Olswang Munich partners opt against CMS merger

Olswang’s former intellectual (IP) litigation partner Thomas Lynker is among a group of lawyers to break away from the firm following its merger with CMS Cameron McKenna and Nabarro on 1 May to launch his own boutique in Munich.

The new firm, Taliens, has offices in Munich and Paris and will specialise in IP, tech and media, continuing the legacy of Olswang.

Lynker is joined in Munich by former Olswang counsel Monika Stoehr. Olwang partner Clara Steinitz and Jean-Frederic Gaultier will practice from the Paris office. The new firm will also have a presence in Spain through its association with Madrid-based firm Baylos.

The boutique’s key clients include Chinese conglomerates TCL and ZTE.

Lynker is one of a string of partner exits from the firm ahead of the merger on 1 May. He terminated his contract with Olswang Germany on 28 April, along with Paul Stevens, the former executive partner of CMS. On 30 April, Tobias Reker, Robert John Stephen, Robert Alan Heym and Uli Foerstl terminated their contracts with Olswang, with the latter joining IP law firm D Young & Co in Munich and Heym joining CMS.

It is thought that CMS will retain Reker, two associates and two patent engineers from Olswang’s Munich patent prosecution team. They will join the UK’s LLP instead of CMS Hasche Sigle Germany branch and will remain based in the Munich office until they are relocated to an office in the European Patent Office.

The news of the launch of Taliens ends speculation as to the fate of Olswang’s five-partner strong Munich base. Fieldfisher and Cooley were tipped to take over the Munich office but the talks fell flat.

In March, Dentons hired a five-lawyer patents team from Olswang ahead of the merger. The team is led by partner Justin Hill, whose move was announced at the end of last year. He had co-chaired Olswang’s patent prosecution practice in London.

CMS declined to comment.

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