Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is set to launch two offices in Germany with the hire of a four-strong team from Linklaters, marking the firm's first venture into the country.

The firm announced today (19 September) that it will open in Berlin and Frankfurt by the end of the year, with a focus on high-end real estate work.

Linklaters Frankfurt real estate and construction partners Roland Fabian and Hanns-William Muelsch will join the new German bases alongside managing associates Carsten Bremer and Fabian Hartwich, who are currently based in the magic circle firm's Berlin and Frankfurt offices respectively.

All four members of the team will join BLP as partners. It is yet to be decided where they will each be based.

BLP managing partner Neville Eisenberg (pictured) said: "The internationalisation of our real estate practice and the increasing levels of international real estate work we are doing led us to conclude that it was necessary for us to have a multidisciplinary team on the ground in Germany.

"The team has an excellent reputation and proven experience. In addition to the focus on German real estate work, we also anticipate significant synergies with our offices in major emerging markets which enable us to provide the German investor community with expert local advice on the ground, especially in Russia and China, through our Hong Kong office."

The new bases take the BLP's total number of offices to nine. The news comes after BLP recently opened for business in Hong Kong, marking the firm's second office in Asia alongside Singapore.

A number of other firms have also recently announced launches of new offices in Germany, including Eversheds and Mayer Brown.

Eversheds is opening in Hamburg next month, while Mayer Brown has opted to close its Berlin and Cologne offices in favour of a launch of a new base in Duesseldorf at the start of 2012.