Awards & Rankings

Legal 500 Germany – Top Tier 2018: CMS Germany has again been highly rated in the latest edition of the guide. A total of 44 rankings means that CMS has more mentions than any other firm. In 16 cases, CMS is in the top tier. In addition, an unrivalled 101 lawyers are individually mentioned, including 22 listed as “leading names”.

Azur100, Top Employers – 2018: The editorial board of azur100 has once again recognised CMS in Germany as a top employer this year, ranking it in second place overall. To compile this list of the 100 best employers for young lawyers, which is now in its tenth year, the editorial board surveyed job applicants and associates, with data on the individual law firms also being fed into the analysis.

Azur100 highlighted in particular the "very good working atmosphere", the "greater transparency" created by a unified salary structure and the "very good internal training events" for lawyers. Former trainees also rated their experience very highly, describing training as "impressive and relevant to the exam".

Kanzleimonitor.de 2017/2018: The German Federal Association of Corporate Lawyers (BUJ) has once again published its unique market overview for law firms and corporate counsel in the shape of the "kanzleimonitor.de 2017/2018" survey. Lawyers from a total of 930 companies took part in the latest survey and contributed more than 9,820 recommendations. CMS took top spot in the overall ranking for the fourth time in succession, maintaining its lead over the competition from the previous year.

The key results of the survey in relation to CMS are:

• CMS again took first place this year with regard to the number of individual and company recommendations
• CMS was the only top three law firm to achieve a rise in recommendations
• CMS is again the law firm most frequently recommended in Germany by general counsel/heads of legal
• CMS provides the broadest range of advice in Germany and is the only law firm to be recommended in all 32 of the surveyed areas of law in Germany
• With 22 top 5 rankings, CMS again significantly outperformed its direct competitors. CMS leaves its nearest rival far behind in terms of best-in-class rankings in the individual areas of law
• CMS is one of the top two legal advisors to companies with sales exceeding EUR 10 billion

More information and an order form are available at www.kanzleimonitor.de.

JUVE Guide, 2017/2018
Law Firm of the Year for Corporate Law: The reasons cited in the new JUVE Handbook for recognising CMS include the fact that major corporations have long had the law firm on their radar, partly due to its strong capability in terms of personnel. The Corporate practice has made broad-based progress and, as a result, is gradually closing the gap with the leading law firms, the editorial board added. It also highlighted the team’s growing ability to gain the trust of big company boards. The citation continues: "That also applies to companies now seeking to enter the Iranian market. By opening an office in Tehran at an early stage, CMS made a bold business move, and the first Dax companies are already relying on this special expertise. CMS also excels in advising international joint ventures, outperforming other leading competitors." 

Legal 500 Germany - Top Tier 2017: A total of 42 recommendations as a law firm – of which 14 are top tier rankings – and 15 lawyers listed under "Leading names", along with 89 other recommended lawyers, demonstrate that CMS Germany again ranks extremely highly in the new edition of the guide.

Azur100, Top Employment - 2017: CMS in Germany has again been recognised by the editorial board of azur100 as a top employer, coming in at second place. This ranking of the 100 best employers for young lawyers considers the results of the job applicants‘ and associates‘ survey of AZUR, a career magazine for lawyers, as well as figures about new hires and remuneration.
Training and continuing professional development were singled out for special praise, while the introduction of a uniform pay structure for associates was also highlighted.

Kanzleimonitor.de 2016/2017: The German Federal Association of Corporate Lawyers (BUJ) has once again published its unique market overview for law firms and corporate counsel in the shape of the "kanzleimonitor.de 2016/2017" survey. Lawyers from a total of 827 companies took part in the latest survey and contributed more than 8,800 recommendations. CMS took top spot in the overall ranking for the third time in succession, further extending its lead over its competitors compared to the prior year.

The key results of the survey in relation to CMS are:

• CMS again took first place this year with regard to the number of individual and company recommendations.
• CMS is the law firm most frequently recommended in Germany by general counsel/heads of legal.
• CMS provides the broadest range of advice in Germany and is the only law firm to be recommended in almost all the surveyed areas of law in Germany – 30 out of a total of 32.
• With 23 top 5 rankings, CMS has more than twice as many top places as its nearest rival (Freshfields). It also received by far the most best-in-class rankings in the individual areas of law.
• CMS is one of the top 3 legal advisors to companies with sales of between EUR 1 billion and 10 billion, and also above EUR 10 billion. This result shows that CMS picked up significantly more recommendations in the DAX segment than previously.
• CMS achieved significantly higher market recognition with regard to key brand attributes such as "high quality standards", "sector and market expertise" and "interdisciplinary skills" than in the last survey. It now ranks best-in-class for 10 out of 16 brand attributes.

