT on services and on betting and gaming taxes. For more than a decade he regularly visiting South Africa on business trips to meet longstanding existing clients and contracts and get acquainted with new ones. Arnoud is a member of the Dutch Association of Tax Advisers, the International Fiscal Association, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Southern African Netherlands Chamber of Commerce and the Dutch Association of Tax Science.
Counsel
Partner, co-Head of Country of the Budapest Office
Senior Associate
Bartłomiej is a Counsel and head of the Tax practice in Bird & Bird's Warsaw office.
Bartłomiej is a Senior Counsel and head of the Dispute Resolution team at Warsaw Bird & Bird office.
Benjamin is a partner in charge of the French tax practice, advising and assisting our clients on all aspects of taxation and has a strong expertise in group taxation.
Benjamin has extensive experience of group taxation, advising on all transactions in a domestic and international context. His clients operate in a variety of sectors, including chemicals, engineering, healthcare and retail.
Benjamin also manages multidisciplinary teams in different countries for large-scale reorganisations of international groups in project mode.
He regularly performs audit assignments and has extensive experience in the tax structuring of acquisition transactions.
Benjamine is a reputed employment specialist with particular focus on M&A transactions, outsourcing and restructuring projects Benjamine is a partner in our Employment Group based in Paris. Since April 2000 she has led the employment department in Paris and she is also Co-Head of our International Employment Group. Focusing on employment and social security law, she generally assists her clients in both individual and collective employment law matters, particularly restructuring operations and collective negotiations. Benjamine has also developed specific expertise in cross-border transactions and their effects on employees, including outsourcing, restructuring, union negotiations and compensation strategies. Benjamine appears regularly before civil and employment courts in France. She is the author of a number of articles on employment law, notably on the subject of information technology and regularly speaks at conferences.
Bertrand is specialized in M&A transactions and more particularly in LBO transactions. He advises French and foreign investment funds as well as corporations for their acquisitions or divestment processes in France or abroad. Bertrand also focuses in the Tech sector and assists his clients for their M&A Tech transactions. Bertrand has been involved in very high profile LBO and M&A transactions, giving him significant expertise in the French market.
Boris is the partner in charge of the Banking and Finance department in Paris.
As a partner in our Paris office, Boris advises funds, banks, sponsors and public authorities on the structuring, allocation and financing of infrastructure and energy projects in Europe and Africa.
Brian is a partner in our Tax Group, heading the International Trade & Customs Practice. He is based in The Hague. Brian represents clients, notably in the high-tech and communications sector, in trade compliance matters with a particular focus on EU export controls, economic sanctions, customs, free trade agreements and trade remedies. He has extensive experience with the EU's export controls and sanctions regulations including the interaction between EU and national laws and US rules. His experience includes both dual-use and military products and technologies.A significant part of Brian's practice involves assisting companies in understanding the concrete implications of restrictive measures (sanctions), designing and implementing international compliance programs and advising on complex questions of international compliance for companies with global operations, as is conducting internal investigations to examine allegations of wrongdoing. In addition, Brian provides practical and clear advice to multi-national clients in relation to EU customs compliance, customs classification, customs valuation and transfer pricing, rules of origin and customs efficient supply chain (re-) structuring, including sourcing strategies and optimizing the use of free trade agreements. He assists companies in understanding the concrete implications of the WTO rules and treaty (trade) provisions for their business. Such understanding has helped his clients improve competitiveness and financial performance by making optimum use of trade and customs laws. Besides advisory, Brian’s practice includes also litigation.
Partner
Associate
Carl-Magus is a partner in our International Tax Group, based in Stockholm. He has 20 years of experience as an adviser in the field of Swedish and international corporate taxation. Throughout his career, he has focussed on complex transactions and structuring, but also continuously worked with litigation and day-to-day tax advice. Carl-Magnus’ client base covers multinational corporations, local real estate/construction and industrial companies, funds and private equity companies. He advises clients on everything from minor tax questions to assuming complete responsibility for tax and structuring in private and public transactions. He also actively assists a number of clients in complex cases and disputes with the Swedish Tax Agency and before the courts. Carl-Magnus is in demand for lectures, seminars and round-table discussions both in Sweden and abroad. Carl-Magnus has also written a large number of articles on tax and transactions in Swedish and international trade publications and also a book titled “Interpretation and Application of the Tax Avoidance Act” (Wolters Kluwer, 2015).
Carole is a partner in the Corporate group in Paris, where she is involved in M&A and private equity transactions.
Carole regularly advises French and international companies, investment funds and institutional investors on their M&A transactions. She also advises corporate funds, investment funds and start-ups on private equity transactions (venture capital, development capital).
Cathie-Rosalie provides both legal advice and acts in regulatory litigation. She has developed solid experience in regulatory and prudential matters (licensing or exemption procedures, freedom to provide services or freedom of establishment regime, declaration of agents, distributors or intermediaries, drafting of complex contractual agreements including outsourcing, implementation of internal procedures, compliance, anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing, internal control, management of conflict of interest intra group, banking secret, etc.). She also advises her clients concerning the payment systems (EDI, Swift net, Target II, Euro 1) and the requirements of professional rules, especially PCI-DSS, PA-DSS. With a leading position in supporting projects linked to new technologies, Cathie-Rosalie draws from more than 10 years' experience, representing both new disruptive players operating in Fintech, RegTech and Insurtech sector and banks, financial institutions or insurers in the development of innovative services (e-payment, electronic money, prepaid cards, mobile, banking, blockchain, crowdfunding, crowdlending, crowdequity, payment initiation services, account information services, investment platforms, robot advisory, online KYC, etc.). She also assists her clients in the implementation of their dematerialisation projects of contracts, electronic/biometric signature, strong authentication, cybersecurity, data protection, outsourcing, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Cathie-Rosalie supports her clients as they develop their presence in both Europe and French speaking Africa.
Partner
Partner
Hall of fame
Partner, CorporateAs a partner in our International Corporate Group based in London, I head up the International Capital Markets Practice across the firm.I coordinate the capital markets practice worldwide and facilitate teams in the various offices where we have capital markets lawyers, to work closely together, share know how and look out for opportunities for each other and clients.My own securities practice involves acting for institutions and issuers in respect of listings in London and elsewhere. I have extensive experience advising clients in a variety of sectors, with a particular emphasis on energy and utilities and technology and communications.
Coral Yáñez is the Managing Partner of Bird & Bird's Madrid office and Head of the Regulatory & Administrative team.
She has more than 20 years of full lifecycle regulatory experience on renewable projects (PV, wind, biomass and thermosolar administrative authorisations, due diligences, grid connection and access permits, etc.), and representing energy companies before the relevant national, regional and municipal public authorities.
