Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is closing its two-partner Leipzig office. The move comes hard on the heels of a similar move by Linklaters & Alliance firm Oppenhoff & Raedler, and underlines the lack of business activity in the eastern German city.

Freshfields' two-partner Leipzig office was opened in 1994 by its merger partner Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Loeber. The closure will see one partner relocate to Berlin and the other to Frankfurt, where he will cease practising for six to 12 months to look after knowledge management.

The firm was at pains to stress that the move was the idea of the German partners and not the English management in London. Frankfurt-based partner Burk-hardt Bastuck said: "It was the Leipzig partners' idea." Meanwhile, Oppenhoffs has finalised its plans for off-loading its two-partner Leipzig office.

Two partners, one of counsel and six associates, will merge with fellow two-partner Leipzig firm Tintelnot & Partner in April to become Mohns Pruggmayer Tintelnot Vennemann.

The firm will aim to do international work, although name partner Steffen Pruggmayer, said he realised most work would be domestic. He added that he opposed the closure of the Leipzig office.