Simmons & Simmons

Aaron Patience

Aaron heads our Tokyo office. He specialises in guiding Japanese businesses through international corporate transactions and global businesses on their Japanese operations. A fluent Japanese speaker who has lived in Japan for over 10 years, Aaron advises Japanese businesses on all areas of cross-border M&A, including sales, acquisitions and alliances in a variety of sectors, including TMT and Healthcare & Life Sciences. His experience includes acting on the full range of corporate and commercial documentation, including in connection with share sales, business sales, shareholders’ arrangements and business alliances, transitional services arrangements, supply and distribution agreements and licences of IP. · Mergers and Acquisitions

Abdelaziz Khatab

Abdelaziz in a Partner in the Paris IP team and is specialised in patent work. As an experienced European patent attorney and lawyer, Abdelaziz brings comprehensive and widely recognised expertise on the market. As a lawyer and engineer, he has both legal and technical qualifications, enabling him to represent his clients before the French courts, the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) and the French and European Patent Offices. Abdelaziz offers a wide range of services to a broad spectrum of businesses, particularly in the Telecommunications, Electronics, Medical Technologies and Automotive sectors. His clients benefit from his expertise in high-stakes patent litigation, particularly in standard-essential patent litigation. He also advises them on their IP strategies (including freedom to operate, audits, valuation, and licence negotiations). · Intellectual Property

Adam Wolstenholme

Adam specialises in advising clients on complex international, cross-border and sensitive areas of law, with a particular emphasis on financial services regulatory matters. His expertise spans both TradFi and DeFi, and he acts in both non-contentious and contentious instructions. He has gained a strong background in the local and regional framework and practicalities that are vital to understanding the international and domestic sensitivities in the Middle East. He provides current and pragmatic advice on the region's nascent regulations. His client base includes a number of the largest international financial institutions, global asset managers and hedge funds, virtual asset service providers, brokerage entities and payment providers. Consequently, he has extensive experience in liaising with the region's financial regulators and securities exchanges, including on advising on regulations issued by the UAE Central Bank, the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority/Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the Saudi Capital Markets Authority (Saudi CMA). Adam possesses particular experience advising on crypto regulatory frameworks across the GCC, and has advised some of the world's largest crypto market participants. Striving to stay at the forefront of the constantly emerging digital assets industry, he is trusted to advise on the set up of crypto exchanges, clearing houses, custodians, broker-dealers, managers and funds, as well as a broad range of crypto-related products, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, utility tokens, NFTs, crypto derivatives and SAFTs. Prior to working in the Middle East, he was a barrister in London where his practice entailed both defence and prosecution work, with a special emphasis on financial crime and regulatory matters, including advisory and representation instructions on the proceeds of crime, money laundering, bribery and extradition. During his work at the self-employed bar, he was also seconded to the Financial Conduct Authority in London, whereby he was able to amass practical experience of complex regulatory investigations. · Financial Services Regulation

Adriano Maggioli

Associate · Financial Services Regulatory

Alejandro Guerrero

Alejandro is a partner and co-head of our EU Competition Law and Tech Regulation practice based in Brussels and in Madrid. He currently specialises in antitrust and commercial regulation, compliance and investigations, as well as in related disputes and litigation, in a variety of sectors including TMT, energy, consumer products and e-commerce. Specifically, Alejandro advises clients on the interplay between competition law and the GDPR, cybersecurity, and other related aspects of EU tech and platform regulations. Throughout his career, he has had first-hand and material involvement in important competition matters in the TMT sector, including two of the four Google EU investigations since 2010, and two four-to-three mergers in the telecoms sector (WIND/Hutchison/JV and Telefónica Deutschland/E-Plus). He has developed his expertise on competition and data privacy law and policy, being CIPP/E certified under the IAPP and having advised and represented international corporations on numerous on EU privacy and data protection compliance matters, both at national level and from a U.S.-EU standpoint. Today, he also advises clients on the impact on their business of future EU regulation, such as the AI Act, the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. Alejandro originally trained at the energy merger unit of the European Commission. He has represented and acted for clients in numerous mergers across a variety of sectors. Over the years, he has also represented and advised clients in numerous antitrust and cartel investigations, including successfully applying for immunity and leniency for a major financial institution in numerous EU cartel investigations, successfully defending a financial institution from formal allegations made by the European Commission in the CDS Information Market case, successfully defending a toy manufacturer against an EU inspection, and successfully defending cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies against investigations and fining decisions from European authorities. Alejandro also advises companies on ESG regulation and on the interplay between these rules and competition law and investigations. He follows closely the enactment and application of bills and laws such as the CSRD, the CS3D and the ESG Rating Regulation, counselling clients on the adoption of compliance measures and reporting and due diligence requirements. · EU Competition Law

