Bird & Bird is delighted to announce the appointment of a new team to strengthen our recently opened Hamburg office. The arrival of this team doubles the number of partners in Hamburg and brings key expertise to a city with a strong media market.

The team is led by high-profile media and competition partner Stefan Engels, who comes from Hogan Lovells where he was partner and co-head of the international sector group for technology, media & telecoms (TMT). Stefan brings with him Michael Stulz-Herrnstadt who also joins us as partner, Ulrike Grübler as senior European consultant, Beatrice Brunn and Verena Haisch as senior associates and six junior associates.

Our clients in Hamburg and internationally will greatly benefit from the new team’s extensive experience of dealing with national and international media organisations as well as leading brands. They have advised on matters involving press, copyright, trademark, competition and advertising law and also have a strong reputation in the fields of regulation, administrative and constitutional procedural law and data protection.

Alexander Schröder-Frerkes, Head of Bird & Bird in Germany, comments: “We have planned for some time to bring strong media expertise to our Hamburg office, as a capability that will greatly benefit our clients locally as well as further strengthen our International Media Group. With this team, we have found the right addition for Bird & Bird and we are very happy to welcome them.”

Stefan Engels is confident that this is the right step: “With its strong IP capability as well as its international network, Bird & Bird provides an ideal platform for our team's further development. We look forward to presenting a flexible range of excellent services to our clients.”

Christian Harmsen, Joint Head of Bird & Bird’s International Intellectual Property Group comments: “A great deal of media law is conducted in Hamburg and we have planned for some time to bring in a team to develop this area. This highly specialised team, headed by Stefan Engels, is a perfect fit for us and we are delighted to now offer strong media expertise in Hamburg.