Dentons is pleased to announce the arrival of Partner Rainer Markfort and Counsel Christian Schefold who join the Firm’s Corporate practice in Berlin on 1 January 2015.

Markfort has extensive experience in advising companies on the development of compliance systems and restructuring. Markfort joins the Firm from Mayer Brown’s Düsseldorf office, and prior to that was at White & Case in Berlin for 14 years. Counsel Schefold headed the Compliance Consultation Department at Daimler, and was previously Corporate Counsel at Daimler Financial Services.

"The arrival of Markfort is an important addition to Dentons global compliance practice and will bolster its existing offering to clients in Germany and beyond," commented Europe Chief Executive Officer, Tomasz Dabrowski.

“Developing a strong compliance offering is of strategic importance in Germany,” said Andreas Ziegenhagen, Managing Partner Germany. “We are confident that the knowledge and reputation of Rainer and Christian will springboard the establishment of a strong compliance capability complementing our existing Corporate, Competition and Restructuring practices.”

Markfort added: “The Firm’s global platform and the particular strength of Dentons in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in the CIS is really impressive. On a personal note I am also looking for-ward to being based in Berlin once again.”

These hires are yet another step in Dentons’ continued expansion in Germany which has, this year, seen the return of counsel Tobias von Gostomski and partner Philipp Windemuth. Philipp re-joined Dentons in April and supports the Russian-German corporate practice.