She is also an expert litigator who has handled and led key judicial reviews before the Spanish Courts of Justice on Energy & Utilities related matters (challenging wind farms tenders, electricity blackouts, feed-in tariff regime for solar PV plants, tariffs settlements for biomass plants, grid access disputes, sanctions, among many others).
Hall of fame
Corrado is partner of the Finance and Debt Capital Markets Department of Hogan Lovells' Milan office. He has developed an extensive experience in banking and finance, focusing on structured finance transactions. He regularly advises lenders, borrowers, arrangers, managers, underwriters, issuers, originators, representatives of the noteholders and swap counterparties in connection with a wide range of banking and finance deals, involving various asset classes and financial structures. Corrado joined Hogan Lovells in July 2009, after having spent eight years in the Milan and London offices of Clifford Chance and five years in the Milan office of Simmons & Simmons.
Partner
Counsel
Partner
Counsel
David is a leading corporate lawyer advising on mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity transactions. David is a partner in the Corporate Group in our Paris and Lyon offices. With training and expertise in both corporate and tax law, David has extensive experience in advising purchasers/sellers in national and international M&A transactions. He also advises investment funds and start-up companies in private equity and venture capital transactions, including the drafting and negotiation of term sheets, share/asset purchase agreements, investment and shareholders’ agreements, joint venture and merger agreements and the coordination and undertaking of (cross border) due diligence procedures. In addition, David regularly advises clients on corporate reorganisations and assists companies and managers with laws of corporation and corporate governance matters. He is a regular speaker at seminars regarding corporate and tax laws, including those held by the Chartered Accountant Association.
Counsel
Diana is a Consultant in Bird & Bird's Madrid office in the Corporate and M&A department.
She has extensive experience in M&A (private equity, corporate venture, venture capital and direct industrial acquisitions), Finance Law, Capital Markets and Real Estate.
Her experience includes advising on M&A transactions in the Retail & Consumer, Information Technology, and Life Sciences sectors, as well as on Real Estate deals. Diana also advises our institutional and industrial clients on complex Spanish and cross-border transactions, including corporate and debt restructuring, financing transactions (with or without guarantees), joint ventures, investment and shareholder agreements, corporate secretarial and complex commercial matters.
Her background and experience in corporate, financial and commercial matters enables Diana to offer our clients strong and efficient technical advice. Her main objective is to add value to every piece of advice that our clients need. She strives every day to achieve technical excellence, to provide practical solutions, and to make our clients feel that they can rely on us at any time, with any legal matter they may have, by being pro-active and proposing solutions in advance.
Partner
Senior Associate
Senior Associate
Djazia is a partner in our Dispute Resolution Group in Paris, taking a pragmatic approach to litigation, combined with in-depth expertise in the French rules of civil procedure in all aspects of litigation (mediation, negotiation, trial and enforcement).
She has been practising as a qualified litigator since 2008, mainly assisting international companies in their disputes.
Her expertise covers a wide range of commercial and liability disputes (unfair competition, distribution, breach of contract, breach of established contractual relationships, IT and industrial project failure, technical intermediary liability, e-reputation, cyber security) for clients from the IT, media, energy and utilities, and communications sectors.
Djazia has a deep understanding of all the latest trends in technology and communications and a real appetite for innovation, which gives her real added value in all technology and communications-related disputes. These skills enable him to provide clients with efficient and successful assistance in their disputes.
Dominik is a Senior Associate in our Dispute Resolution team in Warsaw.
Partner
Partner
Senior Asscoiate
Senior Managing Associate
Emilia is an Of Counsel in the Privacy & Data Protection team in Warsaw.
Emmanuelle is co-managing partner of Bird & Bird France.Emmanuelle advises companies and venture capital funds on fund-raising processes, M&A transactions, private placements and IPOs.She specialises in venture capital, M&A and corporate finance transactions within the Life Sciences & Healthcare sector. She focuses in particular on clients in the biotech, medtech and healthcare industries, although she also works for clients in the Tech & Comms sector. Emmanuelle's practice frequently involves advising small to mid-size corporate clients on fundraising processes, both within the French market and overseas. Her expertise includes advising start-ups and those selling new technologies on M&A, private placements and IPOs as well as general corporate and commercial matters.
Associate
Senior Associate
Partner
Partner
Senior Counsel
Feyo is a Principal Regulatory Counsel in the Regulatory & Public Affairs practice of Bird & Bird in the Netherlands and Brussels with a focus on tech and comms and digital markets regulation. He combines in-depth business knowledge with legal and regulatory expertise. Feyo has a broad network in Brussels, the Dutch Parliament, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets ("ACM") and the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate. His practice involves developing and presenting strategic, regulatory and policy views in legislative procedures and lobbying at a national and EU level on digital services, data regulation, telecoms regulation in fixed and mobile markets, infrastructure, end user protection, cybersecurity, rights of way, market analysis and the transposition of European legislation into national law.
Senior Associate
Senior Associate
Gabriel Lidman is partner at the Stockholm office and the head of the Intellectual Property Group in the Nordic region as well as head of our Life Science Group. Gabriel has extensive experience of contentious and non-contentious IP as well as commercial work in the fields of media, life sciences and technology. He has a strong background in the media sector, including traditional media and online, where he represents major publishers. Gabriel is also an experienced litigator, regularly advising and representing clients in court disputes. Before joining Bird & Bird Gabriel was already the head of the Intellectual Property and TMT Practice.
Partner
Managing Counsel
Geraldine's practice encompasses the full spectrum of transactional and advisory IP work, brand management and IP litigation.She assists clients with the protection of their intellectual property, including filing and registering trademarks, drawings and models, patents and creations covered by copyright; licence agreements, order agreements, manufacturing and distribution agreements, various consultations, audit and defending their IP against infringement, unfair competition and employees’ actions before the French courts and international tribunals. Geraldine's clients are drawn from the Life Sciences, Food & Beverages, Automotive and Tech & Comms sectors.In addition to her IP practice, Geraldine also advises clients on the implementation and development of their activities, including commercial law, data protection, outsourcing and commercial litigation and supports clients in setting up customer service provider relations.She regularly hosts conferences, teaches intellectual property at DJCE in Montpellier and at EM Lyon, and publishes articles in various specialised magazines.
Senior Consultant
With vast experience in a wide range of transactions, Gildas specialises in mergers and acquisitions as well as private equity in France and Africa. Gildas is a Partner in our International Corporate Group. He is based in Paris where he acts as head of the Corporate Group in France. He advises both public and private French and foreign groups, from the industrial or services sectors, on their M&A operations – including sales, acquisitions, Joint Ventures, majority or minority investments, and reorganisations. Gildas heads our African Group in Paris. This dedicated team advises on the risks and opportunities related to M&A projects in Africa. The Group represents corporations, private equity investors, governments and State-owned entities.
