Salans has boosted its London office with the hire of a banking partner from Simmons & Simmons.

Bodo Schaar is a banking and capital markets lawyer with a special focus on German law and restructuring and insolvency. He is dual-qualified in Germany and England.

He joined Simmons in 2005 from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe's London office, before which he also practiced at Allen & Overy in Frankfurt.

In addition to joining Salans' restructuring, reorganisation and insolvency group, he also joins the firm's German practice group, which was formed earlier this year and provides German-speaking advice out of 15 of the firm's 21 offices.

Salans' London office now has a total of 85 lawyers, including 37 partners.

Salans' London managing partner Howard Cohen said: "Bodo's experience in relation to restructuring for large financial institutions, and particularly his cross-border fit, emphasizes our international focus in the team."

The hire follows the news earlier this week of Salans' hire of an eight-lawyer employment team in Berlin from local independent Beiten Burkhardt.

However, the firm's European practice was recently hit by the loss of 15 lawyers from its Paris office, with the group teaming up with nine lawyers from Proskauer Rose to form new independent firm Altana.

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