Newly-crowned Law Firm of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2018, Fieldfisher has continued its campaign of geographical expansion with a new office in Luxembourg.
The outpost of the London-headquartered firm opened this week. Initially focused on finance and funds work, the office is being managed by country managing partner Ingrid Dubourdieu, who has joined from local firm D.Law where she was a partner.
Dubourdieu has a broad practice, advising domestic and international financial institutions on Luxembourg legal, regulatory and compliance issues. She also has experience acting for EU and non-EU asset managers on their activities in Luxembourg, and has been a member of the Luxembourg Bar since 1998.
The firm expects the office to grow into other areas, namely corporate M&A, tax and international tax.
Currently Dubourdieu is the only partner in the office, supported by two associates. However the firm expects to bring in a corporate partner and a tax partner in the coming months.
Fieldfisher managing partner, Michael Chissick, told Legal Business: ‘The Luxembourg launch has been in the pipeline for nearly 16 months, and I’m glad it’s over the line because it’s been the missing piece of the puzzle. It complements our Brussels and Amsterdam offices to form a Benelux connection.
‘A lot of our investment fund work and corporate activity includes a Luxembourg angle. So it’s a great location and in Ingrid we have a great managing partner.’
Luxembourg marks the latest in a string of new jurisdictions for Fieldfisher, with the firm now having a presence in nine different markets and 20 offices worldwide.
Chissick, who contends that over 50% of the firm’s work has an international element, has made no secret of his desire to have an office in every major European capital city. Openings in Barcelona and Madrid are also slated to take place in the coming months.
Among the openings in 2017, Fieldfisher added a fifth Italian office via a tie-up with Bologna firm Lucchini Gattamorta & Associates (LGA). With four other offices in Milan, Rome, Venice and Turin, the LGA combination grew Fieldfisher’s Italian arm to 210 lawyers and 28 partners.
The firm also launched an office in Amsterdam last year, staffed by a team of five partners who arrived from local TMT specialists Kennedy Van der Laan.