Counsel
Partner
Greg is the head of our Finance & Financial Regulation team in the Middle East and also the global head of Islamic finance.
Grzegorz is a Partner and head of our Energy & Utilities practice, based in Warsaw.
Partner
Partner
Hans Svensson a Partner in our office in Sweden, and the head of the Corporate practice group in Stockholm. He is a key member of our Media Sector Group and heads the Nordic Tech & Comms Sector Group and the Banking & Finance Practice Group. Hans has more than 20 years of experience in public and private M&A, capital markets, financing and joint ventures both locally and internationally. His extensive experience means that Hans is very versatile and he is exceptionally successful in the field of transaction advice. His industry and sector experience spans over a wide range of businesses in the communications, media and tech sectors and his clients are mainly entrepreneurs, private equity owned companies, and businesses with strategic challenges. Apart from offering transaction advice, Hans is also a trusted senior advisor to owners, directors and managers. He attracts extraordinary endorsements from an international and domestic client base.
Henri Kaikkonen is a partner in Bird & Bird's Helsinki office and Head of our Finnish Intellectual Property Group. His focus areas are contentious IP matters, brand protection and commercialization of digital assets.
Henri has extensive experience in contentious IP and Tech matters. Having represented clients in all kinds of IPR infringement and invalidation actions, preliminary injunctions and IP related damages claims, he focuses on contentious trademark, patent and unfair business practices disputes. His litigation expertise also covers trade secrets, copyrights, database rights, marketing, consumer protection, technology transfers and distressed IT projects.
On the non-contentious side, Henri regularly advises in local, EU and international brand protection, oppositions and office actions, as well as in the creation and development of IP strategies. Much of his work is also about ensuring marketing campaigns and product launches are done lawfully.
Izabela Kowalczuk-Pakuła is a Partner and head of the Privacy & Data Protection practice and member of the Intellectual Property practice at Bird & Bird’s Warsaw office.
Jaakko Hietala is a partner in Bird & Bird's Helsinki office. He is also the Head of the Finnish Real Estate Group as well as the Head of the Nordic Real Estate and Infrastructure Group. He is actively involved in client work with a strategic, pragmatic and business oriented approach.
Jaakko specializes in corporate, M&A, real estate and infrastructure matters. He also has considerable experience in sports and entertainment law, where his clients include Finland's leading organisers of concerts and motorsports events.
The business environment for his clients is increasingly complex and the clients appreciate his long experience in a wide array of matters - his approach is strategic but always also pragmatic. Jaakko is business oriented and holds various positions of trust, which provides him with insight into the strategic thinking behind the key areas of his expertise and the latest trends in the business environment of his clients.
You will find Jaakko listed in international directories including Chambers and Partners and Best Lawyers.
Counsel
Jil’s practice covers international business law, notably related to the Arab world and Europe, and more specifically in the field of international disputes and foreign investments. Having acted as a counsel, arbitrator and expert in about 100 cases, Jil has strong experience in managing international disputes and particularly disputes regarding shareholders and securities suits, class actions, breach of negotiations, bank guarantees. The type of business his practice includes relates to the trade of commodities, telecom markets, port concessions, construction industry and sport; etc. With a solid academic background (degrees in law, finance and political science), he is well regarded from a scientific standpoint. He is Lebanon’s UNCITRAL Representative and a member of the ICC Court. Also, he chairs the European Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is the vice-chair of the IBA Arab Regional Forum. A regular speaker at numerous international arbitration conferences, Jalal is the author of various articles and the co-author of Arbitration with the Arab Countries (Kluwer, 2011). He is also managing editor of the International Journal of Arab Arbitration, available on www.kluwerarbitration.com and www.intljaa.com. In 2019, he will publish a book on Arbitration Law in France, with Professor Daniel Mainguy (LexisNexis). Jalal is also a lecturer in arbitration law at the Versailles University and SciencesPo Paris (IEP).
Partner
Partner
Janneke is partner in our Competition & EU Law practice and is based in The Hague. Janneke specialises in competition law and public procurement law and advises a wide variety of clients, both contentious and non-contentious. She has substantial experience in merger control, cartel cases and abuse of dominance. Janneke has broad expertise in advising on distribution agreements and frequently provides in-house competition compliance programs and trainings to clients. Additionally, she has extensive experience in drafting Codes of Conducts and compliance manuals for companies with a focus on competition law. In addition, she advises a wide variety of clients on public procurement issues throughout the process from reviewing tender documents and advising clients on which questions should be asked of the procuring entities and representing companies in court, if necessary. Her practice areas are primarily focused on the postal and telecommunications, consumer products as well as food and beverages sectors. She is also a member of our Tech & Comms Group. Janneke also publishes regularly and is co-editor for the European and Economic chapter of the Dutch journal 'Juridisch Up To Date'.Testimonials - The Legal 500 EMEA 2021 ‘Janneke Kohlen, together with her strong team, is able to answer questions quickly and thoroughly.’ ‘Janneke Kohlen is always well prepared for any meeting, as is her strong team. She combines her incredible legal knowledge with deep industry knowledge and is able to answer questions quickly and thoroughly. A great thing about Janneke is that she does not present the rules of law, but that she thinks along with the organisation and comes up with practical, step-by-step and easy to implement tools for every situation.’
Jean-Claude is a partner in the Banking and Finance department and is responsible for the aerospace and defence practice in the Paris office.
Jean-Claude has developed a rare expertise and in-depth knowledge of the defence and aerospace sector, providing legal advice on numerous projects, including satellites and communication systems. His role in the negotiation of several high-profile projects, such as the Skynet refinancing, the UK FSTA and MFTS projects and the Galileo programme, gives him a deep understanding of the specifics of such projects, including technology, obsolescence, licensing, intellectual property and defence procurement.
He has also acquired a rare expertise in negotiations with the European Investment Bank and with governments in the framework of repayable advances.
Managing Partner, Bird & Bird ATMD
Head, Singapore Technology, Media and Telecommunication Group
Jeroen co-heads the Tech & Comms Group of Bird & Bird in the Netherlands. He is also a member of the Commercial Group. He advises on complex commercial transactions, particularly in the communications and IT sector. Jeroen is particularly experienced in advising on cross-border outsourcings and other services arrangements; ICT procurement agreements; complex software licensing transactions; and B2B e-commerce projects. His client base includes innovative internet start-ups and listed companies, both Dutch companies and multinationals. Jeroen's extensive experience in large scale projects means that he understands the issues that arise in such projects and can provide the solutions to resolve these issues.