Alessandro Bonazzi

Managing Associate · Private Equity

Alexander Wenzel

Alexander is a trusted advisor who excels in guiding technology clients through the intricate landscape of EU regulatory compliance. He seamlessly integrates expertise in Life Sciences regulatory and data privacy requirements. The scope of his product practice covers all life cycles of (in vitro) medical devices, (advanced therapeutic) medicinal products and digital products such as wellness apps. He advises clients on all regulatory aspects governing their product including classifications, clinical trials, GCP and GMP investigations, regulatory market exclusivities, marketing authorization applications and conformity assessment procedures. He also has extensive experience counseling organizations on data privacy matters. Alexander has assisted clients with setting up privacy compliance frameworks, addressing cybersecurity incidents, resolving investigations by competent authorities and with navigating sector specific requirements governing personal health data. · EU Regulatory Compliance

Alexandra Harmer

Alex is a Middle East-based Managing Associate and part of the international Digital Business team. She has a strong background in advising on matters of IP laws with experience of leading strategic, commercial and transactional IP projects. Her international expertise covers the full life cycle of IP assets both as standalone projects and as part of corporate transactions. She acts for clients across a range of IP-rich heavily regulated industries, most notably in the TMT and Healthcare & Life Sciences sectors, including in respect of consumer-facing products and services, and a wide variety of complex commercial contracts. She is a “go to” advisor for leading international pharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare businesses across the Middle East region, including in particular the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where she has counselled clients across a variety of risk areas. She has enhanced her industry knowledge of the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector through client secondments at two large global pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca and GSK). Her work across the TMT sector covers a wide range of commercial and regulatory projects including for large telecoms operators and media / digital platform businesses as well as both technology vendors and enterprise customers for emerging technology solutions. Alex also brings together her sector expertise across the TMT and Healthcare & Life Sciences sector on digital health projects. Prior to joining Simmons & Simmons, Alex qualified at a magic circle law firm and has worked at a specialist IP law firm, spending 10 years practising in London before moving to the UAE. · Intellectual Property

Alexandre Grevet

Alexandre specialises in financing and real estate financing. Alexandre has developed experience in acquisition and real estate transactions, including real estate financing aspects of mergers, acquisitions and fund structuring, which includes drafting and negotiating all types of agreements in connection with acquisition and real estate financing. Alexandre qualified as a lawyer in Paris. · Financing

Alexandre Regniault

Alexandre is head of the firm’s Healthcare & Life Sciences sector group. He specialises in strategic legal and regulatory advice, principally on behalf of pharmaceutical, medical devices and biotech companies and significant players in other highly regulated industries. His experience as a litigator mainly covers product liability, breach of contract, break off of negotiations, comparative advertising and claim recovery. Alexandre also has significant expertise in transactional and licensing negotiations, compliance audits and advice on regulatory matters, advising notably sponsors of clinical trials, and major companies in the sector on pricing, reimbursement, advertising and commercial practices. Alexandre is experienced in crisis management and frequently liaises with the French regulatory authorities on behalf of industry players. Alexandre was elected to the board of France Biotech in 2011, becoming Vice-President of the association in 2013. He represents France Biotech at the European confederation of pharmaceutical entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). · Healthcare

Alfredo de Lorenzo

Alfredo specialises in capital markets, structured products, derivatives and distressed debt (acquisitions and disposals of secured and unsecured NPL portfolios). Alfredo is the Head of the Financial Markets practice in Spain. He advises investment banks, commercial banks and corporates on a variety of large transactions, such as debt issues, MTN and ECP Programmes, repackagings, securitisations and other complex structure finance transactions. He is a recognised practitioner, with extensive expertise in advising issuers/arrangers and institutional investors on a wide range of financings. He also advises hedge funds on the acquisition and disposal of secured and unsecured NPL portfolios. His knowledge of the Spanish market and understanding of its clients business allow him to create strategic legal solutions to its clients. Alfredo is dual qualified, he was admitted as a lawyer in Spain in 1997 and as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1998. This dual qualification gives him a competitive strength in the market through his rare capability in offering advice to the firm’s clients with interests in Spain, the UK and the US. · Capital Markets

