Shearman's German practice comes under scrutiny after fresh walk-outs
Shearman & Sterling's German practice was dealt a fresh blow last week as half of the law firm's Munich partners left to launch Allen & Overy's (A&O's) fifth German office. The departures of Shearman's Munich office head Gottfried Breuninger (also German tax head and global co-head of tax) and M&A partner Astrid Krueger to A&O came after the US-based law firm lost global co-head of M&A Hans Rolf Koerfer, and M&A partner Birgit Reese to the magic circle law firm's Duesseldorf arm in January and March respectively.The losses come on top of Shearman's nine-partner Mannheim office walking away from the firm earlier this year.
September 25, 2008 at 12:16 AM
2 minute read
Shearman & Sterling's German practice was dealt a fresh blow last week as half of the law firm's Munich partners left to launch Allen & Overy's (A&O's) fifth German office.
The departures of Shearman's Munich office head Gottfried Breuninger (also German tax head and global co-head of tax) and M&A partner Astrid Krueger to A&O came after the US-based law firm lost global co-head of M&A Hans Rolf Koerfer, and M&A partner Birgit Reese to the magic circle law firm's Duesseldorf arm in January and March respectively.
The losses come on top of Shearman's nine-partner Mannheim office walking away from the firm earlier this year.
Commenting on the departures, one ex-Shearman partner said: "Breuninger was close to Koerfer so it really does not come as a surprise to me. A&O makes perfect sense for these partners.
"It is a healthy and well-managed firm and Shearman has been in discussions for years about whether Munich should be closed."
Despite the departures, Shearman has rejected claims that it is not committed to Munich. The company has appointed Duesseldorf M&A partner Alfred Kossmann to lead the office and appointed Reinhard Stockum, managing partner of Shearman's Frankfurt office, to lead the German tax practice.
Duesseldorf head Hans-Juergen Meyer-Lindemann, told Legal Week: "These departures are part of one single development. We have always had a very strong group here at Shearman in Germany. What we are losing now are the people who joined us later."
The hires mean A&O now has offices in Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg, as well as Duesseldorf and Mannheim which opened only last year.
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