Gleiss Lutz

Gleiss Lutz is a German law firm founded in Stuttgart in 1949 by Alfred Gleiss. The firm initially began as a competition boutique working for such clients as Mercedes-Benz AG, predecessor to Daimler AG. Gleiss was joined in 1962 by partners Helmuth Lutz, Christian Hootz and Martin Hirsch in the expanded partnership, Gleiss Lutz Hootz Hirsch. Gleiss Lutz is one of the biggest independent full-service law firms in Germany and advises companies and groups in Germany and abroad, as well as public authorities.

Brussels was a natural choice for the firm's second office, established in 1963 to practice competition law before the European Commission and associated bodies. In 1990, the firm launched in Berlin and Frankfurt, expanding beyond the niche of antitrust to become a full service law firm. The firm expanded its German coverage by adding a Munich office in 2001.

Gleiss Lutz currently employs more than 240 attorneys in 7 offices in Europe. Its revenues in 2005 were €118.50 million.

International Strategy

Gleiss Lutz expanded into Central and Eastern Europe following the fall of the Iron Curtain when German companies quickly became large investors in those countries. The firm currently maintains offices in Prague and Warsaw. Gleiss Lutz at that point aspired to build a pan-European practice. In 1998, the firm announced it was to merge with Stibbe Simont Monahan Duhot, a Dutch law firm. However, senior partners in the firm blocked the merger. It also briefly explored merger talks with Freshfields (which instead merged with Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Lober).

In 2000, the firm entered into an alliance with the English firm Herbert Smith. The Dutch firm Stibbe joined in 2002 to expand coverage. The three alliance firms have continued to build links through partner and associate secondments, jointly competing for work opened up to tender and even sharing office space and training programs. They have mutually declined to deepen their referral relationships via a three-way merger.

Notable Mandates

*Advised Merck KGaA (alongside Simpson Thacher & Bartlett) in its unsuccessful bid for Schering AG, a pharmaceutical company that was ultimately acquired by Bayer for €16.4 billion (March 2006).
*Legal counsel, alongside Herbert Smith, Stibbe and Chadbourne & Parke to Fortune Brands in its £2.6 billion acquisition of Allied Domecq beverage company (January 2006).
*Represented, alongside Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, the Blackstone Group in its €3.1 billion acquisition of chemical company Celanese AG (December 2003).
*Provided legal advice alongside Jones Day and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson to Procter & Gamble Company in its €6.5 billion acquisition of Wella cosmetic suppliers (March 2003).

External links

* [http://www.gleisslutz.com/en/ Gleiss Lutz official site]