Alice Houdart

Counsel · Real Estate Law

Andrada Tiru

Andrada joined Simmons & Simmons in 2010 and specialises in commercial law and project development. She is a specialist in the field of contract law focusing on commercial contracts, including contracts regarding the provision of goods and services, CAPEX and OPEX contracts, distribution- and agency contracts as well as general terms and conditions. She assists and represents clients during the whole “life-cycle” of a commercial contract, starting from contract negotiations, drafting (complex and bespoke) contracts and advising in respect of contract law issues such as pre-contractual liability, the interpretation of a contract and termination. She also represents clients in court litigation in the event of a commercial dispute. In addition, Andrada has extensive experience in the (re)development and realization of complex large-scale projects. This includes industrial production facilities, infrastructure, renewables and office space. Andrada regularly publishes on contract law topics, amongst others as a contributor to Rechtspraak Contractenrecht (a leading Dutch legal journal on commercial contracting) and as an author of the SDU Comments to the Dutch Civil Code articles 7:9 – 7:19a (legal duties and obligations of the seller) and articles 7:20 – 7:25 (particular effects of a non-performance by the seller). · Commercial Law

Andrea Accornero

Andrea specialises in private equity and M&A and has extensive experience of corporate and private equity transactions for both Italian and international players. Andrea is the Italy Country Head and specialises in transactions for both Italian and international funds with a focus on private equity and M&A. He has advised some of the most respected and recognised players on a continuous basis on their acquisitions, disposals, restructurings and refinancings. · Private Equity

Andrea Tonon

Andrea advises private equity and other alternative asset fund managers, institutional investors, banks, banking foundations, financial intermediaries, investment firms, and financial institutions on all matters regarding the alternative funds industry. He has solid experience in assisting clients on the Italian and international investment management market and focuses on private equity, venture capital, real estate, funds of funds, co-investment funds, infrastructure funds, SICAFs and structured products. Andrea has assisted public and private parties in numerous transactions involving investment funds and provides support in liaising with the Italian authorities. · Private Equity

Andrés Mochales

Andrés has more than 30 years of experience as a litigator, with expertise in all type of proceedings (including financial, civil, arbitration and bankruptcy). Andrés has a deep understanding of the Financial Institutions sector and his core area of specialisation is representing these entities in financial litigation procedures or defending their interest in major insolvency proceedings happening in Spain. He also acts as an arbitrator and as a lawyer before the most prestigious Courts of Arbitration in Spain. He currently teaches commercial contracts in the LLM of the Instituto de Empresa, a leading business school in Madrid. He is also a professor in the IE Advanced Course of Insolvency Law, as well as member of the Academic Organization Committee of the yearly National Insolvency Congress organized by Instituto de Empresa -addressed to judges, professors, lawyers and experts in bankruptcy. · Financial Litigation

Angel Maestro

Ángel Maestro is a highly experienced lawyer with over 15 years of expertise in real estate transactions. Throughout his career, Ángel has successfully represented a diverse range of clients, including companies, investment funds, institutional investors and financing entities on corporate transactions with an underlying real estate component. Ángel's practice encompasses all aspects of real estate transactions, from acquisitions and sales (configured as asset or share deals) of all kind of real estate assets (residential, logistics, offices, shopping centres, hotels, etc.) to leasing, financing, management and development. Ángel has a proven track record of navigating complex legal issues and providing strategic counsel to ensure smooth and efficient transactions. His ability to anticipate potential challenges and develop innovative solutions has earned him a reputation for excellence among his clients and peers. Ángel has been mentioned in Legal500, Best Lawyers and Chambers & Partners (which ranked him as up-and-coming). Further, in 2022 Ángel received in the category of best real estate lawyer the Iberian Lawyer 40 under 40 award that recognizes the excellence and trajectory of the 40 most outstanding lawyers under 40 years of age in the Iberian Peninsula. · Real Estate

Angelia Chia

Angelia specialises in trade and supply chain finance across traditional trade products and products that support open account transactions. She supports clients from the origination to the distribution of risks in such trade and supply chain finance products. Additionally, she advises clients in disputes pertaining to such trade and supply chain finance products. With over 25 years of experience, Angelia has a wealth of experience in different jurisdictions and how jurisdictional aspects impact industry rules (eg, UCP600, URR725, URDG758 and ISP98), laws on assignment of financial assets, laws pertaining to negotiable instruments and enforcement over security. She has also been involved and resolved disputes by deploying practical strategies in day-to-day issues faced by financial institutions. Angelia’s unique advisory capability stems from her in-house experience in Cargill, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered Bank where she was global head of legal for trade, ensuring she can provide comprehensive end-to-end advice covering the myriad of issues faced by clients as they manage the interplay of laws, regulations, industry rules, systems and policies in the confines of the organisation’s operational requirements. Angelia is an active member of the ICC Legal and BAFT Committees and is internationally recognised for her trade advisory experience. · Trade Finance

