Pinsent Masons enters German Alternative Legal Services market with Xenion acquisition

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has announced two acquisitions that will enable it to launch its flexible legal resourcing brand, Vario, into Germany.

Pinsent Masons has acquired Xenion Legal GmbH a leading name in the German freelance legal market.

Xenion was established by its founder, Dr. Carsten Reimann, in 2012.  It is based in Frankfurt and is a provider of temporary legal resource for both corporate and law firm clients.  Over the past three years Xenion has handled over 150 placements.  Its backers include the former Freshfields attorney and serial entrepreneur Stephan Schumacher.

Pinsent Masons also acquired Xenia, a sister company that operates an associated managed legal services business, subject to regulatory approval.

Xenia, which was co-founded by Dr. Reimann, Dorothee Belz (former Microsoft GC for EMEA) and Dr. Severin Löffler (former Microsoft GC for Germany and CEE) was established in 2018.  It delivers legal services to a number of prominent organisations in Germany, many in the technology and automotive industries.

The Xenion and Xenia shareholders will remain within the business.

The acquisitions follow a period of rapid international expansion for Vario. Vario launched in the UK in 2013. Since the appointment of former Accenture executive Matthew Kay in 2016 the Vario business has expanded into Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Last year revenues increased by 50% on prior year.

Matthew Kay, Managing Director of Vario, says:

“This is a landmark development in the growth and internationalisation of Vario. There are three strategic planks to this acquisition. First, we see this as an effective way to launch the Vario brand in Germany. Second, Xenion has an impressive client list whom we think could benefit from a wider range of services available through both Vario and Pinsent Masons. Finally, this acquisition will help us respond to increased demand for scalable flexible resource particularly in respect of secondments and class actions. This is something that Pinsent Masons’ German business is seeing a lot in the market, and where the ability to scale legal resources up and down to meet demand is an essential part of an effective response.”

Rainer Kreifels, Head of Pinsent Masons in Germany & member of the Global Board, says:

“These acquisitions are an important next step for Pinsent Masons in Germany. In addition to bringing a new service line to the German market underpinned by Pinsent Masons’ first-class reputation for client care, we now have a unique position among law firms in Germany in how we respond to large projects which require legal resources to be scaled up and down.”

Dr. Carsten Reimann, founder of Xenion, says:

“Over time there has been a lot of interest in our business from other organisations however we really felt that Pinsent Masons was the right choice for taking our business to the next level. We felt that the Pinsent Masons team shares our vision for a more flexible future for the legal services market, and we are looking forward to progressing this.”

Dr. Severin Löffler, co-founder of Xenia, says:

“Pinsent Masons has a clear sector focus and commitment to innovation which we have found particularly compelling. We are very much looking forward to working together with our new colleagues to give clients the best, most effective solutions for their most challenging legal projects.”

The Vario business in Germany will be run out of Frankfurt with Matthew Kay taking overall management responsibility. The consideration of the acquisitions is undisclosed.