More information and an order form are available at www.kanzleimonitor.de.

JUVE laudatio, 2016 awards

Law Firm of the Year Employment: "This employment practice knows exactly how to use its size to innovate: the online tool CMS developed the previous year for deploying external staff, which is now used by more than just Deutsche Telekom, is now one of many, incl. a tool for looking at social criteria when downsizing. The team has built up a database through its almost unparalleled market penetration and it uses this to best advantage. The noticeable progress in legal tech is based on CMS’s typical singular approach to the business development of individual lawyers, which means the practice can afford to provide its clients with standardized, piecemeal work for oft-praised fair fees without constantly having to raise the issue of profitability, as is so often the case in other large firms. And yet, the high-flying practice still also manages to consistently raise the quality of its instructions and produce highlights. Prof. Dr. Björn Gaul’s contacts, for example, landed CMS a role advising the VW executive board in the diesel scandal. The team has thus not only underlined the management’s goal of making it onto the panels of (DAX) corporates, but also delivered a classic example of its increasingly successful approach of generating interdisciplinary work, in this case in compliance and stock corporation law."

Law Firm of the Year Information Technology: "The market is booming, and so are the IT practices. CMS Hasche Sigle, however, has been able to make the best use of this uptick. The firm impressed observers with its prominent clients: with its advice to the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe on the introduction of Paydirekt, it landed one of the biggest outsourcing projects in the market and proved not only that it can compete in the fintech sector, but also that it has mastered the interface between banking and corporate. Beyond this, the IT practice showed it has a finger on the pulse of the market, particularly in digitalization questions, where it developed a focus long before competitors did; the best example here is its advice to Axa on a joint venture with CompuGroup Medical on creating the new e-portal Meine Gesundheit (My Health). With its representation´of Adblocker Eyeo, CMS was also involved in one of the most high-profile proceedings in the media sector. The firm also profited from the booming demand in data protection, advising a number of well-known clients here. The firm beat out competitors in a bid to advise Ströer, an advertising giant."

trendence Graduate Barometer 2016: CMS Hasche Sigle has once again been ranked one of the top 10 most popular employers among junior German lawyers in the latest "trendence Graduate Barometer – German Law Edition". The survey conducted by trendence, an independent consulting and research firm for employer branding and personnel marketing, involved asking some 2,000 law students, legal trainees and qualified lawyers about their employer of choice, career plans and attitudes to current career issues. The data was then used to produce a ranking of the 100 employers most popular among young lawyers.

Chambers Europe - 2016: In the latest edition of the Chambers Europe guide, CMS in Germany once again achieved top rankings for Commercial Contracts, Employment, Energy: Renewables, Private Equity: Venture Capital and Transportation: Shipping Finance. In addition, CMS is now also listed in Tier 1 in the categories of TMT: Media and Transportation: Shipping Litigation.

Legal 500 - EMEA - Top Tier 2016: CMS in Germany again achieved excellent rankings in the latest edition of the Legal 500 EMEA Guide. The many mentions include top tier rankings in the categories of Arbitration, Employment, Information technology, Outsourcing, Trade marks, Venture capital, PPP, and Maritime and shipping.

Azur100, Top Employment - 2016: CMS Hasche Sigle’s special commitment to promoting young lawyers has been recognised again, with the firm taking first place in the AZUR 100 ranking for the fourth time in 2016. This ranking of the 100 best employers for young lawyers considers the results of the job applicants‘ and associates‘ survey of AZUR, a career magazine for lawyers, as well as figures about new hires and remuneration.

AZUR writes: "However, CMS doesn’t just score because of the mere figures. The firm is constantly working on developing its training and career programmes and does so on a high level. Moreover, CMS is popular with applicants and associates and offers a very good starting salary. Last but not least, in particular younger CMS associates praise their firm as a ‘great employer‘."

Legal 500 - Germany - Top Tier 2016: CMS Germany has again achieved excellent rankings in the 2016 edition across 39 areas of law – giving it more mentions than any other firm. It was ranked in the top tier for Employment, PPP, Trademark and Competition Law, Information Technology, Outsourcing, Venture Capital, Arbitration and Marine/Shipping Law.

