Dentons’ Global Real Estate Group has bolstered its Western European practice with the arrival of three real estate partners, Bernhard Gemmel, Véronique Lagarde and Jean-Luc Calisti, who bring with them more than 40 years of combined domestic and cross-border real estate investment, finance and tax experience.

We welcome internationally renowned transactional practitioner, Bernhard Gemmel, who is joining Dentons and will be based in Frankfurt. Bernhard was a partner at Bird & Bird for the last two years. Prior to that, he was a partner at Dentons legacy firm Salans and is now re-joining his former colleagues. Bernhard has strong experience in real estate and project finance transactions and advises on acquisition finance/LBO, refinancings and restructurings of single asset and portfolio loans. In addition to practicing law in Germany, he is also a French-qualified lawyer and counsels clients from both countries on their cross-border activities.

Véronique Lagarde joins the Firm’s Paris-based team from a strong French real estate practice at Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés, together with an associate, Amélie De Baudry d'Asson. Véronique concentrates on real estate law and has strong experience in the areas of investment and development projects. She is also an expert on sustainable buildings regulations. Véronique brings with her a wealth of experience serving French and foreign investors in the acquisition of real estate whether directly or through investment companies.

Jean-Luc Calisti joins the Paris-based team from Herbert Smith Freehills. He has nearly 20 years of experience as a tax lawyer, focusing on structuring real estate transactions for French and international investors (institutional and private clients) and corporate transactions in various sectors (oil & gas, mining, hospitality). Jean-Luc has considerable tax litigation experience in French and EU jurisdictions. Notably, he won a landmark case (PAPILLON) for a real estate group a few years ago at the European Court of Justice. Jean-Luc will soon be joined by another senior tax colleague.

“We are delighted to welcome such talent to Dentons. Their market leading experience will significantly broaden our offering to clients not only in France and Germany but also Europe-wide and further reconfirm our group’s positioning amongst the top five law firms in the region*” commented Pawel Debowski, Chairman of Dentons’ nearly 300-strong European Real Estate group. “This is another step in our group’s strategy of being one of the very top practices offering outstanding full-service advice to its clients.”

The Real Estate group has witnessed continual lateral growth over the last 12 months having welcomed seven partners and nine counsel and associates in our Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Madrid and London offices. The cementing of our solid market reputation and geographical offering in Western Europe comes on the heels of our practice confirming its market-leading position in Central and Southeastern Europe. In early April, for the fifth year in a row, we won the CEE Real Estate Quality Award for the Legal and Financial Consulting Firm of the Year, organized in cooperation with the Financial Times. We were also named the SEE Law Firm of the Year at the EuropaProperty Awards.

Evan Lazar, Co-Chair of Dentons’ Global Real Estate Group added: “We are seeing a substantial increase in cross-border transactions on the French and German markets, which are being strongly touted by institutional investors as evidence that European commercial real estate investment is on the rise. DTZ recently predicted that it may hit a record volume of €230 bn this year, so the arrival of these prominent lawyers comes at a perfect time and will truly bolster our European offering.”

Bernhard Gemmel commented: “It’s great to be back at Dentons. Now is a very exciting time for the Firm, and I look forward to being part of the development of the Real Estate practice and taking it forward in an ever changing market.” Véronique Lagarde and Jean-Luc Calisti added: “Dentons presents a unique opportunity to be part of a leading, integrated real estate team. We look forward to making a contribution to the Firm’s continued expansion in France and across Europe.”
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*Chambers Europe 2015, Europe-wide Real Estate ranking

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