The longstanding CMS Hasche Sigle partner and notary Dr Hermann Stapenhorst (54) starts his own law firm in Berlin in October. Under the name 3A, he intends to provide not only legal but also strategic advice in the real estate sector. He will be accompanied by Dr Nadja Fleischmann (40) and Stefan Meusel (39), who were both counsels at CMS and will join the new firm as equity partners.

The focus of 3A is on real estate investments, i.e. above all on transactions and the notary’s office. Stapenhorst emphasised to JUVE that the new unit wanted to stand out from the competition by setting clear priorities. Private building law, for example, should not be part of the advisory service. The target group of 3A are capital management companies, but also project developers in the context of investments.

Stapenhorst started his career in 1991 at the CMS predecessor law firm Sigle Loose Schmidt-Diemitz and became a partner in 1995. From 1999 to 2004 he headed the Berlin office as a Managing Partner. Fleischmann also joined CMS immediately after her legal clerkship in 2005. Meusel initially worked with the Dresden notary’s office of Heckschen van der Loo before joining CMS in 2007. As a team, the three real estate lawyers have already advised on numerous transactions, such as the sale of the so-called Phoenix portfolio on behalf of Berlinovo, or Art-Invest on the acquisition of Sofitel Hamburg. By the end of the year, 3A intends to enlarge its team by two more associates, and in the next three to five years the firm plans to grow by eight to ten professionals.

CMS’s real estate team is one of the largest in the German market, with offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Duesseldorf, Leipzig and Munich. Most recently, it had strengthened itself with the Cologne Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Heinz Kummer. Following the separation, four partners remain in Berlin, including one notary and eleven associates. In the medium term, the notary’s office in Berlin is to grow again.

In general, partner departures from CMS are extremely rare. The last person to leave the firm this summer was Duesseldorf corporate partner Felix Schaefer, who joined the insurance and liability law boutique Wilhelm. At the beginning of 2013, dispute resolution partner Prof. Dr Hartmut Hamann started his own firm in Stuttgart. On the other hand, since May this year, stock corporation lawyer Dr Wolfgang Richter of Clifford Chance has been strengthening the Frankfurt office. (Christin Nünemann)