Flick Gocke Schaumburg to open in Düsseldorf – Michael Puls joins from Deloitte
Flick Gocke Schaumburg is set to open an office in Düsseldorf. A team of tax lawyers and corporate lawyers will start business in the capital of North-Rhine Westphalia at the beginning of 2018. The new office will be working particularly closely with the firm’s head office in Bonn.
Tax lawyers Jens Hageböke and Markus Keuthen will be moving from the firm’s Bonn office to Düsseldorf. Transfer pricing expert Michael Puls is to join from Deloitte as of February 1, 2018. Substantial support for establishing the new office will come from Bonn-based tax partners Thomas Rödder, Joachim Schmitt and Xaver Ditz; corporate lawyer Jan Giedinghagen; and Jörg Stalleiken and Michael Holtz, both specializing in succession planning/private clients. Markus Keuthen and Michael Holtz have been appointed equity partners with effect from January 1, 2018. In addition, six associated partners will operate from the Düsseldorf office all or most of the time: tax experts Christina Hildebrand, Ralf Dremel and Marc Jülicher; newly appointed associated partners Alexander Hasbach and Carsten Quilitzsch; and corporate lawyer Thomas Lakenberg.
“Opening in Düsseldorf demonstrates our firm’s close ties to the Rhine-Ruhr region, where we have enjoyed the trust of many large corporations and family-owned businesses for decades,” says Thomas Rödder, Chairman of Flick Gocke Schaumburg. “As a result of our strong growth, we relocated to a new building in Bonn in 2016. We expect further growth momentum from Düsseldorf, not least from younger professionals who would like to join us in tax and corporate law.”
Lawyer and tax advisor Michael Puls (44) worked for Flick Gocke Schaumburg from 2007 to 2013, including the last three years as an associated partner. Prior to that, he spent six years working for Big Four accounting firms. In 2013, he moved to Düsseldorf first to Luther, then to Deloitte in 2014, where he headed the transfer pricing practice. His expertise covers international tax law and transfer pricing, with a focus on global documentation, tax planning and structuring projects (including relocation of functions), monitoring of tax audits, and (preliminary) mutual agreements and arbitration proceedings.
“Flick Gocke Schaumburg has an outstanding reputation in tax law,” comments Puls. “I am very much looking forward to extending the services offered by the practice in Düsseldorf together with colleagues with whom I have already worked very successfully and based on mutual trust.”
Jens Hageböke (44) is a public auditor and tax advisor focusing on conversion tax law, corporate and group tax law, accounting, reorganizations and international tax law. He also represents companies in tax court proceedings. He joined Flick Gocke Schaumburg in 2006 and was appointed equity partner in 2011.
Markus Keuthen (43), lawyer and tax advisor, specializes in reorganizations, the taxation of partnerships and conversion tax law. He has been working for Flick Gocke Schaumburg since 2009, as of 2018 as an equity partner.
Flick Gocke Schaumburg will initially move into interim offices in the “Dreischeibenhaus”, a landmark building in Düsseldorf. In June 2019, the firm plans to move to the Kö Quartier, an office building currently under construction.