Allen & Overy (A&O) has moved to rebuild its Duesseldorf employment practice with the hire of a partner from Taylor Wessing.

Tobias Neufeld, who has spent just one year at Taylor Wessing after joining as a partner in June 2009, is also the former head of Ashurst's employment team in Munich, where he was a senior associate.

Neufeld's hire is the second recent addition to A&O's Duesseldorf employment team following the May departure of long-serving partner Anja Breitfield to Frankfurt boutique Salger, with the firm last month recruiting senior associate Markulf Behrendt from US firm Bryan Cave.

A&O Germany senior partner Neil Weiand said: "Tobias is one of the most promising young employment law partners in the country. Having him on board will enable us quickly to reposition ourselves in the German market. This measure emphasises our declared aim of developing A&O's employment law practice into a leading practice in Germany in the medium term."

Neufeld's start date at A&O is yet to be confirmed.

The magic circle firm also recently bulked up its German arm with three lateral hires from Lovells and Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Frankfurt-based litigator Daniel Busse left Lovells along with two associates to take up a role as head of A&O's German dispute resolution practice, having been a partner at Lovells since 2004.

Meanwhile, Lovells corporate and M&A partner Christian Eichner joined A&O's Duesseldorf corporate practice alongside Dewey capital markets partner Kai Schaffelhuber.

Click here for more international coverage