Jessica is a partner in the Banking and Finance department in Paris. I am particularly involved in LBO and corporate finance transactions.
I advise lenders (debt funds, mezzanine funds or banks), borrowers or sponsors in their LBO or corporate financing transactions, with a national or international dimension.
I also have significant experience in debt restructurings where I have advised lenders on several lenders' led transactions.
Johannes heads the Employment practice in the UAE and is a partner in the Corporate Group in our Abu Dhabi office.
Partner
Counsel
Partner
Jori Taipale is a highly reputed lawyer within corporate mergers and acquisitions, private equity, banking and financial services, and competition and EU law, with over 25 years' experience.
Today, Jori is the Head of Bird & Bird's Nordic region, and a member of our International Corporate and M&A, Banking & Finance and Competition & EU Law Groups.
José Luis is a Partner and Head of Bird & Bird's Finance & Financial Regulation department in the Madrid office.
He has a wide experience in cross-border financial transactions, corporate facilities, syndicated financing, acquisition financing as well as debt restructuring, insolvency and credit portfolio purchases.
Frequently dealing with Spanish and international banks, funds, alternative lenders and borrowers among our clients, José Luis is highly experienced in venture debt financing and real estate finance. Other areas of strength include asset finance (particularly aircraft financing) or syndicated lending.
As well as transactional work, he specialises in banking and financial regulation, and provides advice to national and foreign banks and other regulated entities. José Luis advises on financial regulatory matters, including payment services regulation, open banking and virtual financial services, blockchain and tokenization compliance standards and procedures before Spanish authorities including the Spanish Central Bank and the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).
Jose Luis holds double citizenship US and Spanish.
José Miguel is a Partner in the Bird & Bird's Intellectual Property department in the Madrid office.
He has more than 22 years of experience as an IP litigator, focused on advising clients on the protection and commercialization of intangible assets, the negotiation and drafting of licences and assignment agreements of trademarks, patents, utility models, designs, copyrights and trade secrets.
He has vast experience in filing judicial actions before the Courts regarding the infringement and validity of intellectual property rights and unfair competition in all fields of technology. He also has significant experience enforcing standard essential patents/on FRAND litigation in Spain.
Partner
Julie is a partner in Bird & Bird's international Tech & Comms Group in Denmark. She has extensive experience in IT, technology, and telecommunications advising national, international, public and private clients, both on the supplier and customer side.
Julie specializes in IT, including advising on IT dispute resolution, IT acquisitions, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, cloud in general, implementation and operation, outsourcing and licensing, cybersecurity and general advice on IT contracts.
In line with being a truly international law firm, Julie assist Nordic based global companies internationally and ensures smooth international delivery within Bird & Bird's global reach. The firm's international Tech & Comms network provides the basis for insight into the forefront of the technological development and the legal opportunities and pitfalls that follows.
Julita is a Senior Associate in our Commercial team in Warsaw.
Karolina is a Partner and head of the Employment team in Bird & Bird's Warsaw office.
Hall of fame
Katarina is the head of the Employment Group in Stockholm. She is also co-head of the International Employee Incentives and Benefits Group. Katarina has been involved in many extensive mergers and acquisitions transactions, nationally and internationally and has longstanding experience in providing corporate employment advice mainly to clients active in the Financial Services, Information Technology (IT), Media, Life Sciences and Food and Beverage Sectors. Advice to clients encompasses the full range of human resources (HR) services; Katarina is a trusted advisor on management contracts, incentives and benefit programmes, pension and insurance, collective employment issues, restrictive covenants, trade secrets and other loyalty issues. Advising international corporations with mobile workforces, she has further developed a practice where all aspects of business migration are managed in an efficient way. Katarina is an experienced litigator within the employment and benefits field, advising clients in court disputes as well as arbitration. In the field of work environment, Katarina advises on the full range of workplace safety issues and how to manage them effectively, including developing appropriate policies and procedures. This includes advice on corporations’ liability to prevent health hazards in the work place as well as managing disputes arising from workplace injuries and accidents.
Katarzyna Piechocka is a Senior Counsel in the Commercial team at Bird & Bird's Warsaw office.
As a partner in Bird & Bird's Helsinki office and Head of our Competition & EU Law group in Finland, Katia Duncker specialises in complex competition and corporate matters.
Over the years, Katia has worked on a number of cutting-edge competition law and public procurement cases for prestigious clients, both nationally and internationally. She also has extensive experience in advising on commercial and corporate M&A transactions, and in litigation proceedings relating to competition law and public procurement matters.
Kimia is an Associate in the firm’s Litigation department and advises clients in both local and international disputes, under various jurisdictions and governing laws. Kimia also assists the firm’s Corporate and Commercial Department, having completed a six-month seat with them during her Training Contract.
As a senior counsel and Head of Bird & Bird's Banking and Finance Group in Helsinki, Finland, Kristiina Lehvilä specialises in banking and finance transactions, banking and finance regulation, payments, securities market issues and corporate law.
She advises leading Finnish and international clients acting as lender or borrower in domestic and cross-border financial transactions. Her expertise covers a wide range of financing transactions including acquisition financing, real estate financing, asset based financing, distressed financing, security structuring and intercreditor agreements as well as securities market transactions.
Kristiina also advises clients on a wide range of regulatory questions relating to domestic and EU banking, securities markets and payments regulation. Additionally, she advises on general corporate law matters. Her clients come from a variety of sectors including banks, investment banks, private equity firms, funds and companies listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.
Partner
Kuba Ruiz is a Senior Counsel in our Commercial Practice at Warsaw Bird & Bird office.
Partner, co-Head of Country of the Budapest Office
Consultant
Laura Huomo is a partner in our Real Estate & Infrastructure group in Helsinki, heading our Energy practice. In addition, she works with our Corporate and M&A Group with equity and debt related transactions.
Laura has 20 years of experience working for both Nordic and international law firms. She works with energy companies, municipalities, municipality owned companies and governments to navigate successful solutions within the energy transition. She assists her clients with regulatory issues, project structures, legal risk matrixes and energy related M&A activity.
Further, Laura advises companies with their initial public offerings, share issues and rights offerings as well as debt issues. To her great delight, energy companies are also looking into tapping into the capital markets as part of their strategic planning, and in those transactions, she can combine her two strongest areas, energy and capital markets expertise to the benefit of her clients.
Partner, Joint Head of the firm's International Aviation Sector Group
Partner, Commerical
Partner
Lourdes Ayala is a Partner and Head in Bird & Bird's Corporate and M&A department in the Madrid office.
