Shearman & Sterling has parted company with its Mannheim office, which has broken away to launch its own firm.

The break-off of the Mannheim office was announced to partners in an internal email today (22 April), with Shearman set to lose around 30 lawyers, including nine partners.

Office head and M&A heavyweight Jochem Reichert leaves Shearman along with corporate partners Martin Winter, Heino Rueck, Stephan Harbarth and Thomas Liebscher; intellectual property partner Thomas Naegele; employment partner Georg Jaeger; antitrust partner Hans-Joachim Hellmann; and the head of Shearman's German private client group, Stephan Scherer.

It is understood the new practice will operate as Schilling Zutt & Anschuetz – its name before agreeing a tie-up with the US firm in 2000.

The news comes with Shearman set to appoint Harald Selzner as German co-managing partner alongside long-serving regional chief Georg Thoma.

Selzner has been a partner in the corporate group at Shearman since 2000, specialising in M&A and private equity, corporate reorganisations and public takeovers. In February, the Duesseldorf-based partner was appointed head of Shearman's European M&A practice.

They will be supported by practice group leaders Hans Jurgen Meyer-Lindemann (antitrust); Stephan Hutter (capital markets); Thomas Koenig (M&A); Gottfried Breuninger (tax); and Rainer Wilke, who will focus on recruiting and personnel.

Recent departures from Shearman's German arm include Duesseldorf M&A partner Birgit Reese, who joined Allen & Overy (A&O) at the end of last month with one associate. She followed in the footsteps of Shearman's former global co-head of M&A, Rolf Koerfer, who joined A&O in Duesseldorf in January.

Last year, Munich-based finance partner Andreas Diem left for Latham & Watkins, while Frankfurt banking partner Johannes Kremer moved to Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

Shearman, which is left with offices in Frankfurt, Duesseldorf and Munich, declined to comment.