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Belgian member of CMS merges with DeBacker

15/11/2004

The Belgian law firms CMS Lexcelis and DeBacker are to merge with effect from 01.01.2005. A strategic move both for the CMS association, which will benefit from being able to further expand its market position in the Belgian and international markets for legal advice, and for the two firms which will henceforth bear the name CMS DeBacker. The merger of the two commercial law firms, the fields of business of which ideally complement each other, meets the criterion for the position of the new law firm, which has offices in Brussels and Antwerp, as one of the leading full-service law firms in the country.

CMS Lexcelis, the Belgian founder member of the CMS association, has an excellent reputation in the fields of corporate, banking, property and employment law. Further key areas of activity of the approx. 25 lawyers are tax law and intellectual property. The strengths of the approx. 30 lawyers from DeBacker are in the fields of M&A, banking and insurance and public commercial law. DeBacker also has a highly regarded corporate law litigation practice. The reputable international law firm listings "Legal500" includes CMS Lexcelis and DeBacker among the TOP 10 in numerous fields.

Cornelius Brandi, Managing Partner of the German member of the CMS Association CMS Hasche Sigle said that the merger is an "excellent decision for both firms on the basis of which CMS will also be able to further expand its leading position in the field of international commercial legal advice. The merger of CMS Lexcelis and DeBacker underlines the further expansion of the association in the same way as the recent accession of the Spanish commercial law firm Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo."

In addition to CMS Lexcelis and CMS Hasche Sigle, the following firms are also members of the CMS association: CMS Adonnino Ascoli & Cavasola Scamoni (Italy), CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo (Spain), CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre (France), CMS Cameron McKenna (UK), CMS Derks Star Busmann (the Netherlands), CMS von Erlach Klainguti Stettler Wille (Switzerland) and CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz (Austria) with a total of 1,900 lawyers and 56 offices in 24 jurisdictions. This network enables CMS Hasche Sigle to offer integrated and extensive legal advice for cross-border projects.


Contact CMS Hasche Sigle:
Cornelius Brandi
Tel.: +49(0)30 / 20360-156
E-mail: Cornelius.Brandi@cms-hs.com



Background:
CMS Hasche Sigle is one of the leading German law firms with more than 350 lawyers. It covers the entire area of commercial law and provides legal advice to major German and international companies from a wide spectrum of industry.

CMS Hasche Sigle operates at all the major business centres. It has offices in Berlin, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Stuttgart, Chemnitz, Dresden, Brussels, Belgrade, Moscow, Prague and Shanghai.

The law firm is a founding partner of CMS, a European association of reputable law firms with more than 1,800 lawyers. In addition to CMS Hasche Sigle, the following firms are also members of the CMS association: CMS Adonnino Ascoli & Cavasola Scamoni (Italy), CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo (Spain), CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre (France), CMS Cameron McKenna (UK), CMS Derks Star Busmann (the Netherlands), CMS von Erlach Klainguti Stettler Wille (Switzerland), CMS Lexcelis (Belgium) and CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz (Austria) with a total of 56 offices in 24 jurisdictions. This network enables CMS Hasche Sigle to offer integrated and extensive legal advice for cross-border projects.

Further information:
CMS Hasche Sigle Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten und Steuerberatern
Contact details/List of partners at www.cms-hs.com