Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has sealed its German merger, with partners of the US top 50 firm and German corporate independent Hoelters & Elsing voting in favour of a union earlier this month (6 September).

The tie-up, which follows months of discussions between the two firms, means that Orrick will operate in Germany as Orrick Hoelters & Elsing.

Hoelters managing partner Arno Frings will now take on a position as partner-in-charge of Germany and has also landed a seat on Orrick's European supervisory committee.

The combined firm will have 55 lawyers across three offices in Germany with Orrick taking on Hoelters' offices in Duesseldorf, Frankfurt and Berlin. Hoelters joins the merged firm with 21 partners, following the loss of Swedish national and M&A partner Ralf Ek who left last month to join Jones Day in Frankfurt.

Frings told Legal Week: "You can compare it to the merger with Rambaud Martel in Paris, which went perfectly well. Orrick has a strong presence and a big footprint of recommended offices in Europe."

"Our future service to clients will now be better as we will be a worldwide one-stop shop for their international needs. At the same time we will have the independence which we need to operate in Germany. One example is that we can continue to charge our clients the same rates as we were."

He added that the firm intends to double its German presence over the next three to five years, with a focus on growing the Frankfurt office.

Orrick has expanded rapidly in Europe over the last six years, opening in Paris in 2002, Milan in 2003 and Rome in 2004. The Paris office merged with Rambaud Martel in 2006.