Simmons & Simmons, the UK-based law firm, has hired Franz-Josef Schöne as a corporate and mergers and acquisitions partner in Germany.

Schöne joins Simmons & Simmons from the Düsseldorf office of Haarmann Hemmelrath & Partner, where he was a partner. There, he worked for various multinational clients on mergers and acquisitions deals, corporate succession, corporate restructuring, joint ventures and venture capital transactions. He has particular experience working in the telecoms and multimedia sectors and has also worked on public commercial law issues. Schöne was involved in the privatisations of the Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Hanover airports.