The former managing partner of DLA's Dutch suitor, Robert Hein Broekhuijsen, is quitting the firm less than a year after the merger of the national practice SchutGrosheide with the national UK giant.

Hein Broekhuijsen, a member of DLA's executive management committee, is leaving the firm in May 2005, after negotiating the tie-up between the 115-lawyer Schut Grosheide and DLA in January 2004.

The merger saw DLA integrate both the Rotterdam and Amsterdam offices of the 32-partner SchutGrosheide into its limited liability partnership. The firm is branded locally as DLA Schut-Grosheide.

Hein Broekhuijsen told Legal Week he was "still contemplating what to do next", but declined to comment on his decision to quit the firm in the same year as he had worked to bring the two practices together.

DLA, which earlier this month secured its ambitious merger with US suitor Piper Rudnick, had worked with SchutGrosheide for three years prior to the merger as a formal European ally. The merged practice has been overseen by DLA partner Frans Stibbe.

Hein Broekhuijsen added the merger had been a success, but conceded that DLA "still needed to focus on building up several areas".