She specializes in the life sciences, tech & comms, and retail & consumer sectors with a business oriented and hands-on approach.
She advises institutional and industrial clients on complex mergers and acquisitions whether national or cross-border transactions, joint ventures, acquisition of majority or minority stakes, share deals and asset deals. She has broad expertise in venture capital, advising both the investors, venture capital funds, corporate venture capital, business angels and others, as well as the target high growth companies on financing rounds and investments throughout their lifecycle. She also offers expertise in transactions with a strong real estate element, as well as in corporate restructuring, mergers and spin offs.
Lucas heads the Dispute Resolution Group for the Middle East and is based in our Dubai office.
Ludomir is a Partner in our Corporate and M&A team based in Warsaw.
Luis Alfonso is a Partner and Head in Bird & Bird's Insurance and Reinsurance department in the Madrid office, Co-Head of the International Insurance Group and Co-Head of the firm´s LatAm Group.
He has a wealth of experience in litigation with regards to insurance matters, tort law, insurance and reinsurance coverage disputes, product liability, claims handling, industrial losses, aviation claims, professional liability, medmal, D&O, cyber risks and financial lines in general.
He is also a specialist in reinsurance contracts and practice, as well as on the regulatory aspects of the insurance and reinsurance industry, such as policy wording and insurance distribution agreements, insurtech, social benefits and pension regulation.
He is an expert in the design and implementation of surety bonds facilities for international (mainly LatAm) PPP (P3) projects.
He regulatory contributes articles concerning insurance contracts and practice, insurance regulation and co-author of books about liability issues and Insurance Law in Spain. He is also a Professor of Insurance Law and Tort Law at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE).
Maciej Georg is head of the Financing Transactions Desk in Bird & Bird's Warsaw office.
Maisa Nikkola is a partner in our Helsinki office, where she is Head of our Nordic and Finnish Employment practice groups as well as our Finnish Employee Incentives & Benefits group. She advises our local and international clients on complex employment issues.
Focusing on all aspects of employment relations, Maisa advises clients on a broad range of employment and HR matters on a daily basis including transactions, contractual issues, the negotiation and termination of contracts, collective and trade union matters, co-operation procedures, restructuring and discrimination.
In addition to employment law, Maisa specialises in outsourcing, trade secret issues and privacy and data protection. She has experience in complex litigation matters.
Her team is regularly working on a broad range of cross-border projects and they have an excellent network with colleagues located all over the world at our Bird & Bird offices. They have longstanding experience in taking an innovative and strategic approach to their work. Her team is often thanked for being an everyday strategic partner for their clients.
Hall of fame
Manon is a partner in Bird & Bird’s Intellectual Property Group and she leads the brand management team in the Netherlands. As an experienced litigator, Manon specialises in trademark, design, copyright and advertising, and has a particular focus on cases involving product design. She handles cases in front of the courts as well as many proceedings at the Benelux trademark office and EUIPO.Many of the contentious matters Manon is working on have an international angle and over the years, she has developed a particular experience in pan-European enforcement strategies of trademarks and designs, including customs and parallel import enforcement strategies. Apart from contentious work, Manon’s practice also provides global strategic advice on IP rights, and the protection and registration of trademark and design portfolios. Manon and her team offer cradle-to grave trademark services, thereby combining the experience in both contentious and non-contentious matters.Manon assists many businesses in the retail sector, including the world's best known brands. Working in the sector and heading the Dutch retail group and the international luxury, fashion and retail team gives her a good understanding of the industry and the issues impacting it. Manon has been included in the top 250 women in IP (2020, MIP), won the Best in Trade Marks award by Women in Business Law Awards 2020 and was shortlisted for their Best in Copyright award in 2020.
Hall of fame
Manuel Lobato is an experienced lawyer at Bird & Bird's Intellectual Property department in the Madrid office.
He is recognized for his specialization in Intellectual Property and Pharmaceutical Law. He has acted in several multi-jurisdictional pharmaceutical patent and Supplementary Protection Certificate cases in Spain. He has, therefore, extensive experience in patent litigation before the Spanish courts.
He also assist clients in drafting technology transfer contracts in pharma, electronics and defense sectors. He also advices universities, public institutions and private biotechnology entities on issues of ownership of research results.
Manuel has also an academic profile. He has taught Commercial Law and Intellectual Property for 30 years (at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Universidad Pública de Navarra) and he is author of several monographs, like Commentary to the Trade Mark Act (Civitas, 2nd edition 2007) and is editor of The pharmaceutical patent (IDEI 1997).
Marcin is a Counsel in our EU & Competition Law and Tech & Comms teams based in Warsaw.
Marcus has been managing partner of Bird & Bird in The Hague since 2015. He is a partner in the International HR Services Practice. He advises and litigates on the full spectrum of employment-related matters and focuses particularly on corporate employment law. With over 20 years of experience, Marcus often provides strategic advice on corporate restructurings, disciplinary procedures and management issues, such as the dismissal and reward of board members and executives. In addition, Marcus is particularly experienced in advising on complex employees' representation issues and litigation, including litigation at the Amsterdam Entrepreneurial Chamber. Marcus' client base includes multinationals, educational institutions and health care institutions, as well as works councils and board members.
Partner, Corporate
As Head of Bird & Bird's Corporate and M&A group in Helsinki, Maria Carlsson have in-depth experience of complex M&A transactions and corporate and commercial work.
Specialising in M&A, Maria has over 20 years' experience of structuring and negotiating complex transactions, with a focus on private M&A deals and both inbound and outbound cross-border work.
Mariano Santos is a Partner and leads the Bird & Bird's Brand Management Prosecution team in the Madrid office.
He has more than 25 years of experience within the Intellectual Property field. He specialize in trademark, design, patent and copyright and advertising law, with a particular focus on cases involving trademark matters and handling many proceedings at the SPTO, EUIPO and Latin American jurisdictions.
He has developed particular experience in pan-European prosecution and enforcement strategies of trademarks, patents and designs, including customs and parallel import enforcement strategies, especially in Latin American countries.
He has advised and developed intellectual property consultancy projects in national and international companies. Furthermore, he has acquired extensive experience on all aspects relating to trademarks portfolios, IP legal advice, franchises and licensing. This includes defining and implementing intellectual property management policies in companies (management of R&D; marketing activities; policies on employee's inventions, among others), and analysing, auditing and organizing intellectual property portfolios.
Senior Associate
Marta Koremba is a Partner and a co-head of the IP practice and head of the Brand Management and Life Sciences practices at Bird & Bird Warsaw office.
Marta is a Counsel in the Finance & Financial Regulation team in Warsaw.
