Corporate Vision August 2017

26 CORPORATE VISION / August 2017 , ARNECKE SIBETH is a German corporate commercial lawfirm, providing legal support on all aspects of business and industry, including corporate, employment, competition and property law, litigation and arbitration, regulatorymatters as well as day-to-day claims handling. Recently, for an example, ARNECKE SIBETH advised GERCHGROUP on a complex deal in the area of real estate transactions. Following their inclusion in the 2017 German Legal Elite awards, we invited the firm’s partnerMichael Siebold to learnmore about this leading lawfirm. Industry Know-How and Legal Expertise At ARNECKE SIBETH, more than 120 lawyers and tax advisers work closely together in fully integrated teams, internally organised in six strong practice groups. The firm markets its services through 12 sector groups and operates in teams, with the leading partners in each recognised as experts in their field. The two German law firms Arnecke Siebold, Frankfurt, Berlin, Dresden and Sibeth, Munich, Frankfurt, merged in 2015, to become a successful national firm with a strong international focus. The firm today is based in four locations in Germany: Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Berlin and Dresden. As a focused full service business firm, ARNECKE SIBETH provides added value to its clients in all relevant areas of law, as applied in the industries the clients are active in. ARNECKE SIBETH believes that industry know-how today needs to be paired with legal expertise, so in this vein we offer several areas expertise. The firm’s areas of expertise include transportation, aviation, logistics (TAL), sports, media, entertainment (SME), the full life cycle of real property (RE) including public law – planning, tenders, state-aid, construction, financing, project development and litigation. Our work also incorporates claims handling on a larger scale, renewable energy and corporate commercial/M&A and tax work, all from cradle to grave. Finally, our employment team covers the entire gamut of individual and collective labour law. As a service provider, ARNECKE SIBETH faces challenges which we view as opportunities, namely the appearance and fast growth of legaltech and AI in our industry, as well as the alternative approach millennials take towards the legal profession and life. Legaltech and AI will not go away, so we must embrace technology as a tool assisting us in our daily work and allowing us to focus on the more complex and interesting tasks, that a machine on its own cannot resolve. So, that is where both challenges meet and become a real opportunity: Generation Z and the ones thereafter - will demand a workplace where legaltech is the norm - where we provide them with an opportunity to focus on the most interesting aspects of law, the demanding cases, both within their modern office space but also remotely. In addition, they seek a good place to work, fair treatment, opportunities, values and leadership, all of which we embrace. Personally, I have the great pleasure of serving as one of a group of managing partners, still active in their practices, but at the same time I am responsible in leading the firm on a day-to- day basis as well as strategically. Speaking on behalf of such an excellent, diverse and highly specialised group of fine lawyers and tax advisors makes me very proud to be part of ARNECKE SIBETH. As a practicing lawyer, my focus lies on legal project management of larger infrastructure projects such as airports, ports, arenas and stadia around the world. At the same time, I enjoy assisting German and international ‘Mittelstand’ – companies and groups with their more strategic decisions and structuring same. The firm’s staff rank amongst the best in the jurisdiction, indeed at ARNECKE SIBETH we are very proud of our people. Working in teams, with as little hierarchical structure as possible, provides a great place to work, where people enjoy being here, at all our offices. As a national firm, we operate as one, across locations 1708CV05 and offices and our people ensure that we deliver the same quality everywhere. Our focus lies on the ‘Mittelstand’ – the backbone of many economies, certainly in Germany and Europe. This would include companies with a turnover between €5 and €500 million. However, we are proud to also advise some of the largest, best known German multinational corporate entities as well as international corporates, in national and cross-border matters. On an international level, the firm’s expertise is strengthened by our membership in elite law firm networks, such as Interlaw, Meritas and others. This offers our clients access to leading foreign lawyers, the local champions in any given foreign jurisdiction. Clients receive seamless service at fair and transparent rates, by the best, without having to pay large overheads. I believe that 2017 will be another great year for us, with a period of growth and changes. We have already attracted two excellent young partners for our corporate finance team in Frankfurt; they will be joined by a new IP partner in Munich, focusing on South Korean businesses as he speaks the language and knows the culture.