Clifford Chance has strengthened its Global Corporate practice with the hire of Thomas Voland, specialist in regulatory advice on complex German, European and international issues. This is the second Corporate partner hire specialising in Public Commercial Law announced by the firm in a matter of weeks.

Thomas Voland is currently a senior lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He will join the Clifford Chance partnership in May and will be based in the firm's Düsseldorf office.

Thomas will boost the growing global Clifford Chance practice in Public Commercial Law. His regulatory and Corporate M&A expertise is aligned with the firm's coherent sector offering in Finance, Energy and Healthcare as well as in cross-practice Compliance advisory.

Thomas Voland has been with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for ten years. He is highly regarded as an experienced and versatile lawyer and has throughout his career been working on significant environment, planning and regulatory mandates. He carries a strong reputation for his litigation work as well as advice on M&A transactions and compliance issues.

The appointment follows continued investment in the global Corporate team at Clifford Chance, and comes weeks after the hire of Jaime Almenar as partner specialising in Public Law in the firm's Madrid office in January. The global practice saw 9 partners promoted in May 2017, and in December Clifford Chance also announced the appointment of two new Corporate partners in Australia, which followed partner hires to the practice in both New York and Germany in the months prior.

Mathias Elspaß, Head of Public Commercial Law at Clifford Chance. ""Public Commercial Law and the resulting regulatory advice are today key factors for the majority of successful transactions, projects and cases, both nationally and internationally. Thomas is our ideal candidate. He fits in perfectly with our German and global team, bringing to the table excellent professional standing and personal qualities as a high-end advisor and sharing our ambition to expand our public law practice.""

Peter Dieners, Managing Partner at Clifford Chance Germany: ""When selecting new partners, we focus on personalities with particular ambition and potential to advance our team and strategy. We are pleased to have found, in Thomas Voland, a partner who matches this profile. His expertise perfectly complements our strong Public Commercial Law team, which our clients will certainly appreciate.""

Clifford Chance is one of the world's leading transaction advisors and is listed in top positions in international deal rankings. In October, the firm was awarded ""M&A Law Firm of the Year 2017"" by German legal publisher JUVE.