Marta is a Counsel in the Privacy & Data Protection team in Warsaw.
Hall of fame
Martin is a partner in Bird & Bird's Danish International Tech & Comms Group. Widely regarded as one of Denmark's leading IT lawyers, he combines solid legal skills, innovative thought leadership and real strategic IT industry expertise.
Martin spent around 20 years advising Danish and international organisations, including major blue-chips, across the full spectrum of IT-related legal and commercial matters. He has gained a reputation as a pioneer in all legal aspects of online technology solutions (ecommerce, internet and web services), cyber and IT security, open source and open data, and other open licence forms such as Creative Commons.
Senior Associate
Senior Associate
As a senior associate at Bird & Bird in Helsinki, Matti Kuokkanen advises our domestic and international clients on matters relating to corporate law and corporate transactions. Matti is a member of Bird & Bird’s Corporate and M&A group.
Matti is a member of our international Corporate and M&A group. He regularly advises our domestic and international clients on corporate transactions and day-to-day corporate matters. Matti is frequently involved in assignments relating to financing, regulatory advisory of financial institutions and capital markets.
Commercial
Counsel
Melissa is the head of the Intellectual Property Group for the Middle East, global co-head of the Franchise Group and a partner in the International Commercial Group.
Michał is a Counsel in our Employment team based in Warsaw.
Miguel Pastur is a Partner and Head of Bird & Bird's International HR Services department in the Madrid office.
Since 2011 he leads the Bird & Bird's international Employment and Human Resources practice in Spain. He leads a versatile practice that covers most areas of employment law, including the hiring and termination of employees and senior management, advising on the employment aspects of M&A and commercial and outsourcing service agreements, advising on the implementation of restructuring and redundancy plans, or collective bargaining with trade unions and worker's representatives. Contentious matters also are an important part of his work, as he regularly represents clients before the Spanish Courts and Tribunals, from first instance to the Supreme Court.
Most of Miguel's work involves an international element, and he has developed specific expertise in guiding foreign clients through the complexities of Spanish employment laws.
Mika Puurunen is a partner in Bird & Bird's Corporate and M&A Group in Helsinki, where he advises his domestic and international clients on assignments related to capital markets, M&A and corporate law. He also advises his clients on regulatory matters concerning investment funds, investment firms and credit institutions.
Mikko Rajala is a partner in Bird & Bird's Dispute Resolution group in Helsinki. He specialises in commercial dispute resolution, as well as real estate-related matters.
Mikko acts as a legal adviser to clients in dispute resolution and pre-dispute management matters in various fields of law and sectors including real estate, leasing, construction, intellectual property, securities, finance and damages. In particular, he specialises in construction and lease matters as well as in construction, IT and other project delivery-related disputes. In addition, he acts as an arbitrator in institutional and ad-hoc arbitrations.
Mikko also advises his clients in non-contentious commercial agreements and arrangements. He has over 15 years of experience in leases of business premises, including retail, office, hotel as well as industrial space. His team provides daily support to their clients in agreements, development projects and insolvency issues relating to construction and lease of business premises.
As a Counsel in Bird& Bird's Helsinki-based Intellectual Property group, Mikko Nurmisto specialises in advising clients on a broad range of IP issues.
The IP Group handles both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. In particular, Mikko has specialised in copyright, trademark and marketing law issues. Since joining Bird & Bird in 2013, he has also gained experience in drafting technology and other IP related agreements and assisting in litigation. He has also conducted a number of IP due diligences and assisted in regulatory matters as well as giving lectures and training for clients and IP professionals.
Mikko Ahonen is the managing partner in Bird & Bird Helsinki office. He has extensive experience advising on a wide range of corporate, M&A and real estate transactions.
Specialising in mergers & acquisitions, corporate and securities law work and real estate transactions, his practice consists of advising both domestic and international clients in their transactional and corporate needs. He regularly advises clients with public tender offers, private equity transactions, complex cross-border transactions, creation of incentive plans for the management and employees, and complex internal corporate restructurings, among others.
Mikko is also one of the leading experts in warranty and indemnity insurances. He advises both the underwriters as the subscribers on all stages of the process from the underwriting up to the end of the claims process. This provides Bird & Bird with a unique access to data from wide range of transactions.
Senior Associate / Patent Attorney
Montserrat is a Partner and Head of Bird & Bird's Tax department in the Madrid office.
She is a lawyer with strong transactional and dispute resolution expertise. With over 30 years' experience within the tax environment, Montserrat has wide-ranging experience providing tax advisory services to Spanish entities and multinational groups, from the financial & insurance industry, energy industry, real estate area, pharma field and others.
By utilising her knowledge of the Spanish market, regulatory framework of some of her clients and maintaining regular contact with regulators and the tax authorities, she has built a very pragmatic practice with a clear understanding of clients' tax requirements and needs.
Assisting private clients to structure their wealth in a tax efficient manner to hold it and further pass it through new family generations or to transfer on-going businesses to new investors is also one of the areas where our department grew significantly along the last years.
She coordinates and leads specialist teams on projects relating to direct and indirect taxation, tax accounting, tax controversy and transfer pricing.
Montserrat writes regularly on tax issues and lectures and leads seminars for organisations including the ICADE, IEB and Chamber of Commerce of Madrid.
Nathalie is an experienced employment lawyer with a clear international and client focused vision. She advises international corporations in both individual and collective French employment law matters, such as contracts of employment and internal regulations, termination procedures, post termination obligations and business protection, as well compensation schemes.Nathalie regularly advises on international mobility, transfers of employees, corporate transactions and restructuring plans, including cross border matters. She also assists clients before French courts in litigations related to employment issues.
Nicolas advises on all stages of financial and industrial restructurings, from consensual workouts to litigation involving distressed companies.His practice covers insolvency law, both as an advisor and as a litigator. In addition, Nicolas has a strong expertise in complex commercial litigation.
Partner, Corporate and Aviation
Partner
Ola is a partner in our International Corporate Group, based in Stockholm.His practice focuses on all aspects of capital markets transactions and financial regulation within both the Nordic region and internationally, representing issuers, underwriters, shareholders, bidders and other capital markets participants in relation to all types of capital market matters, including initial public offerings, rights issues, public takeovers, underwritings, buyback programmes, share and share-related incentive programmes, and capital markets regulation. In addition, he advises on other aspects of financial regulation and the establishment of private equity fund structures.Ola’s background includes positions as head of the capital markets practices at Swedish firms Hamilton and Törngren Magnell as well as ten years as an associate in the capital markets' group of the leading domestic firm Vinge. Ola’s background also includes four years as Nordic Head of Legal for ABN Amro Bank and then leading Nordic investment bank Alfred Berg, a subsidiary of ABN Amro’s.
