Allen & Overy has announced the promotion of three new partners, six new counsel and nine senior associates in Luxembourg, effective from 1 May 2022. Over half of the new promoted lawyers are women. The new partners are Thomas Berger (Litigation), Sylvain Cailleau (Corporate) and Catherine Di Lorenzo (IP, data and tech). The new partners are part of a global partners promotion round of 39 lawyers, with a total of 17 of the firm’s offices represented.
Promoted to counsel are Guilhèm Becvort (Tax), Laurent Goyer (Corporate), Sandy Mammola (Banking), Jennifer Rouault (Funds), Johanna Tschurtschenthaler (Tax) and Victoria Woestmann (Corporate).
Allen & Overy also promotes to Senior Associate Joachim Apra (Corporate), Guillaume Foillard (Corporate), Samara Hiscock (Tax), Ruslana Hrischeva (ICM/Banking), Nicolas Madelin (ICM/Banking), Alexis Poisson (ICM/Banking), Sibylle Vieille-Cessay (Corporate), Zuzana Weber-Hurarova (ICM/Banking) and Stéphanie Yiolitou (Tax).
Office Senior Partner Patrick Mischo comments: “This new round of promotions marks a personal achievement and recognition of many years of hard work and dedication to our clients in the Luxembourg market. I’d like to express my gratitude to each of the promoted lawyers and I am confident that this formidable team will further strengthen our full-service legal offering and our reputation as a leading international law firm.”
Thomas Berger has been promoted to Partner and heads the Litigation department. He specialises in domestic and cross-border litigation and pre-litigation matters within the realm of civil, commercial and corporate law. He has a particular focus in financial law, including in investment funds related litigation as well as professional liability in the financial sector, anti-money laundering (AML), and “white-collar” criminal law aspects. He also assists clients facing dawn raids and has extensive expertise in internal and external investigations for clients of the financial sector (banks, investment funds, insurance companies and other professionals of the financial sector). Thomas also regularly advises on regulatory issues related to AML, PSD, MiFID and banking secrecy.
Thomas is a member of the AML legal expert group with the Luxembourg Private Equity Association (LPEA) as well as a member of the Legal Forum, the Payment Forum, the MiFID Forum and the PSD II working group of the Luxembourg Bankers' Association (ABBL). He joined Allen & Overy in 2013.
Sylvain Cailleau has been promoted to Partner in the Corporate department. Sylvain specialises in company law and mergers and acquisitions. His practice ranges from corporate transactions (public and private M&A, joint-ventures / co-investments and corporate restructurings) to advice on governance and directors’ liability.
Sylvain also works for a number of alternative investment managers to develop and expand their platform in Luxembourg, with a particular sub-focus on infra funds. He joined Allen & Overy in 2018 from the corporate and M&A practice of an international law firm in Brussels.
Catherine Di Lorenzo, who heads the IP, Data and Tech practice in Luxembourg, has been promoted to Partner. She is one of the leading Luxembourg lawyers for strategic data protection matters. Catherine advises clients across a wide range of business sectors (e-commerce, finance (including Fintech), insurance, asset management, telecommunication, media and food) with respect to their digital projects as well as with investigations by Luxembourg regulators.
Catherine has extensive experience in assisting clients with their technology transactions, including their regulated IT outsourcing projects. In addition, she advises clients in relation to cybersecurity issues. Catherine joined Allen & Overy in 2011.
Guilhèm Becvort has been promoted to Counsel in the Tax practice. Guilhèm advises on international and Luxembourg corporate tax law. He has substantial experience on the tax aspects of cross-border real estate, debt and private equity investments and on the structuring of regulated and unregulated alternative investment fund platforms. He also advises on the tax aspects of corporate restructurings, securitisation and capital markets transactions. He is an active member of our France-Luxembourg platform, a unique offering dedicated to France-based and Luxembourg-based clients, having interests inboth jurisdictions. Furthermore, Guilhèm is the representative of the Tax practice within the Allen & Overy's Luxembourg-Latin America desk.
Guilhèm is member of the Luxembourg Capital Markets Association and the International Fiscal Association (IFA) in Luxembourg and France. Furthermore, Guilhèm is a regular speaker and chairman on international seminars and conferences and regularly publishes tax-law related articles. He joined Allen & Overy in 2018.
Laurent Goyer has been promoted to Counsel in the Corporate practice. He joined the firm in 2015 and advises on general corporate matters, including on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, group restructurings, corporate governance, management incentive plans and private equity transactions, with a particular focus on the alternative investment sphere. Laurent is qualified in Québec, Paris and Luxembourg and holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of Montreal.
Sandy Mammola has been promoted to Counsel in the Banking practice. Sandy advises on general banking matters and specialises in real estate (Luxembourg and abroad), project, acquisition and fund finance transactions, insolvency and restructuring, assisting international financial institutions, corporates and asset managers, as well as local institutions and investors. She joined Allen & Overy in 2012.
Jennifer Rouault has been promoted to Counsel in the Fund practice. Jennifer advises on general investment fund and regulatory matters. She advises clients on the structuring, setting up, registration, and ongoing operation, of Luxembourg regulated and unregulated investment funds, investing in a variety of asset classes, alternative assets in particular. Jennifer also extensively advises institutional investors on their investments in private equity, venture capital, debt, real estate and infrastructure investment funds established in Luxembourg or other jurisdictions, as well as on co-investments in such funds. Jennifer is qualified in Paris and London. Prior to joining Allen & Overy in 2018, Jennifer gained significant experience working in a U.S. leading law firm based in London for almost seven years.
Johanna Tschurtschenthaler has been promoted to Counsel in the Tax practice. Johanna advises on international and corporate tax law. She has extensive experience in dealing with the tax aspects of cross-border private equity, debt and real estate investments across Europe and abroad and on the structuring of regulated and unregulated alternative investment funds. She also advises various international investment banks on tax structured finance transactions, including securitisations.
Johanna holds a PhD in Tax Law with highest honours (Sorbonne University). Johanna is a member of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) and is a regular speaker at international seminars and conferences addressing tax law and fund structuring topics in particular. She joined Allen & Overy in 2016.
Victoria Woestmann has been promoted to Counsel in the Corporate practice. Victoria advises on a wide range of corporate law matters, including cross-border public and private M&A transactions across all sectors as well as equity capital markets related work, with a specific focus on financial institutions, asset management, private equity and real estate. She also has a proven expertise in the field of capital markets and listed companies.
Victoria regularly speaks at national and international seminars and conferences addressing topics relating to corporate governance and equity capital markets in particular. Over the last years she has advised on some of the major M&A transactions in Luxembourg. She is an active member of our Luxembourg ECM and Real Estate task forces and heads the Luxembourg Banking Sector task force. She joined Allen & Overy in 2013.
