19 lawyers from Gowling WLG's France and Germany offices have been named Best Lawyers® in the 2026 edition of the global peer review publication.

Securing 29 listings in total, lawyers from the firm's Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, and Stuttgart offices are featured across 12 distinct practice areas, reflecting the breadth and depth of Gowling WLG's offering in Europe.

Best Lawyers® is a long-standing and highly esteemed peer review publication in the legal sector. Each year, it publishes a list of outstanding lawyers, created through an impartial referral process that surveys tens of thousands of top professionals in the industry.

Only the top 3% of lawyers globally are recognised in Best Lawyers®, placing them among just 160,000 lawyers across 76 countries. Their inclusion is a direct result of both their legal expertise and the deep respect they command within the profession.

Alongside the annual recognition list, Best Lawyers® honours early-career excellence through Best Lawyers®: Ones to Watch 2026, using the same peer review methodology to identify outstanding performance in private practice.

Four of the 19 lawyers from Gowling WLG across France and Germany have been included in Best Lawyers®: Ones to Watch 2026.

Each lawyer has been recognised for market-leading expertise in their specialist areas. The full list of those named in the France and Germany guides is as follows:

Best Lawyers 2026:

France:

  • Céline Bey: Intellectual Property Law
  • Patrick Mousset: Corporate Law, Private Equity Law
  • Antoine Pampouille: Structured Finance Law
  • Marianne Schaffner: Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice, Health Care Law, Intellectual Property Law
  • Marie-Aude Ziadé: Arbitration and Mediation, International Arbitration, Litigation

Germany:

  • Nicolas Deuerling: Real Estate Law
  • Matthias Fischer: Corporate Law
  • Thomas Hartmann: Labor and Employment Law
  • Annette Knoth: Labor and Employment Law
  • Michael Lamsa: Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Private Equity Law
  • Ulrich Reers: Capital Markets Law
  • Mathias Wittinghofer: Arbitration and Mediation, International Arbitration, Litigation
  • Wolfram Pätzold: Real Estate Law
  • Michael Sinhart: Mergers and Acquisitions Law
  • Andreas Woelfle: Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law

Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch 2026:

France:

  • Mathilde Grammont, Intellectual Property Law

Germany:

  • Hasine Azim: Labor and Employment Law
  • Anne Nolde: Labor and Employment Law
  • Kathrin Weber: Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law