Anna Colmano

Anna has wide-ranging expertise in IP matters and is particularly skilled at advising Italian and international clients. Anna is a Counsel in our IP practice in Milan. She has extensive experience in a wide range of IP matters including patents, trademarks and domain names, appellations of origin and geographical indications, industrial design, copyright and related rights, unfair competition, trade secrets and arbitration. Anna has considerable experience in drafting commercial agreements, in particular licence agreements of IP rights and NDAs. · Intellectual Property

Annabelle Bruyndonckx

With over 25 years of experience in advising clients in the Healthcare & Life Sciences industries, Annabelle Bruyndonckx is recognised as one of the leading sector lawyers in Belgium. Strongly focused on Medtech and the digitalisation of (consumer) healthcare, Annabelle assists international pharmaceutical and biotech companies and global medical device manufacturers, as well as food supplements and cosmetic businesses. As litigation specialist and regulatory expert, her practice at Simmons & Simmons LLP covers all parts of regulated products’ life cycle from R&D to marketing authorisation/CE marking, qualification issues, pricing and reimbursement, manufacture and distribution, public procurement, advertising, compliance, and product liability. Annabelle heads the Regulatory Affairs Education Group & is a board member of Healixia, the Belgian community of professionals involved in the lifecycle of medicines, medical devices, in-vitro diagnostics, and other health-related products. She is a regular speaker at international Healthcare and Life Sciences conferences. · Healthcare & Life Sciences

Annemarie Elenbaas-van den Berge

Annemarie has gained experience in all major areas of employment law including advising employment issues in relation to sales forces and agency workers. She has particular expertise in advising on corporate related matters including advising on employment law issues that relate to the mergers and acquisition practice (e.g. employees’ representation and consultation, transfer of undertaking, applicability of collective labour agreements, harmonisation of benefits, position managing directors, compliance aspects etc. and data protection (privacy) matters). Annemarie litigates frequently on behalf of clients, in employment courts as well as appellate courts. Her litigation work includes staff terminations as well as applying for interlocutory relief and injunction orders. · Employment Law

Ariel Nachman

Ariel qualified in Israel in 1998, where he acted for a variety of multinationals investing in the Israeli market. He moved to Milan in 2003 where he set up his practice acting for Israeli investors in the Italian market. Ariel then joined Simmons in 2008 and founded its global Israeli desk, which he heads. Today he is considered to be one of the leading Israeli lawyers in Europe acting for Israeli financial institutions, TMT companies, life science companies, real estate groups, renewable energy groups, industrial companies and family offices. · TMT

Arnaud Fostier

Partner · Corporate

Arnaud Roiron

Partner · Corporate & Commercial

Ashleigh Low

Ashleigh is a Senior Associate at Taylor Vinters Via LLC. He works with the Corporate Team. · Corporate

Astrig Bourmayan

Astrig, qualified in France and in England and Wales, has extensive experience in structured debt capital markets and OTC derivatives, including strategic equity and margin lending transactions. Her clients include investment banks, asset managers and large corporations. Astrig entered in 2022 the Capital Markets > Derivatives category in the Chambers Europe rankings (being ranked as Band 3) and has been continuously ranked ever since. · Capital Markets

Augustin de Longeaux

Augustin advises domestic and international investment managers and financial institutions on legal and regulatory issues relating to the structuring, establishment, operation and distribution of all types of Luxembourg investment funds. Augustin leads the Luxembourg fund formation group. He brings together significant practical experience in advising clients who carry on business in Luxembourg or through Luxembourg vehicles, with industry knowledge and an understanding of applicable regulatory rules and regulatory requirements. He assists his clients in relation to the establishment of Luxembourg management companies, alternative investment fund managers and investment firms. He provides regulatory and compliance advice and representation in connection with CSSF proceedings. Augustin also advises institutional investors and family offices in relation to prospective investments in Luxembourg based funds. His practice has a particular focus on formation of regulated and unregulated real estate, private equity, infrastructure and debt funds. · Investment Funds

Baldassarre Battista

Baldassarre is a counsel in the Financial Markets group in the Milan office, focusing on debt capital markets. His experience covers a wide range of products within capital markets, focusing on offers and listings of debt instruments, as well as tender and exchange offers of securities for both Italian and international clients. He also provides assistance in relation to Eurobonds, project bonds and liability management exercises. · Debt Capital Markets

