Salans

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Salans
Salans
Headquarters Paris
No. of Offices 18
No. of Attorneys 750
Major Practice Areas General practice
Revenue US$282 million
Date Founded 1978 ( Paris)
Company Type LLP
Website www.salans.com

Salans is a large international law firm. It has 18 offices in major cities around the world and employs more than 750 lawyers, of whom 176 are partners. The firm was established in Paris in 1978 as Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn by French and American lawyers. The firm's 2007 revenue was US$282 million, representing a 37% increase from its 2006 figure.

Contents

[edit] History

Salans was founded in Paris by Carl Salans, Jeffrey Hertzfeld and Elaine Heilbronn. All three were US-trained attorneys but had been admitted to the Paris bar. Salans and Hertzfeld practiced international arbitration while Heilbronn was an international transactional attorney.

In its early years, the firm developed a cross-border practice with offices in Paris, New York, London, Moscow and Almaty, Kazakhstan.[1] In 1997, the firm then known as Salans Hertzfled & Heilbronn merged with the London-based boutique Harris Rosenblatt & Kramer, a niche asset finance firm.[2] A year later, in 1998, the firm absorbed noted Paris telecoms boutique, FG Associés.[3] The same year Salans merged with New York outfit Christy & Viener to bulk up its US office.[4] Christy & Viener was known for its litigation practice. In 1999, Salans launched in Baku, Azerbaijan.[5] Salans entered into merger negotiations with UK firm Theodore Goddard, but the two firms parted company in 2002.[6] In 2003, Salans gained five new offices in Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia with the addition of five offices from the disbanding Chicago firm, Altheimer & Gray. Salans expanded in Prague, Bucharest, Bratislava, Istanbul and Shanghai.[7] In 2006, Salans acquired the Berlin office of independent German firm Haarmann Hemmelrath.[8] Efforts to merger with US-based Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, now known as K&L Gates which would have given the firm a greater US presence , collapsed the same year.[9] The firm also launched in Budapest after having taken on a number of attorneys from its Hungarian ally, Szabó Kovári Tercsák.[10] Most recently its Berlin and Shanghai offices expanded with the addition in Berlin of the attorneys from the UK firm Travers Smith, which closed its German operation and in Shanghai with the expansion from Haarmann Hemmelrath.[11] 2007 also saw the firm acquire Masons Buxeda Menchen and merge with boutique Alonso Armand Boedels to open offices in Madrid and Barcelona.[12]

[edit] Recognition

[edit] Global

The international firm of Salans is recognized globally in Chambers & Partners for its international arbitration practice and for its energy and project finance abilities in Europe and Central Asia.[13]

[edit] Europe

Salans is top-ranked for its British asset finance/consumer finance practice. It also has a lively Alternative Investment Market practice.

It also has the distinction of being highly rated for its dispute resolution and real estate abilities on a Europe-wide scale.

[edit] Notable Mandates

  • Biovail in its $190 million acquisition of French pharmaceutical company Pharma PASS Group.
  • Turkcell in its negotiations for an $100 million finance facility including an $80 million murabaha Sharia-compliant facility from HSBC.
  • Landesbank Berlin Holding in its disposal of its real estate servicing business for the symbolic consideration of €1 to the State of Berlin.
  • Pfizer in its $500 million acquisition of the worldwide rights to cancer drug Campto from Sanofi-Synthélabo.
  • Advice to the Turkish shipping line U.N Ro-Ro Group in majority stake sale to private equity house KKR.

[edit] Offices

[edit] Affiliated firms

  • Katowice, with Krupa Srokosz Patryas Sp.k.
  • Krasnodar, with ABY Advocates Bureau Yug
  • Kuwait, with Jamal & Jamal
  • Qatar, with The International Office for Advocacy and Legal Consultation

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Lawyer, 'French Firm Hires Lecturer to Aid Kazakh Expansion,' (1994) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=94541
  2. ^ The Lawyer, 'Paris Firm Scores a First with Takeover of London Practice,' (1997) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=91774
  3. ^ The Lawyer, 'Salans beats rivals to Paris IT boutique,' (1998) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=91537
  4. ^ The Lawyer, 'Salans forges transatlantic merger,' (1998) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=81730
  5. ^ The Lawyer, 'In Brief: Salans Hertzfeld,' (1999) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=91384
  6. ^ The Lawyer, 'Six firms see merger meltdown,' (2002) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=115024
  7. ^ The Lawyer, 'Salans swoops for A&G network,' (2003) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=106918
  8. ^ The Lawyer, 'Haarmann loses Berlin office as Salans strikes,' (2006) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=118338
  9. ^ The Lawyer, 'Kirkpatrick targets Preston Gates merger,' (2006) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=118338
  10. ^ The Lawyer, 'Salans raids ally for Budapest launch,' (2006) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=123287
  11. ^ The Lawyer, 'Travers quits Germany; Salans inherits team,' (2007) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=123692; 'Salans takes 14 lawyers of Haarmann Shanghai,' http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=123730
  12. ^ Legal Weekly, 'Salans swallows Pinsents ally for Spanish launch,' (2007).
  13. ^ Global Rankings, Chambers & Partners,(2007) http://www.chambersandpartners.com/global/rankings36.aspx?fid=3175&solbar=1

[edit] External links

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