Fieldfisher opened an office in Vienna on June 1 with former SCWP Schindhelm Partners and by integrating Meissner & Passin.
The new office will be led by Thomas Ruhm. Specializing in corporate/M&A, corporate finance, private equity, and capital markets, he joined from SCWP where he had worked since 2014.
Also joining from SCWP as a Partner, Philipp Reinisch specializes in TMT/data protection. Reinisch first joined SCWP in 2016 and made Partner at his previous firm in 2021. Prior to that, he worked for the Austrian Federal Computing Centre as a Legal Counsel, DPO between 2013 and 2015.
Leonhard Reis, who had been working as a sole practitioner since 2013, joined the new office as a Partner and Head of Real Estate in Austria.
The new office is also incorporating boutique law firm Meissner & Passin, which was established in 2021 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on December 24, 2020). Specializing in international arbitration and corporate/M&A, Alice Meissner joined Fieldfisher as a Partner while Bernhard Passin joined the firm as a Director.
"We see Vienna as a strong commercial center in Europe and a gateway to Central & Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) regions," Fieldfisher Managing Partner Robert Shooter commented.
"We are thrilled to be opening the newest office of one of Europe's leading law firms," Ruhm added. "I am proud to be launching Fieldfisher Austria with such a strong team, drawn from some of Austria's most respected law firms and wider legal and business backgrounds."