Bart Koolhaas

Bart Koolhaas has provided clients with advice on matters relating to power and utilities, transmission and distribution, carbon capture and storage, oil & gas (up, mid and downstream and LNG) and climate change. Over the last ten years Bart Koolhaas has built a practice focusing on renewable energy, with a specific focus on solar projects and (off shore) wind. He has worked on more than 25 solar projects among which the biggest solar projects in the Netherlands and the first floating solar project. He has advised on three offshore wind projects. Bart is a member of the Netherlands Association of Public Law, the Netherlands Environmental Lawyers Association (VMA) and the Dutch Energy Law Association (NeVER). · Power and Utilities

Benedikt Weiser

Benedikt advises on all aspects of asset management, regulated and unregulated funds, private equity, general M&A and corporate law. He focuses on advising both investors and fund sponsors on the structuring and formation of investment funds, including private equity, real estate, infrastructure, mezzanine and hedge funds. His practice covers related tax and regulatory matters in all relevant fund jurisdictions. Benedikt is particularly experienced in accompanying investments of German insurance companies and other regulated investors. He has in-depth knowledge of structuring and implementing fund-of-fund and multiple-tier structures, fund-platforms for indirect investments and tax-efficient structured products. · Asset Management

Bob van Els

Bob van Els is a Supervising Associate who is based in our Amsterdam office. He works in our corporate department and specialises in mergers and acquisition, including corporate real estate, energy and natural resources related transactions, private equity transactions, corporate restructurings and joint ventures. He has assisted a variety of corporate clients, investment funds and private equity firms in several transactions. · Corporate Law

Calvin Tan

Calvin's practice focuses on banking & finance. He has significant industry experience advising both lenders and borrowers in relation to complex financing and restructuring transactions, particularly transactions which are cross-border involving Asian, European and African jurisdictions. He also advises on restructuring & insolvency matters in Singapore and the region, as well as banking and lending regulatory matters. · Banking & Finance

Camille Saettel

Counsel · Technology, Media and Telecommunication (TMT)

Carl Meyntjens

Carl’s practice focuses on corporate and financial law. He has nearly 30 years experience in advising Belgian and international corporate clients, and financial institutions in a broad range of both domestic and cross-border transactions. He works across a variety of sectors and is referred to in all major legal directories. Carl is an “advocaat” at the Brussels Bar and works in English, Dutch and French. Carl leads both the corporate & commercial and financial markets practices in Belgium. · Corporate Law

Carmen Torres

Carmen is a partner at Simmons & Simmons’ employment practice in Spain, advising on both contentious and non-contentious employment issues. She specialises in workforce restructuring and collective negotiations, high-level management conflicts and restructuring. Carmen is generally involved in complex litigation matters and advises international companies in compliance matters as well as in key strategic issues (ie - illegal lender of employees, TUPE transfers, etc.). · Employment

Cecilia Dubla

Counsel · Real Estate

Chloë Nessim

Chloë has a strong expertise in real estate (including structured real estate), corporate, asset management and financial market, with a particular focus on clients in the asset management and investment funds sectors. She has extensive experience advising on real estate structuring and transactional work including sales and purchases of companies, mergers, demergers, joint venture with a special focus on cross-border transactions. Chloë also advises on the structuring of investment funds and other investment product, structured finance products and securitisations. · Real Estate

Christian Taylor

Christian is a corporate partner in our Paris office. His core practice consists of advising on private mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures, with an emphasis on the life sciences and TMT sectors. Almost all of Christian’s work is cross-border, often involving investments or divestments in France or francophone Africa. He has been permanently based in Paris since 1998, and is fluent in French. In addition to his work in France, Christian has advised on matters in over 20 countries across the African continent, from Algeria to Zambia. · Private Mergers and Acquisitions

Christian Turotti

Counsel · Real Estate Transactions

Christopher Kranz

Christopher is a partner in our Banking & Finance and Restructuring & Special Situations practices. He is the head of the German RSS Practice. He regularly advises lenders, creditors, debtors, directors, investors and shareholders in relation to finance transactions and debt restructurings, often within a cross-border context. His practice covers all areas of finance, restructuring, insolvency and corporate law. Some recent examples include the successful restructurings of Softline AG through the use of a state-of-the-art StaRUG-Proceeding, MagForce AG by way of a distressed M&A transaction combined with a cross-border debt equity swap or the insolvency proceedings over Wirecard AG and Fintyre Group. Christopher has extensive experience in the areas of secured lending, Schuldschein loans, acquisition finance, distressed refinancings and M&A, workouts and all varieties of rescue and insolvency proceedings. In addition, Christopher regularly publishes on insolvency, corporate and finance law with a particular focus on new hybrid proceedings such as the German StaRUG-Scheme, the Dutch Scheme and the UK Scheme of Arrangement/Restructuring Plan. · Banking & Finance