PMN Management Awards 2016: The deployment of external personnel (FPE) brings with it a number of problems. A check based purely on the paperwork is often insufficient, while an assessment of each individual case is time-consuming and expensive. CMS has developed an online browser-based solution that embeds legal issues in a wider context, rather than viewing them in isolation. The questions are based on more than 1,000 real-life cases, which enables dynamic evaluation. FPE is especially innovative in two respects. "Firstly, CMS has made further progress towards establishing a product-based approach. The solution is the work of a joint development team consisting of partners from different practice areas plus IT and marketing experts. For clients, FPE is a valuable alternative to individual advice; it's not a marketing tool. The high level of acceptance is demonstrated by the fact that a large number of clients are already using it. Secondly, CMS has successfully used this project to start aligning the firm with the new world of legal tech and is seizing the associated opportunities, rather than leaving them to alternative providers."

For more information about deployment of external staff (FPE) please click here.

Kanzleimonitor.de 2015/2016: Towards the end of 2015, the Federal Association of German In-House Lawyers (Bundesverband der Unternehmensjuristen) published "kanzleimonitor.de 2015/2016" as a unique market survey of law firms and in-house lawyers. Lawyers working in 700 German companies took part in this year’s survey and made more than 7,000 recommendations for law firms in Germany and abroad. Once again, CMS tops the overall ranking and in comparison to the previous year, has even increased the lead over its competitors.

The study’s main findings with regards to CMS

• Once again, CMS tops the ranking and gets the highest number of recommendations from companies.
• CMS is the law firm most frequently recommended by General Counsels in Germany.
• CMS has the broadest range of advisory services in Germany and is the only law firm recommended for 30 of the 31 areas of law that are covered in the survey.
• Apart from the highest number of best-in-class positions, CMS by far also achieves the most top five ranks.
• CMS extends its lead even further with regards to the range of services offered and the market penetration achieved.
• Even internationally, CMS is among the top three legal advisors named.

Mergermarket M&A Awards - 2015: At this year’s "European M&A Awards" in London, financial news service Mergermarket named CMS Germany "German M&A Legal Adviser of the Year". In particular the large number of successful cross-border transactions that the firm handled with its international offices were praised at the awards ceremony, which took place in early December.

JUVE laudatio, 2015 awards: "The expansion strategy is paying off. The practice headed by Dr Christian Haellmigk has worked its way up to dealing with more high-profile matters. In doing so, it can rely on its established strengths, which are really coming into their own in the current market environment. Particularly noteworthy is the highly respected and very busy Hamburg-based offshore practice led by Dr Fritz Frhr. von Hammerstein and Dr Holger Kraft. New instructions include the work for Iberdrola on supply and installation contracts for an offshore wind farm which is currently at the planning stage. In other areas, too, CMS is among the beneficiaries of a highly competitive climate and is very well positioned to meet new market needs around topical issues. The firm advised on EnBW's offer to Prokon’s creditors, for example – a high-profile project with a restructuring dimension. CMS is now working more often on EnBW matters, such as the sale of shares in Baltic 2. The CMS team has also grown in terms of headcount in recent years, in part due to experienced lateral hires, and has forged stronger links to other practice areas within the firm. All of these moves have helped to make the firm a highly sought-after adviser on important regulatory issues. Instructions include representing Stadtwerke München (Munich's municipal utility company) in the redispatch proceedings before Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. The breadth of expertise within the team also enables it to develop new and innovative areas, such as electric mobility.”

Trendence - Graduate Barometer - 2015/2016: Young German lawyers have again voted CMS Hasche Sigle among the ten most popular employers in Germany. Stuttgart-based research institute trendence surveyed about 2,300 students, trainee lawyers and young fully-qualified lawyers, asking them about their employer of choice and career plans.

LTO Young Professionals - 2015: For the LTO Young Professionals Survey, about 3,000 young lawyers were questioned about their career goals. CMS Hasche Sigle is among the ten most popular employers of choice, receiving the LTO “Young Professionals‘ Choice 2015” award.

Legal 500, Top Tier - 2015: CMS Hasche Sigle again achieved excellent rankings in 2015 in areas including Employment, Information Technology, Outsourcing, Venture Capital, Arbitration and Marine/Shipping Law.

Chambers Europe, Leading Firm - 2015: In 2015, CMS Hasche Sigle again received a number of top rankings from Chambers Europe, e.g. in the following areas: Distribution Law, Employment, Renewable Energy, Venture Capital and Ship Financing.

Azur100, Top Employment - 2015: Once again, CMS Hasche Sigle tops the azur100 list. This ranking of the 100 most attractive employers for young lawyers in Germany is put together by JUVE’s career magazine azur. After 2012 and 2014, this is the third time that CMS Hasche Sigle has taken first place in the ranking. Upon awarding the prize, the jury therefore stressed that for many job applicants CMS is the ultimate employer of choice. The ranking is based on surveys conducted by azur which also show that lawyers working for CMS give above average grades for the firm’s working environment, team work and workload. Plus, associates praised their involvement in actual case work and the comprehensive training opportunities.