Pinsent Masons bolsters its Dispute Resolution Group with the appointment of two partners in Munich

01 Apr 2020 | 01:00 pm | 1 min. read

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has appointed partners Johanna Weißbach and Christian Schmidt as litigation partners in their Dispute Resolution Group in Munich, where they will both focus on clients within the Financial Services and Advanced Manufacturing & Technology sectors.

Following their former colleague Martin Eimer, Johanna and Christian both join from Freshfields. Having worked together for many years on high-end litigation and arbitration matters at Freshfields, the three of them are a well-established team and will now work together again at Pinsent Masons.

Johanna has particular experience in handling mass litigation cases and has worked at the forefront of mass claim developments in Germany.  She has deep experience in cross-border, international disputes advising large corporates during multi-party settlement negotiations and representing them in litigation and injunction proceedings. Johanna is also experienced in extensive fact finding exercises, be it in preparation of litigation proceedings or in relation to internal investigations.

Christian's practice covers a broad range of commercial disputes with a cross-border, international angle, including both litigations and commercial arbitrations. He has built a strong profile in handling mass litigation cases and also large-scale, high-profile internal investigations involving state-of-the-art legal tech solutions. Christian is particularly focused on disputes with a high degree of technical complexity and has frequently advised his clients in relation to high-profile infrastructure projects.

Both Johanna and Christian have vast experience working with clients across both the Advanced Manufacturing & Technology and Financial Services Sectors (two of the firm's key global sectors).

Sibylle Schumacher, Head of German Dispute Resolution Group said:

"We are delighted to welcome both Johanna and Christian to the team.  They both bring with them a wealth of commercial litigation experience across both mass litigation and investigations. They will enable us to support a broad range of clients across the Advanced Manufacturing & Technology and Financial Services sectors.

As the need for experts in mass litigation cases grows, it is fantastic to welcome two new partners as we significantly bolster our growing disputes team."

Head of Advanced Manufacturing & Technology (AMT) sector, Florian von Baum added:

"Across the AMT sector, we are expanding the skillsets in our international offering for our clients and in particular in litigation and arbitration. The appointment of Johanna and Christian significantly strengthens our fast growing disputes practice. Their skillset, knowledge and experience will enable us to deepen our ability to offer high quality disputes resolution advice across the sector and I look forward to working with them."

Meet the team

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Johanna Weißbach

Partner

Johanna advises in (cross-border) litigation proceedings with a focus on the financial services and automotive sector. She leads the firm’s global Mass Actions Powerhouse – the international working group specializing in the defence against class, mass and collective actions.

Johanna Weissach
Christian Schmidt

Partner, Head of Munich office

Christian advises international companies and financial institutions in cross-border litigation and arbitration proceedings.

Christian Schmidt

Key Contacts

Sibylle Schumacher

Sibylle Schumacher

Partner, Co-head of Litigation, Regulatory & Tax

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Dr. Florian von Baum

Dr. Florian von Baum

Partner, Sector Head Technology, Science & Industry

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