Pablo Berenguer is a Partner and Co-Head of Commercial/Commercial Dispute Resolution practice and of the Technology & Communications sector group in the Madrid office.
He has a broad knowledge of civil, commercial and litigation law, as well as a deep understanding of the technology industry.
He has extensive experience in the field of dispute resolution in many civil jurisdiction cases before the Spanish courts (all instances, including the Supreme Court). He also regularly participates in domestic and international arbitration proceedings, acting as both counsel and as arbitrator. His litigation and arbitration expertise covers sectors and areas such as technology and business consultancy projects, privacy and data protection damages claims, healthcare, international commerce, corporate and M&A related disputes, among others.
He also regularly acts in complex commercial contracts and negotiations, with a particular focus in the Tech & Comms sector. His experience in this area includes complex transformation projects, software development and integration contracts and IT outsourcing, as well as contentious and non-contentious advice in relation to new generation technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, cryptoassets, metaverse, etc.
He writes regularly for specialist publications, and he has lectured in several education and business institutions, such as IE, ISDE, CEU San Pablo University, among others.
Partner, co-Head of Country of the Budapest office
Partner
Pauline is a partner and heads the Corporate Law practice group of Bird & Bird in the Netherlands. She has broad experience in (national and cross-border) mergers & acquisitions and private equity transactions, with a particular focus on the Communications, Media and Life Sciences sectors. With particular experience in cross-border M&A transactions, Pauline has acted on behalf of national and international clients on numerous multi-jurisdiction share and asset transactions. Pauline also advises clients on a broad range of general corporate matters and is also regularly involved in private equity deals, advising investors as well as target companies.
Pauline leads our Competition and Public Procurement Practices and co-heads our Media Group in the Netherlands. With almost 20 years of experience, Pauline specialises in EU and Dutch competition law in regulated markets. Her team deals with cartel procedures, abuse of dominance matters, merger notifications to the Dutch competition authority and European Commission as well as coordination of multiple merger filings, private enforcement actions, competition regulation of network industries as well as the media sector and competition rules on undertakings granted special or exclusive rights by the state including state aid. Her practice also includes public procurement law. Her previous experience in intellectual property law has given her specific expertise to advise in matters on the verge between competition law and intellectual property, such as licensing arrangements and other technology transfer agreements, standardisation discussions, refusal to license, FRAND licensing, abuse of IP rights etc. She is also a member of the Communications and Life Sciences Groups of Bird & Bird.
Paweł is a Partner in our Intellectual Property Practice, based in Warsaw.
Paweł is a Partner in the White Collar Crime team of Bird & Bird’s Warsaw office.
Senior Associate
Partner
As an Of Counsel in our Tax Practice in The Hague Pieter combines specialist experience with a pragmatic approach to counselling and negotiations, both nationally and internationally. He has a focus on Canada and works most of his time from Vancouver. He also works on behalf of a substantial number of US West Coast clients. His practice covers a broad range of tax matters, both in the Netherlands and abroad, with a particular focus on international tax planning. He advises regularly on acquisitions, restructurings, real estate funds and investment and mergers. In addition, he has substantial experience in real estate transactions including transfer tax issues and telecoms infrastructure, as well as in the tax planning and international structuring of patents and trademarks, including the use of the Dutch ‘innovation box’. He is a capable negotiator with an excellent track record of solving disputes with the Dutch tax authorities.
Partner, Intellectual Property
Piotr is a Partner and a co-head of the IP and head of TMT practice in Bird & Bird's Warsaw office.
Hall of fame
Piotr is a partner in the Finance & Financial Regulation team in Bird & Bird's Warsaw office.
Rafał is a Partner in Corporate and M&A team based in Warsaw.
Partner
Renee is a Legal Director in the Intellectual Property Group based in Dubai, specialising in all aspects of brand protection.
Partner
Riku Rauhanen is a Senior Associate in our Commercial and Privacy & Data Protection groups in Helsinki, where he works with our local and international clients advising them on data protection, other data regulation, and commercial contracts.
Riku has extensive experience in providing legal advice on various data protection issues. His work covers all aspects of privacy and data protection law, including negotiating data processing agreements, carrying out data protection impact assessments and implementing multijurisdictional data protection projects. He has advised a wide variety of clients from public bodies to multinational technology companies on data protection law.
In addition to privacy and data protection, Riku also specialises in other data regulation. His particular area of interest is the EU's artificial intelligence regulation. Riku is part of Bird & Bird's global network of AI experts. In addition to data-related councelling, Riku also provides guidance on contract law issues. He has extensive experience of drafting and negotiating different types of contracts as well as supporting clients with interpreting contracts and resolving contract-related conflicts.
As a senior counsel in Bird & Bird's international Dispute Resolution group in Helsinki, Risto Sipilä has a wealth of experience advising on dispute resolution matters as well as on construction and real estate law issues.
Advising his clients on dispute resolution in various fields of law and across all business sectors, Risto specialises in matters, disputes and pre-dispute management. He also acts on behalf of our clients in energy & utilities, and as an arbitrator.
His main area of expertise is construction and real estate law. Typically Risto represents construction parties and related projects in arbitration and litigation proceedings. He has also represented clients in court proceedings on other areas of business law, such as delivery agreements and assets deals.
Partner
Romain is a partner in the Restructuring & Insolvency department in Paris.
He assists creditors and debtors at all stages of amicable and collective proceedings.
Partner
Sakari Halonen is a partner and co-head of Bird & Bird's Nordic Tech & Comms group based in Helsinki. He predominantly advises clients in complex cross-border IT outsourcing transactions as well as in IT contracting in general. He also leads Bird & Bird's Finnish Commercial group.
His ability to quickly get to the core of the problem, focus on the key issues, and find win-win solutions is the essential element valued by his clients. In addition to advising numerous global IT service providers, Sakari also acts for the customer-side in various industry sectors, including financial services, aviation, defence and automotive.
Sakari is also frequently engaged in M&A transactions, with a particular focus on technology-related transactions and the technology aspects of M&A in general. In addition, as an arbitrator, he is also involved in IT-related dispute resolution processes.
Partner, Corporate
Partner
Partner, Head, Singapore Employment Group
Partner
Partner, Dispute Resolution
Consultant
Sibylle is an experienced renewable energy specialist with a deep knowledge of the French and German market, advising developers, investors and financial institutions on all aspects of their renewable energy projects, including their financing
Sibylle assists energy projects from their inception, combining legal aspects with strategic, tax and economic issues.