Claire Le Touzé

Claire has a wide range of expertise, assisting clients on all French employment law matters, contentious and non-contentious, and specialising in the Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT) and Life Sciences (LS) sectors. She regularly advises IT and biotech companies, as well as laboratories. Clients also benefit from her in-depth expertise on a recent French law provision on gender pay gap. Claire provides advice to French and international employers on collective relationships with staff representative institutions by negotiating collective agreements (gender equality, working time, remote work), as well as negotiating settlement agreements, implementing bonus schemes and providing strategical advice on termination of key managers. She also works on all employment aspects of corporate deals and represents companies in disputes with their employees. Claire regularly assists with mediations, conducts internal investigations for her clients (discrimination and harassment) and defends against whistleblowing claims. · French Employment Law

Clarence Ding

Clarence is a labour and employment law specialist, whose work covers the full spectrum of employment and immigration issues spanning the life cycle of the employment relationship (and beyond). Clarence routinely advises on the employment aspects of M&A transactions and internal reorganisations, and assists clients on issues ranging from cross-border restructurings and retrenchments to employee misconduct, disciplinary hearings and terminations. A litigator by training, Clarence also regularly acts for clients in matters involving breaches of post-termination restrictions, including seeking (and resisting) the enforcement of restrictive covenants and confidentiality obligations before the Singapore courts, with considerable success. Clarence also has significant experience in dealing with fraud, corruption and data privacy issues. He is often called upon to assist with complex compliance and regulatory breaches, and to conduct internal investigations into bribery, corruption and white-collar crime issues across the region. Clarence is qualified in Singapore and England. Among his various accolades, Clarence is recognised as a “Next Generation Partner” for Labour and Employment by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific, an “Up and Coming” partner for Singapore Employment by Chambers and Partners, one of Singapore’s “30 Most Influential Lawyers Under 40” by the Singapore Business Review and one of International Employment Lawyer’s inaugural “Tomorrow’s Leaders”. He is the author of the employment law and data privacy chapters in Lexis Practical Guidance. Clarence was previously appointed an amicus curiae to the Supreme Court of Singapore, and is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the Association of Workplace Investigators. He is also an accredited specialist mediator with the Singapore International Mediation Centre. · Labour and Employment

Cyril Fiat

Partner · Private Investment Funds

Céline Larmet

Céline is admitted to both the Paris and the Luxembourg bar. She specialised in finance law, including asset-based finance, syndicated and bilateral lending, asset-backed bonds with a focus on capital call financings and real estate financings as well as portfolio transfers and restructuring. Celine acts for all market participants: lenders, borrowers, senior, junior and mezzanine debt players. Céline also specialised in real estate restructuring and insolvency work, working with lenders and borrowers and with insolvency practitioners. · Finance Law

Daniel Lühmann

Daniel works as a partner in our Frankfurt office and has wide-ranging expertise in the financial services sector with a focus on asset management and investment funds. He advises national and international clients on the regulatory aspects of banking and finance law. Daniel regularly publishes articles and holds presentations on financial services regulation with focus on Sustainable Financing and Environmental Social Governance Investment. · Financial Services

Dario Spinella

Dario is a partner of our Milan office and co-heading our Italian Real Estate practice as well as the Asian Desk in Italy. Dario has extensive experience on M&A, corporate real estate, private equity and restructuring transactions for both Italian and international clients. He has advised some of the most recognised players on their acquisitions, disposals of both assets and shares, restructuring and refinancing transactions. He is registered as foreign attorney of the Law Society of Hong Kong and he is co-founder and member of the Hungarian-Italian cultural association in Venice and a former member of the management committee of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. · M&A

David Blumental

David is a highly skilled practitioner specializing in cross-border mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, joint ventures, private equity investments, project development, and finance. With over 20 years of experience in China and the Asia-Pacific region, along with virtual native fluency in Mandarin, he adeptly bridges cultural and language gaps between Chinese and international parties. In the energy, natural resources, and infrastructure sector, David excels as a seasoned advisor, guiding Asia-based and international clients through diverse cross-border transactions. His expertise includes upstream oil and gas, LNG project development, long-term offtake agreements, FPSO/FSO charters and operating agreements, and other energy transactions and M&A deals. Joining Simmons in 2023, David has received well-deserved recognition for his exceptional skills, earning a prestigious Band 1 ranking by Chambers as a top practitioner in the energy and natural resources field. · Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions

