Beiten Burkhardt is looking east for growth. The German independent firm closed two of its domestic offices, in Cologne and Leipzig, while significantly ramping up its Kiev operations, completing what corporate partner Jack Schiffer likes to call a “refocusing” of the firm’s operations, as opposed to a restructuring. “Restructuring sounds like distressed debt,” he jokes.
The 53-partner national firm boasts offices throughout the Federal Republic as well as international offices in Brussels, Warsaw, St Petersburg, Moscow, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Earlier this year, Beiten folded its practice in Cologne, choosing to merge it with its nearby Duesseldorf office, because the firm no longer found it practical to maintain two offices located so close to one another. “Duesseldorf was already larger and stronger, and the rental premises were more favourable,” Schiffer says of the decision.