Sibylle advises energy producers on all aspects of the development process and the contracts to be put in place, including the marketing of energy. She assists investors in the acquisition of renewable energy projects (wind farms, solar energy, biogas and biomass) and hydrogen.
She is mandated by the banks on all aspects of project financing and prepares the legal documentation in French, German and English (loan agreements and securities, legal opinions).
Her expertise also includes drafting corporate PPAs, preparing due diligence reports and negotiating FIDIC and EPC contracts as well as technical and commercial management contracts.
Sibylle works closely with Bird & Bird's other Energy & Utilities specialists, as well as with Bird & Bird's Corporate, Commercial, Banking & Finance teams in France, Germany and internationally.
Sibylle leads Bird & Bird's international hydrogen group, is a member of the Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables (SER) and France Energie Eolienne (FEE) and was a member of the steering committee of the Office Franco-Allemand des Energies Renouvelables (OFAENR).
She is qualified as a lawyer in France and as a Rechtsanwältin in Germany.
Partner
Sławomir is the Managing Partner and Head of the Finance & Financial Regulation group in Warsaw.
Sophie has been advising the energy sector since 1999 on all corporate, projects and contract matters. After being involved in all the major energy transactions and regulatory changes during the privatisation of the Dutch energy market, her practice now mostly focuses on the structuring and, more specifically, the development and construction of national and international energy projects. Sophie has vast experience in drafting and negotiating key project agreements - for both conventional and renewable energy projects - which are often the basis for securing project financing. With a corporate background, Sophie also advises national and international (energy) companies on privatisations, cross border mergers and acquisitions, and restructurings. In addition, Sophie has advised energy companies and financial institutions on the contractual and corporate issues related to legal consequences of the regulatory changes. She regularly advises on innovative structures such as Corporate PPAs enabling acceleration of the renewable energy transition. She was Nominated Euromoney's European Women in Business Law award 'Best in Energy' in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Before joining us, Sophie worked both for other international law firms and in house where she led the legal aspects of the development of projects. She has extensive experience in providing strategic & boardroom advice. Sophie is dual qualified in the Netherlands and in the UK. She is a member of a number of professional associations, including the Dutch Energy Law Association (NeVER), the International Bar Association (IBA) and the UK Society of Construction Law. Sophie speaks regularly on conferences and her numerous articles on energy-related subjects are published in both legal and industry magazines.
Partner
Partner
Stéphane provides cutting edge, business-oriented advice on all aspects of technology transactions and partnerships Stéphane is a partner in ourCommercial and IT Groups, based in Paris. His specific interests include the drafting and negotiation of commercial contracts in the Information Technology, Communications and eCommerce sectors. His current practice is focused on high profile transactions and strategic partnerships, advising major companies in structuring their strategic alliances, joint ventures , IT and business process outsourcing deals. Stéphane has extensive experience of complex and structured contractual arrangements, particularly in regulated environments. In addition to his transactional work, Stéphane’s advises on copyright issues related to the protection of technology assets such as software and databases in both contentious and non-contentious matters. Stéphane regularly contributes to publications on information technology-related matters and is a frequent speaker at conference on such matters.
Surabhi is a senior associate in our Corporate Group (including Employment), based in the UAE, where she work as a lead counsel in M&A transactions. She also specialises in provision of employment law solutions to our clients.
Partner
Special Consultant
Partner
Teea Kemppinen is a partner in Bird & Bird's Helsinki office and a member of our Finnish Employment Group. She specialises in all aspects of employment and labour law, including employment related dispute resolution where the advice is mainly focused on preventive and strategic action.
I am a partner in the Paris IP team. I am a patent litigator with a dual legal and engineering background (optics, electronics). I am qualified as both a French attorney-at-law and a European patent attorney.
Thomas specialises in competition law, having significant experience in helping clients to avoid competition law pitfalls and representing them in proceedings before the competition authorities. His practice covers both contentious and non-contentious national and European competition law, together with commercial and distribution law.Thomas has substantial experience of advising on cartel investigations and assisting companies in preparing leniency applications before the European Commission and the French Competition Authority. He helps to develop and implement competition compliance programs and provides assistance in notifications of transactions to the European Commission under the EC Merger Regulation and to the French Competition Authority.Thomas’ experience of competition law covers different angles, having worked in practice, in house and having done an internship at the French Competition Authority. Prior to joining Bird & Bird he worked for 14 years in the Paris office of a major global law firm.On the commercial side, Thomas has experience of advising clients on the structuring of selective, exclusive or franchise distribution networks across Europe, as well as advising on supplier-distributors relationships and sales regulations. He also regularly assists clients in relation to product liability issues.Thomas regularly participates in seminars and conferences and is the author of several articles on competition law.
Partner
Associate
Tom Vapaavuori is a partner in Bird & Bird's Helsinki office and the Head of our Finnish Dispute Resolution group as well as the co-head of our international Trade Secret group. He has a lot of experience in demanding litigations and arbitrations and trade secret matters.
Tom works with a broad range of company litigations, arbitrations and white collar crimes. He also acts as an arbitrator, as nominated by parties in disputes, or by the arbitration institutes. He advises his leading domestic and international clients on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious matters in several sectors.
In addition to dispute resolution he is especially active in contractual matters such as distribution, purchase and sale, co-operation, joint ventures, leasing, employment, intellectual property, IT and non-disclosure agreements.
Tomasz is a Partner in our Commercial department, based in Warsaw.
Counsel
Partner
Partner Ville Alahuhta is Head of Tax in Helsinki, advising on domestic and international tax matters in corporate and personal income taxation. In addition, he specialises in advising private equity fund managers and fund investors on legal questions concerning private equity funds.
Understanding tax questions relating to private equity funds and M&A transactions is a key consideration when optimising profit for an investment. Working this area for more than ten years has given him the understanding of the link between the key business of the client, taxation and other legal aspects. In addition, Ville has been involved in several Finnish landmark tax litigations.
Partner
Hall of fame
Yves is renowned for his extensive experience in patent litigation. Yves is the partner who leads our Intellectual Property group in France. He is based in our Paris office. With more than 25 years' experience in IP, Yves has extensive experience in litigation. He has dealt with some of the most significant, cross border, patent cases in the fields of pharmaceuticals, electronics, telecommunications and mechanics. Yves also led the establishment of our Lyon office in 2006, making Bird & Bird the first Anglo Saxon law firm to practice in Lyon. Before joining us, Yves was an IP partner at Lamy Véron & Associés. He is a Professor at CEIPI (Strasbourg), a lecturer at Centre Paul Roubier and regularly teaches at Montpellier Law University.
Senior Associate
Hall of fame
Hall of fame