David McDonald

David leads the firm’s Middle East employment practice and has been based in Dubai for a decade. David advises on all aspects of the employment relationship and he is an expert in managing employee risk with a particular focus on the United Arab Emirates and Qatar markets. He has a deep background in employment disputes, workplace investigations and disciplinary matters and he regularly guides clients through these complex and sensitive situations. However, David also has considerable experience with advising clients on non-contentious work such as employment contract and handbook/policy drafting, executive level appointments and terminations. · Employment

David Shearer

David Shearer is a corporate partner in the Netherlands and a member of our energy, natural resources and infrastructure group. He advises on a wide range of corporate matters, with a particular focus on cross-border M&A, joint ventures and project development and financing. David has significant experience in a number of sectors, including oil & gas, renewable and conventional power, natural resources and infrastructure. He has acted for a range of corporate clients, oil & gas majors, power developers, trading companies and financial investors. David is a member of the Association of International Energy Negotiators (AIEN) and the AIEN Hydrogen Taskforce. · Corporate

Davide Sportelli

Davide has extensive expertise in advising Italian and international companies and financial institutions on a wide range of employment matters. Davide heads our Employment group in Milan. He advises on all aspects of employment law, both in and out of court. He works closely with clients to handle individual and collective dismissals, termination of employment relationships with executives and related negotiations, and employment aspects of corporate transactions. Being an expert in relations with the trade unions, Davide also advises on mandatory trade union consultation procedures for collective dismissals, also on a national level. Davide is dedicated to keeping his clients abreast of employment news and regularly holds training events and workshops on employment developments in Italy. · Employment Law

Dax Lim

Dax is a partner in our corporate & commercial group in Singapore and specialises in the representation of venture capital and growth equity funds as well as emerging growth companies. Dax has significant experience in advising investment funds on structuring, formation and global investment transactions. He also works extensively with venture backed technology companies throughout their lifecycles advising them on debt and equity financing, strategic partnerships and regulatory and commercial matters. Dax has also been involved in major cross border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and investments across a wide range of industries including e-commerce, financial technology, biotechnology and artificial intelligence. Dax's clients include leading venture capital firms, fintech unicorns and emerging growth companies. He is also very active in the venture capital ecosystem in the region and regularly partners with growth stage accelerators and incubators providing mentorship to entrepreneurs and early stage companies. Prior to joining Simmons & Simmons JWS, Dax led the venture capital practice group in a leading technology focused international firm. · Corporate & Commercial

Donatella de Lieto Vollaro

Counsel · Equity Capital Markets

Edoardo Tedeschi

Edoardo is a partner in our Corporate & Commercial group, leading the Digital Business practice and the TMT sector in Italy. He specializes in national and cross-border M&A, corporate transactions and large-scale project contracts primarily related to Tech and data monetization (from Telco to Automotive, from HLS to Financial Institutions and data centre). Edoardo advises international clients on acquisitions, development capital and day-to-day business operations within the TMT and Digital Business sectors. He has mentored a number of incubators and start-up. He oversees GDPR and AI and data-related issues, focusing on compliance, cross border transfers as well as blockchain and crypto matters. Edoardo co-leads the Automotive Tech group globally and the Italian Cybersecurity and Insurtech Task Force, advising on mobility, smart cities, and data platforms. Recently he has been focused specifically on the evolution of the digital therapeutics in HLS as well as the use of alternative data to boost clinical trials and drug discovery (from insilico to gravity zero generated data). He has mentored our GreenTech Fund and advises on ESG rating platforms for banks and insurance companies. · Corporate & Commercial

