Fieldfisher adds Berlin to launch litigation legaltech unit

Fieldfisher adds Berlin to launch litigation legaltech unit

Within the coming months, the UK-based company plans to expand its Berlin office to include 50 professionals

As part of a broader initiative to help clients navigate the booming German mass litigation market, the UK law firm, Fieldfisher has opened an office in Berlin to serve as a base for its new group litigation group, Fieldfisher X.

The main focus of the new unit will be to provide legal services to companies and public institutions in Germany when they face large-scale mass litigation claims, which have gained in popularity in Europe over the past couple of years.

As managing director of the venture, Jan Wildhirth is a former associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He has founded and managed a Hamburg-based legal services provider before joining Fieldfisher as a partner in technology and operations in January.

The offices of Fieldfisher's German arm and its partner, Jonas Mark, will be joined by Wildhirth in Berlin. Philipp Plog, who is the managing partner for Fieldfisher's German operations, will provide IP enforcement and litigation expertise.

According to a statement, the team will include 10 professionals and also include data scientists, software developers and project managers who will develop tailored advice on individual client mandates in conjunction with the firm's international dispute resolution practice.

Through this venture, the clients will be able to gain access to a central research and development resource for issues pertaining to data protection and regulatory compliance, as well as tactical planning, legal analysis, digital data, interface management and strategic communication, among many others.

According to Fieldfisher's website, the office also expands Fieldfisher's already considerable German footprint – the company currently has offices in Hamburg, Dusseldorf, and Frankfurt, as well as 36 partners in the region.

The firm hopes to hire lawyers, operations specialists and case management experts with experience dealing with large groups of litigants in the next couple of months to hire 50 people in Berlin.

Our clients can benefit from Fieldfisher X, which will expand our advisory business and help them tap into new markets and solve complex challenges, according to Plog. We'll focus on providing comprehensive, efficient solutions at our Berlin base, allowing us to scale projects quickly and easily."

According to Wildhirth, the move marks a "radical shift" from the firm's position in the German mass litigation market.

"We are not simply installing an in-house centre of excellence, we are launching a new division that will directly serve clients and engage with the market," he said.

Wildhirth began working as a self-employed lawyer in 2015, advising startups, venture capital firms and founders on legal matters related to corporate law, venture funding, and crypto before joining Fieldfisher. As of last June, he left Eagle ISP, the company he founded in 2019.

He previously served as COO of Axel Springer's digital consultancy arm, Axel Springer hy, and was an associate in the corporate department of Freshfields' Hamburg office for 18 months. Hengeler Mueller is an independent German firm.

In a fast-growing and exciting international law firm, Wildhirth is looking forward to taking a traditional legal service model and turning it into a solution provider for integrated legal solutions.

A new entity formed by Deloitte's German legal arm and Munich-based Frommer Legal in September 2021 is focused on defending companies against class action lawsuits made in Europe. A new firm, Class Reaction, was formed to help major companies handle the massive volume of work involved in class action matters. The platform, JUNE, is developed by Frommer Legal.

An analysis by CMS in 2021 found that European and British class actions increased by 120percent between 2018 and 2020 and the number of technology-related actions increased by 15-fold. The Study authors attribute the growth to recent introductions of US-style opt-out procedures in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, increases in litigation funding and the growth of US specialists like Hausfeld who have shifted to Europe.