About Us
This is an order of size competitive with transactional departments in 'large' firms. P+P will continue to grow but, lacking the many departments of big firms, will remain a 'niche' firm without hierarchies, coordination committees, meetings or formalities. Prior to founding or joining P+P, many P+P partners were successful in large firms, which also have their merits – however our merits now are different, so, clients and graduates have a choice.
We pursue three interrelated goals for ourselves and everyone at P+P: expertise, enjoyment and earnings. Our single-minded focus on the most attractive area of legal practice, transactions, should continue to assure that each person at P+P can achieve all three goals:
Growth and Challenge:
In the current upturn of economic activity, everyone (including law firms) talks about "growth". P+P does not aim at growth as an objective but grows naturally because of its focus on high-end work.
Professional Training and Time Accounts:
Top training for top expertise is our joint investment in you and in P+P. We work hard, but quality has priority over maximizing "billable hours". During the first 3 years, we expect associates to spend as much as 10% of their time on training in internal or external seminars. We encourage you to participate in academic courses such as the LL.M. courses for Tax, M&A, Real Estate and Private Wealth Management at the University of Münster (which we support as co-founders, teachers and financial sponsors), to qualify as tax advisors or specialist solicitors (Fachanwälte) or to participate in legal English classes (at our offices or abroad). You invest time and effort, P+P invests by paying course fees and paying your full salary even while you are away for training.
Career Opportunities for Women and Work/Life Balance
Female partners and associates at P+P meet and have fun at regular "Ladies' Days", however P+P has no quota systems and no "female career programs". We are looking for the best; therefore, we have more female colleagues than almost any high-end transactional law firm. Women at P+P are successful in our core areas of practice, not in the "typical" female domains which improve gender statistics elsewhere (in many of which we do not even practice).
Your work/life balance is important to us. Flexible time accounts and part-time arrangements accommodate personal objectives – not only for women. We have begun cooperation with first class institutions offering high-end bilingual day care for small children during flexible hours (as required to accommodate the needs of mothers and fathers active in transactional practice). Talk to P+P colleagues about their experiences.
P+P Internships and Dissertation Support
P+P welcomes qualifying graduates and students at any level of their education as interns for minimum periods of one month and preferably for longer or quasi-permanent internships.
1. Internships
To qualify, an intern (like any young lawyer joining us) should excel in two of three criteria: grades, English, personality. Your grades (from high school exams or university or state exams) matter, not so much because of what you achieved in the past but as one indication of what you can and will accomplish in the future. English is a must, but work at P+P will help you to develop it fully (also through internships and exchange programs abroad). Your personality is your major asset; it may have expressed itself in any number and kind of extra-curricular activities.
2. Dissertation, Etc.
Interns are invited to combine their work at P+P with their education at university and elsewhere. For instance, you may choose a private equity subject for your doctoral dissertation (from our list of suggestions or otherwise), discuss its practical aspects with a partner or associate at P+P working in this field, present your results in internal workshops, and publish it finally (with P+P support, if it qualifies as a substantial work, whether or not we agree with your conclusions). In his capacity as honorary professor at the University of Münster, Reinhard Pöllath provides a list with doctoral theses for postgraduates.
3. Workshops and Foreign Internships
Likewise, interns may participate in P+P internal workshops (including contributions of their own, e.g., based on their dissertation research), in P+P-conducted client or public seminars, conferences or courses (such as the Private Equity Training MUPET or the International Tax Summer Course, and the Berliner Steuergespräche, all in cooperation with major universities). Or they may do an internship or course abroad (e.g. at foreign law firms with which we are friendly).
4. Eastern Europe
P+P offers scholarships and internships to students of law or economics in Eastern Europe.
We pursue three interrelated goals for ourselves and everyone at P+P: expertise, enjoyment and earnings. Our single-minded focus on the most attractive area of legal practice, transactions, should continue to assure that each person at P+P can achieve all three goals:
- Top training for expertise
training 'on the job' and in internal and external seminars, of which we teach many; - Enjoyment (through professional success and advancement, informal 'open-door' communications within the firm and popular voluntary joint activities like ski and summer weekends);
- High-end earnings based on performance
each lawyer at P+P should be at the top of his or her field, which translates into remuneration or profit share competitive with that in any other firm).
Growth and Challenge:
In the current upturn of economic activity, everyone (including law firms) talks about "growth". P+P does not aim at growth as an objective but grows naturally because of its focus on high-end work.
Professional Training and Time Accounts:
Top training for top expertise is our joint investment in you and in P+P. We work hard, but quality has priority over maximizing "billable hours". During the first 3 years, we expect associates to spend as much as 10% of their time on training in internal or external seminars. We encourage you to participate in academic courses such as the LL.M. courses for Tax, M&A, Real Estate and Private Wealth Management at the University of Münster (which we support as co-founders, teachers and financial sponsors), to qualify as tax advisors or specialist solicitors (Fachanwälte) or to participate in legal English classes (at our offices or abroad). You invest time and effort, P+P invests by paying course fees and paying your full salary even while you are away for training.
Career Opportunities for Women and Work/Life Balance
Female partners and associates at P+P meet and have fun at regular "Ladies' Days", however P+P has no quota systems and no "female career programs". We are looking for the best; therefore, we have more female colleagues than almost any high-end transactional law firm. Women at P+P are successful in our core areas of practice, not in the "typical" female domains which improve gender statistics elsewhere (in many of which we do not even practice).
Your work/life balance is important to us. Flexible time accounts and part-time arrangements accommodate personal objectives – not only for women. We have begun cooperation with first class institutions offering high-end bilingual day care for small children during flexible hours (as required to accommodate the needs of mothers and fathers active in transactional practice). Talk to P+P colleagues about their experiences.
P+P Internships and Dissertation Support
P+P welcomes qualifying graduates and students at any level of their education as interns for minimum periods of one month and preferably for longer or quasi-permanent internships.
1. Internships
To qualify, an intern (like any young lawyer joining us) should excel in two of three criteria: grades, English, personality. Your grades (from high school exams or university or state exams) matter, not so much because of what you achieved in the past but as one indication of what you can and will accomplish in the future. English is a must, but work at P+P will help you to develop it fully (also through internships and exchange programs abroad). Your personality is your major asset; it may have expressed itself in any number and kind of extra-curricular activities.
2. Dissertation, Etc.
Interns are invited to combine their work at P+P with their education at university and elsewhere. For instance, you may choose a private equity subject for your doctoral dissertation (from our list of suggestions or otherwise), discuss its practical aspects with a partner or associate at P+P working in this field, present your results in internal workshops, and publish it finally (with P+P support, if it qualifies as a substantial work, whether or not we agree with your conclusions). In his capacity as honorary professor at the University of Münster, Reinhard Pöllath provides a list with doctoral theses for postgraduates.
3. Workshops and Foreign Internships
Likewise, interns may participate in P+P internal workshops (including contributions of their own, e.g., based on their dissertation research), in P+P-conducted client or public seminars, conferences or courses (such as the Private Equity Training MUPET or the International Tax Summer Course, and the Berliner Steuergespräche, all in cooperation with major universities). Or they may do an internship or course abroad (e.g. at foreign law firms with which we are friendly).
4. Eastern Europe
P+P offers scholarships and internships to students of law or economics in Eastern Europe.