Eduardo Peñacoba

Eduardo is the Country Head in Spain as well as heading up the Employment practice of Simmons & Simmons in Spain, advising on both contentious and non-contentious employment issues. He specialises in advising on cross-border transactions, including issues raised in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and integrations, as well as major international projects, such as restructurings and outsourcing. This includes collective employment issues such as collective bargaining, works council elections, the structure and organisation of European works councils and negotiations linked to reductions in the work force and collective transfers. Eduardo advises a wide range of clients from start-up companies to multinational corporations across all of the firm’s core sectors (Financial Institutions, Asset Management and Investment Funds, TMT and with special focus in, Life Sciences and the pharmaceutical industry). Eduardo provides expert employment advice to domestic and international clients in all sectors. He advises on all matters within the Employment Law arena, including negotiations, judicial proceedings at every level of the Spanish courts, executive appointments and exits, employee benefits, pension and remuneration schemes, collective bargaining and company agreements, corporate restructuring processes, among others. He offers innovative solutions to the multiple labour situations his clients face when conducting business. His involvement has been key to major companies on the Iberian Peninsula and he has participated in some of the most strategic, complex and high-profile cases involving large company restructurings and employment court proceedings. He is a leading practitioner included in the most renowned legal directories. Particularly, he offers experience in the labour aspects of corporate restructuring and M&A, with notable expertise in the life sciences sector. He also advises on contentious claims relating to dismissals. Eduardo Peñacoba is a recurrent lecturer in leading business schools, and usually participates as a lecturer and teacher in different courses and conferences about Employment Law. · Employment Law

Edwin van der Velde

Edwin van der Velde is a litigation associate in the Amsterdam office of Simmons & Simmons LLP. He represents clients in national and international disputes and specialises in complex civil litigation. His fields of expertise include commercial disputes, financial liability, general tort claims, defamation, seizures, intellectual property, parallel trade and unfair commercial practices. Edwin also represents a natural person who is the victim of a slander campaign initiated by two Dutch top500 companies and their owner. · Commercial Disputes

Elisa Bocianowski

Elisa heads the Paris office Real Estate practice, incorporated in our Financial Markets Department. She advises national and international institutional investors (real estate funds, asset managers, property companies, etc.) in all their real estate transactions. Throughout her career, Elisa has focused on real estate transactions (acquisition of buildings and real estate companies), construction and real estate development law and rental management with a specific expertise in commercial lease law. · Real Estate

Elise Boehmer

Elise specialises in corporate law, focusing on mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity and other corporate transactions. Elise is a supervising associate in the firm’s corporate and commercial group in Amsterdam. She focuses on corporate law and is particularly skilled at advising private equity sponsors and private equity owned portfolio companies on M&A. She has a background in all aspects of corporate and civil law. With experience in the private equity sector, clients Elise has worked with include Gilde Equity Management (one of Benelux’s major private equity houses). Working with such clients has given Elise a strong overview of the market, making her a crucial member of the team in Amsterdam. This makes her able to think about more than just the immediate legal issues at stake, meaning she can act in the best interest of the client and provide the most effective legal solutions. · Corporate Law

Emanuela Boca

Emanuela has nearly 20 years of experience in employment law matters, industrial relations, and employment law litigation. She is an of counsel in our Employment group in Milan. She represents some of the largest international luxury and fashion companies before civil and employment courts and the Italian Supreme Court on a wide range of employment matters. Emanuela also provides day-to-day assistance to clients on non-contentious matters. These include smart-working projects; employee hires, transfers and terminations; protection against parallel importing; background checks; GDPR-related issues; social media policies; whistleblowing and related policies; and investigations and disciplinary procedures. She joined us in 2001 and has completed various secondments to our main clients within their HR and legal division. She regularly leads legal seminars on employment law matters and cooperates in reviewing caselaw developments. She is a member of the European Employment Lawyers Association (EELA). · Employment Law

Emanuela Molinaro

Emanuela is a partner in our Real Estate group in Italy, which is part of our Corporate & Commercial Department. Emanuela Molinaro has a significant and consolidated experience, gained in around 20 years of advising on real estate and corporate transactions, with particular reference to real estate acquisitions and development, single assets or complex portfolios, as well as the structuring of investment funds and development joint ventures. She assists institutional and non-institutional investors, both Italian and international, in real estate investments and developments in Italy, in sale and lease back transactions on commercial properties, regarding specific real estate contracts in relation to diversified asset classes. · Real Estate

Emilie Danglades-Perez

Emilie is a managing associate in the Dispute Resolution group in Paris and is specialised in Data Protection and Privacy. She has provided advice to a wide range of clients within the course of their GDPR compliance plan. She has also provided practical assistance to handle data subjects access requests, personal data breach, and complaints relating to infringement of privacy regulations. She has assisted in advising clients from various sectors to develop innovative and digital tools in compliance with privacy regulations, Internet users rights and consumer law. She has also helped in implementing digital marketing projects in accordance with GDPR and ePrivacy requirements. She has a significant experience in the Life Sciences sector where she assists pharma and medical device companies in their projects involving digital therapeutics and Big Data. She also provides assistance for the development of clinical trials in France and in Europe in accordance with privacy regulations. She is also specialised in commercial and product liability litigation, and represents French and foreign companies before civil and commercial courts. · Data Protection and Privacy