The accountancy arm of Germany's largest independent law firm, Haarmann Hemmelrath & Partner, is being investigated for alleged fraud.
The Haarmann Hemmelrath GmbH accounting division is being investigated by the state prosecutor for the German city of Augsburg following the collapse of Neuer Markt-listed company Infomatec in 2001.

The Augsburg prosecutor launched the investigation following recent claims that the directors of the German software company had deliberately misled investors to inflate its offer price in the run-up to its 1998 public offering.

The case is the latest evidence of the fallout from the two-year collapse of the technology sector
and the recent wave of corporate scandals impacting on legal advisers.
It also threatens to put controversy over the desirability of multi-disciplinary partnerships back on the agenda.