White & Case has beefed up its European practice with senior partner hires in both Germany and France.

Linklaters employment partner Karl-Dietmar Cohnen joins the Hamburg office of White & Case after nearly 18 years as a partner with the magic circle firm.

Cohnen – who has acted for clients including Bankgesellschaft Berlin, Bayerische Landesbank, Japan Tobacco International, Volvo Trucks and Corus – will head up White & Case's German employment practice.

Meanwhile, the New York-based law firm has bolstered its Paris capabilities with the hire of CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre competition co-head Jean-Paul Tran Thiet.

Tran Thiet will join White & Case at the end of the summer and will co-head the Paris competition practice alongside Jean-Patrice de la Laurencie. Tran Thiet's arrival will bring White & Case's local competition practice to two partners and eight associates.

The group advises on both contentious and non-contentious competition law and is currently advising Microsoft on its ongoing dispute with the European Commission.

The hires come amid a run of European appointments by White & Case, including the addition this month of City-based Baker & McKenzie capital markets partner Carter Brod.