BLD Bach Langheid Dallmayr appoints Joachim Krane (52) as new partner as of 1 February 2013. Krane, who will be based in the firm's Munich office, will help to further develop the international practice especially in the field of international industrial insurance.

Managing partner Dr. Theo Langheid says: "BLD has found a proven specialist of international reputation. Krane has longtime experience particularly concerning cross-border claims and was member in several industry committees and associations. We are very glad that he becomes part of our firm."

Krane joins BLD from industrial and commercial insurer XL Insurance based in Zurich where he was Chief Claims Officer for the European region. Before working with XL he held the same position at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. Krane will be advising clients in the area of corporate liability insurance and property lines as well as generally insurance contract law and regulatory issues.

In recent years BLD has been retained in a steadily increasing number of international cases, particularly concerning cross-border liability issues and market entries of foreign insurers. However, the firm is interested in acting independently and stresses the advantages of being a specialized law firm in international cases, too. For this reason, BLD is establishing a worldwide network of insurance, liability and transport law firms and has therefore accepted Harmonie Group’s offer to join this network of mostly US-American liability and litigation specialists.

Langheid states that the access to Harmonie Group "will contribute to the clients’ demand of improving internationally orientated services." He adds: "The already existing European network will be complemented by Harmonie’s overseas network", and that BLD, together with Mr. Krane, "will be able to amend and strengthen this network in the future."