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Pryor Cashman is uniquely equipped to provide legal advice and offer practical solutions to both companies in German-speaking countries operating in the United States and U.S. clients doing business in German-speaking countries. Our Corporate, Real Estate and Entertainment, Media and Communications Groups include attorneys who speak German, were educated in Germany and/or are licensed to practice in both Germany and the U.S. The Chairman of our German Practice, Juergen Ostertag, regularly travels to Germany for meetings with clients and speaking engagements.

Our clients from German-speaking countries include companies of all sizes, ranging from multinational global players to small and mid-sized entities (many of them family-owned) to individuals. We have provided legal services to clients from German-speaking countries in a wide variety of industries, including:

  • Automobile
  • Banking
  • Chemical
  • Engineering
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Financial
  • Internet
  • Investment Funds
  • Luxury Goods
  • Manufacturing
  • Motion Pictures
  • Pharmaceutical
  • Private Wealth Management
  • Real Estate
  • Software 

Examples of some of our work involving clients from German-speaking countries and U.S. clients doing business in German-speaking countries include representing:

  • German filmmakers, writers, performing artists
  • German Internet companies in setting up business operations in the U.S. and several American Internet companies doing business in Germany
  • German manufacturing companies in the establishment of new ventures in the United States and in commercial litigation
  • German motion picture production and distribution companies and sales agents
  • German companies seeking to lease office space in the U.S., including reviewing and negotiating leases for a telecommunications holding company and a manufacturer of musical instruments
  • One of Germany’s top advertising agencies in connection with its U.S. subsidiary in both commercial transactions and litigation
  • Several German film investment funds and assisting in the management and funding of various film and television properties
  • Swiss real estate developers in connection with acquisition, leasing and financing matters

Recently, our attorneys structured complicated financings for German clients, including a $20 million P&A deal and a $12 million production deal for an animated television series where the financing came from Germany, England, the U.S. and India.

We also serve as U.S. counsel to a Frankfurt Stock Exchange-listed company which is a worldwide leader in the manufacture and distribution of aftermarket imaging supplies and toner cartridges for office and home printers. On behalf of our client, we have negotiated manufacturing and supply agreements and asset acquisition agreements, counseled on employment, intellectual property and other general corporate matters, and handled U.S.-based litigation.

Other matters we have worked on for our German clients include:

  • $60 million motion picture slate production/financing deal.
  • $23 million production joint venture for Aluminum Trihydrate
  • €100 million debt restructure of a Frankfurt Stock Exchange-listed company
  • $15 million acquisition of a U.S.-based software consulting company
  • €13.8 million acquisition of a participation in a restaurant franchise group with restaurants in Europe and the U.S.

Pryor Cashman is a member of the International Alliance of Law Firms, a network of select, business-oriented, full-service law firms. At present there are 53 member firms in 38 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.