Hammonds is to close its Munich office in the wake of the departure of a five-lawyer team to Eversheds.

The national firm has opted to pull out of Munich from 31 March and instead enter into a referral agreement with local patent law firm Gulde Hengelhaupt Ziebig & Schneider (GHZS).

Munich office head Herbert Kunz and partner Michael Schneider joined Eversheds in November to launch a patent litigation practice – with Eversheds subsequently picking up a further three lawyers.

The walkout left Hammonds with litigation partner Philipp Suess as the sole remaining partner, as well as seven associates.

Suess will transfer to Hammonds' Berlin office along with some of the associates. Other associates are set to relocate to London, while a number will leave the firm.

Hammonds said that the decision to close the office was not based on the departures, stressing that the base had been under review since May 2009.

Managing partner Peter Crossley said: "We have decided that we can service all of our clients' requirements and needs from one central place so we are concentrating on building up our Berlin office.

"Berlin is by far our biggest office outside of the UK, and we are now going to work on investing in it further."

The alliance with GHZS has been signed for an initial three-year term and Hammonds has no plans to form links with other German firms to cover practices beyond patents.

Hammonds has operated in both Munich and Berlin – where it has nine partners and some 20 lawyers – since April 2001.

The firm overhauled its German management in 2009, with German corporate head Kai Mertens replacing Frank Walter-von Gierke after eight years at the helm.