In 1989, the law firms N.J. Gorrissen and Per Federspiel merged. This was the first in a number of mergers among the largest business law firms in Denmark. The new firm was named Gorrissen & Federspiel and moved into Dagmarhus in Copenhagen. In the years that followed, Kierkegaard & Malby, Løber & Lauritsen and many other highly talented colleagues joined us to form Gorrissen Federspiel as we know it today.
Over the years, we have grown steadily, in step with the increasing number of assignments from Danish and international clients, and from being a traditional firm of lawyers, we have developed into a modern and highly specialised knowledge-based firm.
In connection with our 150th anniversary (1869-2019), Henrik Fode, MA in economic history, wrote the booklet ’Features of a law firm through 150 years’. It reviews the firm’s development from a traditional law firm to a modern knowledge-based firm.
Our experts in the field advise on all aspects of M&A, securities law, company law, trust and foundations law and contract law. We advise Danish and multinational companies and private equity funds on acquisitions, mergers, disposals, corporate restructurings, management buy-outs and compliance. We have acted as advisers in a vast number of transactions within many different sectors of business. We advise across a broad spectrum of transactional and corporate matters, including a large number of the most comprehensive and complex transactions completed in Denmark. Likewise, we advise on a broad range of contractual matters, for instance joint ventures, commercial contracts, shareholders’ agreements, articles of association and incentive schemes.
Our team of corporate lawyers provides fully integrated advice in concert with the firm’s other practice groups thereby ensuring cutting-edge coverage of all legal areas with short notice.
For many years, we have been working closely with other Danish and foreign advisers, including financial advisers, accountants as well as environmental and insurance advisers. We act in close cooperation with leading M&A lawyers all over the world, and we have decades of experience organising and controlling Danish clients’ acquisitions and disposals of companies outside of Denmark.
Our group specialises in preventing and handling disputes and we can therefore assist our business clients in three significant areas:
Our experts are characterised by being sharp communicators, mastering complex issues and being able to conduct legal analyses at the highest level – skills that are required in dealing with courts and arbitration tribunals.
We were the first large law firm in Denmark to establish a dispute resolution group. Since then we have acquired great experience and expertise in handling complex business law cases before the country’s highest courts as well as before national and international arbitration tribunals. Also, we have extensive experience acting as chairmen and arbitrators before Danish and international arbitration tribunals.
Our experience from complex cases benefits our clients in that it enables us to understand and cooperate with commercial and technical experts and to communicate commercial and technical information to the courts and arbitration tribunals.
Our experience from complex and prolonged dispute proceedings also provides an understanding of possibilities and pitfalls in dispute resolution, which is of great importance in respect of choosing appropriate process strategies.
Our experts are entitled to plead before the Danish Supreme Court for parties that have been granted free legal aid and to act as court-appointed counsel for the defence.
With our expertise, we can match you with the right team to assist your business. We provide advice to some of the country’s largest companies and assist in some of the most complex cases in labour and employment law.
We assist clients with all aspects of Danish and international labour and employment law, including in particular EU law aspects where we hold a unique market position. We have extensive international experience from advising clients all over the world, and with our long-standing experience our team of specialists brings innovative solutions that match your situation and business.
Our clients receive specialist advice on labour and employment law issues, and our team has a strong commercial understanding of company law. Whether or not you have dedicated in-house HR resources, we act as a trusted partner.
We assist both Danish and international companies and organisations with advice, handling disputes and transactions. Our team of experts also provides advice to members of boards of directors, executive officers and senior employees concerning employment law issues and disputes. As your trusted adviser, we are accessible and in close dialogue with you to find the best solution in the current situation, based on business, strategic and ethical considerations.
We have extensive experience in labour and employment law litigation before the courts, in arbitration proceedings and in the industrial system, just as we have conducted a number of leading cases before the Danish Supreme Court, the Labour Court and the European Court of Justice. The cases before the Labour Court have in particular concerned the complex interaction between EU law and Danish labour law.
Our lawyers lecture on a broad variety of employment law issues at the country’s universities and other educational institutions, also from an HR perspective.
Increased regulation and internationalisation have characterised the real estate market in recent years, and market players are facing new challenges as a result hereof. We are one of the country’s leading law firms in the field, and our experts will help you with specialist advice on all aspects of real estate and construction. Our experience and insight into the industry enable us to assist you in navigating a high-growth market. We have expertise in and focus on real estate transactions, project development, lease law, construction and consultancy law, and dispute resolution and management.
We have advised on some of the largest and most complex Danish real estate transactions, and we continuously assist with the development of the country’s most prominent development areas. We assist several of the largest residential and commercial real estate investors in the Nordic region with international and national real estate transactions. In addition, we assist several leading Danish and Nordic project developers with the development of interesting, comprehensive and innovative projects from start to finish. Our clients also include several municipalities, and we therefore have in-depth knowledge of the tender process and any challenges in this connection. With a similarly strong practice in the construction sector and long-standing relationships with the most significant players, we are equally able to advise on construction projects. We have in-depth knowledge of construction law and industry standard contracts, and our clients include both developers and contractors.
Our advice is rooted in our long-standing and well-founded legal and commercial experience and is always provided with focus on the client’s business and the best possible commercial solutions for the client.
The combination of broad knowledge of real estate, relevant specialist knowledge, commercial understanding and focus on your needs guarantees you the best advice.
Our advice is provided by dedicated teams, where we always ensure that the team is made up of the people who have the specialist knowledge and insight needed for your case. Our dedicated team ensures that you are always given the best advice across practice areas. As a client, you will always have a single point of contact, who will ensure the necessary accessibility and reliability in your cases.
Our Real Estate practice group includes attorneys with many years of experience in providing specialist knowledge. In addition, we work with a principle that partners are “hands-on” on the cases, and you will therefore experience great accessibility to and communication with the case partner.
Gorrissen Federspiel always works across practice groups, and, if necessary, we involve other practice groups, such as Tax. This ensures that our advice covers all aspects of your case and that you always receive the most specialised assistance from our experts.
