Marie-Thérèse Allen

Practice
As a partner in the firm’s International Corporate Department, a member of the firm’s German, Nordic, European, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Intellectual Property, Life Sciences and Energy practice groups, and managing partner of the firm’s Frankfurt office from 1995-2004, Ms. Allen has extensive experience in, and her practice is focused on, representing U.S. and non-U.S. clients in a wide variety of domestic and international acquisitions and mergers; the formation of strategic partnerships and joint ventures; private equity transactions; the establishment of new companies and businesses and the restructuring of existing non-distressed and distressed businesses; financing, re-financing and capitalization matters; privatization and infrastructure projects; general corporate commercial matters, including sale, purchase and lease arrangements, and secured transactions; executive employment and benefit matters; distribution and franchising arrangements; and technology transfers, licensing, trademark and copyright matters. Ms. Allen has particular expertise in handling complex transactions involving multiple non-U.S. jurisdictions.

Earlier in her career, she practiced as a corporate associate with the Frankfurt am Main law firm of Peltzer u. Riesenkampff, and was a partner of the late New York international general practice firm of Walter, Conston, Alexander & Green P.C.

Ms. Allen is admitted to the Bars of the States of New York and Oklahoma, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as the United States Supreme Court and the Federal Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Education

Representations

• Representation of governmental, corporate and individual clients based in the U.S., Europe, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the U.K., Ireland, France, Italy, Scandinavia and the Baltics, as well as in Latin America, the Middle East and Far East on a broad range of domestic and cross-border acquisitions and mergers; the formation of strategic partnerships and joint ventures; and a variety of private equity transactions.
• Representation of governmental, corporate and individual clients in the establishment of new companies and businesses and in the restructuring of existing non-distressed and distressed business in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Far East.
• Representation of governmental and corporate clients in U.S. and non-U.S. financing, re-financing and capitalization matters.
• Representation of governmental and corporate clients on non-U.S. privatization and infrastructure projects.
• Representation of governmental, corporate and individual clients in U.S. and non-U.S. general corporate commercial matters, including sale, purchase and lease arrangements, and secured transactions.
• Representation of corporate and individual clients in U.S. and non-U.S. executive employment and benefit matters.
• Representation of corporate clients in U.S. and non-U.S. distribution and franchising arrangements.
• Representation of corporate, individual and not-for-profit clients on U.S. and non-U.S. technology transfers, licensing, trademark and copyright matters.
• Representative industries and businesses in which Ms. Allen has experience include the energy sector, myriad industrial parts, products and systems; automotive parts; telecom; electronics; medical instruments; pharmaceuticals and life sciences; high-end household appliances and cabinetry; fashion apparel and shoes; wines and spirits; man-made fibers; specialty chemicals; industrial batteries, industrial magnets, ceramics; optical products; industrial packaging, paper and wood products; transportation (including aviation, rail; shipping and freight forwarding); printing, publishing and other media; and banking and financial services.

• Co-written with L.P. Harrison 3rd, Colby B.H. Jenkins and Joshua Geller, “Corporate Governance Client Alert, September 2007: A Review of Directors’ Fiduciary Duties Beyond Sarbanes, Directors’ Duties to Creditors of Financially-Distressed Companies.”
  Please click here to view the article - PDF, 53KB
• Co-written with Colby B.H. Jenkins and Joshua Geller, “Corporate Governance Client Alert, October 2006: A Review of Directors’ Fiduciary Duties Beyond Sarbanes: Heightened Fiduciary Duties of Certain Officers”
  Please click here to view the article - PDF, 162KB
• Co-written with Colby B.H. Jenkins, “Corporate Governance Client Alert, February 2005: A Review of Directors’ Fiduciary Duties Beyond Sarbanes:
  Revisiting Third-Party Liability for breaches Of Fiduciary Duty in the U.S.”
  Please click here to view the article - PDF, 111KB
• Co-written with Colby B.H. Jenkins, “Corporate Governance Client Alert, October 2004: A Review of Directors’ Fiduciary Duties:
  Revisiting Dual Directorships in the U.S.”
  Please click here to view the article - PDF, 112KB
• Co-written with Eric J. Stenshoel, “Distribution and Licensing Client Alert, April 2004: Changes in EU Competition Law and the Effect on Technology Licensing in the European Union,” Martindale.com, Counsel to Counsel, April 9, 2004
  Please click here to view the article - PDF, 140KB
  
• Co-author, Letters of Credit – An Under Appreciated Financial Vehicle, Festschrift fuer Martin Peltzer, published by Otto Schmitt Verlag, Cologne, Germany (2001)
• Co-author, The German Commercial Code/Handelsgezetzbuch – A Synoptical Translation, published by Otto Schmitt Verlag, Cologne, Germany (1st. Ed. 1980; 2nd Ed. 1993; 3rd Ed. 1995)
• “Advise and Dissent – The Powers and Limitations of the Works Council in a German Firm”, 2/80 Commerce in Germany 52, 1980