Mittelständische Kanzlei des Jahres Kanzlei des Jahres für Telekommunikation Kanzlei des Jahres für Frankfurt und Hessen									Partnership Schalast & Partner was founded in 1998 as a law firm specialised on medium sized companies and M&A. From the very start our mergers & acquisition expertise as well as our private equity competence formed a strong basis of our practice. In the area of broadband cable networks we negotiated several of the most important deals of recent time. From the very start our mergers & acquisitions expertise as well as our private equity competence formed a strong basis of the telecommunications practice. In the area of broadband cable networks, in particular, we negotiated several of the most important deals of recent times. For some years we have been advising some of the leading telecommunications companies and cable network providers, as well as private equity fund bodies connected with these fields. More recently we have sought to develop expertise in other fields of law. In capital market law we advise banks and companies on their IPOs and their capital returns in all market segments. In the new market of non- performing loans we advise clients on matters relating to banking supervision in the context of transactions and servicing. Since the founding of our firm, we assisted developing countries in middle and Eastern Europe with their legal reforms – particularly with regard to deregulation and modernisation of their infrastructure. Our clients include German and European authorities as well as the World Bank.