International law firm Clifford Chance expands its German employment law practice led by partner Ines Keitel with the lateral partner hire of Sebastian Ritz.
Sebastian Ritz will join the firm early in the new financial year starting in May, with the exact date to be determined shortly. Sebastian will be based in the firm's Düsseldorf office, further strengthening the international employment law team at Clifford Chance with his specialist expertise and market experience. Two associates from his previous team will join him.
Prior to this further substantial addition of expertise and capacities to its German employment team, Clifford Chance had welcomed experienced employment law specialist Nicole Engesser Means as Special Counsel in February.
Sebastian Ritz is one of the up-and-coming employment law partners in the consulting market. He started his career at Clifford Chance, moving to multidisciplinary law firm Ebner Stolz in 2016 as counsel. At Ebner Stolz, Sebastian built up the employment law department and a five-person team and became a partner in 2019. He advises renowned medium-sized businesses as well as large corporations with a focus on labor law support of reorganization and restructuring, M&A transactions, (organ) liability issues and company pension schemes.
Peter Dieners, Regional Managing Partner at Clifford Chance Germany, comments: "With his outstanding commitment and strong market profile, Sebastian Ritz is a perfect match for our firm and our clients. His quality as advisor and colleague is very well remembered and held in high esteem. Sebastian and his team with their excellent network and market knowledge will make our client advice even more effective, both in large cross-border transactions and restructuring as well as in core employment law business."
Ines Keitel, head of the German employment law practice at Clifford Chance: "I am very much looking forward to be welcoming Sebastian Ritz to our extremely busy team, as he is already one of the high-profile players in employment law and a colleague who I particularly value personally. From the time we worked together as associates at Clifford Chance, we know and appreciate Sebastian's potential with his outstanding expertise as well as dynamic, client-focused mindset. This move helps us to continue boosting the department's growth."
Sebastian Ritz: "I am happy and grateful to have been able to build a business at Ebner Stolz and to have had a fantastic time. Now I am very much looking forward to returning to Clifford Chance and being able to help shape employment law at one of the top international law firms.”