• Dr. David Jansen will join Weil's Frankfurt office as a partner in the Private Equity practice.
• With a focus on financial regulatory matters, he strengthens the practice in particular through his expertise in asset management and advising sponsors on complex secondary transactions.
• With his arrival, Weil's German Private Equity practice will have more than doubled in size within twelve months and marks the Firm's eleventh partner addition to its German offices since the end of 2025.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP today announced the continued expansion of its Private Equity practice in Germany: Dr. David Jansen will join the Firm's Frankfurt office as a partner. Going forward, he will advise financial sponsors, asset managers and financial institutions on complex transactions as well as regulatory matters.

David is recognized as one of the leading experts in German and European financial regulatory law. He advises banks, payment service providers, insurers, asset managers and financial sponsors on the full range of regulatory matters. A particular focus of his practice is advising on M&A transactions in the financial sector (FIG M&A), where he represents acquirers and sellers on the purchase and sale of regulated entities, in ownership control proceedings, and in coordination with BaFin, the ECB and other regulators. He also advises sponsors and investors on the structuring, formation and distribution of funds under AIFMD and the German Investment Code (KAGB), on ELTIF 2.0 and SFDR, and on secondaries, including GP-led and LP-led transactions and continuation funds.

David Jansen is also recognized as a pioneer in the deployment of legal AI in transactional and regulatory practice, having developed and embedded AI-driven workflows in client work over recent years. In addition to his client practice, he will support Weil in executing its legal AI strategy across Germany and Europe.

With this focus, David adds a capability to Weil's German Private Equity practice that is fast becoming indispensable for sponsors and financial institutions alike. His profile underscores Weil's ambition to build out these sought-after capabilities as an integral part of a unified, global Private Equity platform.

“With David, we are gaining one of the most respected financial regulatory lawyers in the German market,” said Dr. Sebastian Pauls, Co-Managing Partner of Weil's German offices and Co-Head of Weil's German Private Equity practice. “Our clients are increasingly investing in regulated companies and asset managers, and fund structures are becoming ever more demanding from a regulatory standpoint. The fact that David is also one of the leading practitioners in the use of legal AI fits perfectly with the direction Weil has taken.”

“Hardly any firm in the German private equity market is developing as dynamically as Weil right now, and that's exactly why I wanted to be part of this development,” said Dr. David Jansen. “Here, I can bring my regulatory expertise to the practice and continue to develop it independently.”

David's arrival caps an extraordinary twelve months for Weil in Germany. Since the end of 2025, eleven partners, together with additional counsel and lawyers, have joined the Firm's German offices - growth that means Weil's German Private Equity practice will have more than doubled in size over that period. This momentum reflects the Firm's broader trajectory: Weil's German offices are on track to grow their overall lawyer headcount by more than 50 percent this year alone, and the build-out connects the German offices ever more closely with the Firm's international and pan-European platforms.

“Our Private Equity practice in Germany continues to grow at a remarkable pace. We are expanding consistently across virtually every key area, and in doing so, we are strengthening our platform globally as well. David’s arrival further strengthens the breadth and depth of our practice in Germany,” said Barry Wolf, Executive Partner of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.

About Weil's Private Equity Practice

Weil’s global Private Equity practice is recognized by the industry as being one of only a very small number of elite market leaders in this field. Our clients include many of the highest-profile private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, as well as family offices and other equity financial investors. Weil advises more than 300 private equity clients worldwide, ranging from middle-market buyout firms to each of the 10 largest global private equity funds and 8 of the 10 largest global private equity funds as ranked by PEI 300 2026. Our advice covers all aspects of the full life cycle of investments.

About Weil's German Offices

Weil's Frankfurt and Munich offices are part of Weil's European offering, providing seamless support to domestic and international clients and handling both sophisticated cross-border transactions and multi-jurisdictional disputes. Our remarkably diverse client base is engaged in various industries and includes some of the world's leading financial institutions as well as many major international corporations. Weil's German offices have positioned themselves as one of the premier practices in the country, in particular for Private Equity and M&A transactions as well as for Restructuring, Dispute Resolution, Finance, Tax, Antitrust and Employment.

About Weil

Founded in 1931, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP has been a preeminent provider of legal services for more than 90 years. With approximately 1,200 lawyers in offices on three continents, Weil has been a pioneer in the marketplace and a first-mover in the establishment of many significant practice areas. The Firm’s four departments, Corporate, Litigation, Restructuring, and Tax, Executive Compensation & Benefits, and more than two dozen practice groups are consistently recognized as leaders in their respective fields.

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