CMS Luxembourg, which grew from two partners and around ten lawyers when it was founded in 2011, now has a staff of more than 100, 70% of whom are lawyers. It has just announced the appointment of Vivian Walry as its new managing partner. Walry succeeds Frédéric Feyten, who remains partner in charge of the tax law department and who has headed the firm since 2020.

This change is also accompanied by the addition of Aurélien Hollard, partner in charge of the investment funds practice, to the management committee, where he will sit alongside Walry and Renaud Dupont, managing partner of CMS Belgium and member of the CMS global executive committee. Walry, currently head of the banking finance department at CMS Luxembourg, specialises in banking and finance law, and was therefore elected by the firm’s partners. He was already a member of the management committee, and it was Walry who set up the firm, which was subsequently taken over by CMS in 2011.

“We have continued to grow, with a turning point in 2020, when we became one of the top ten firms in the financial centre, doubling in size in two to three years,” explains Walry. “What’s very important, after such strong growth, is to consolidate. We’ve taken on a lot of people, a lot of talent, and the aim is to retain our teams. We believe in organic growth, and we remain very ambitious for the years ahead.”

A turning point in 2020

CMS Luxembourg is part of the CMS group, which was founded in 1999 and currently employs 9,800 people in 47 countries, “with a turnover of €2.2bn. We offer a service to all our customers that combines an international dimension with a high degree of local autonomy. From a strategic point of view, it is the Luxembourg partners who adapt the group’s strategy to the local market,” explains Dupont.

“We are fortunate to have the best of both worlds: a law firm with the autonomy and flexibility to choose who we work with, and the strength of a global organisation such as CMS. Our development and growth are logical, as we have made the most of these two strengths,” adds Walry.

For Hollard, the new member of the management committee and head of the investment funds practice--which represents a team of 32 people--“the way CMS operates gives us a very strong entrepreneurial dynamic, and we have been able to grow very significantly in alternative funds, with a one-stop-shop approach. For example, I work a lot with Frédéric Feyten, head of tax, on the development of investment funds. We can really see that the fund practice is driving the whole firm, in line with the country’s market.”

This article was originally published in French.