Olswang has launched an office in Munich at the request of technology giant Microsoft.

The office, which opened earlier this week (4 July), will focus on intellectual property (IP) work including patent filing, prosecution and enforcement for a range of clients as well as Microsoft.

The launch marks Olswang's second office in Germany, alongside its Berlin base. The office will be headed by a partner hired from a rival firm in addition to Berlin senior associate Monika Stoehr, who is relocating to Munich, and IP consultant Michael Fischer, who joins Olswang from local firm Samson & Partner as 
an associate.

In addition, one City partner will visit the base every fortnight for the next six months.

Olswang chief executive David Stewart (pictured) said: "We have opened an office in Munich at the request of Microsoft to service its patent needs in the region, which will initially focus mostly on IP work.

"We have plans to grow the IP capabilities of the office and will build a larger IP-focused team in Munich during the course of this year, and we are already talking to prospective partner recruits. The base will serve as an adjunct to our Berlin office and is not currently planned to be a second full-service office."

The new outfit marks Olswang's seventh office worldwide and is the second office the firm has opened this year, after the firm launched in Paris in February 2011.

Microsoft has been identified as one of 20 key clients for Olswang as part of a strategic plan that will see the firm offering more value-added services to its top clients including additional secondees, training for in-house counsel and knowledge 
management services.

Microsoft also entered into two agreements with legal outsourcing providers CPA Global and Integreon last year to offshore legal work to lawyers in India, in a bid to reduce its legal spend.