Latham & Watkins has launched in Duesseldorf with a four-partner team hire from Shearman & Sterling, two weeks after Shearman announced it was closing two Germany bases in Duesseldorf and Munich.

Duesseldorf corporate partner trio Harald Selzner, Rainer Wilke and Martin Neuhaus are joining Latham's new local office, while Munich litigation partner Markus Rieder is joining the US firm in Munich.

The Duesseldorf base will be headed by Latham's Munich managing partner Thomas Fox. The launch means Latham will now have four offices in Germany, with Duesseldorf operating alongside its bases in Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich.

"We are very excited to be adding this team of partners whose excellent skills and deep experience are highly complementary to Latham's platform in Germany and globally," said Latham chair and managing partner Robert Dell.

"We are focused on growing our business with bluechip industrials and other multinational companies, and this team fits our strategy perfectly," he added. "Our newest office in Dusseldorf, one of the world's major industrial centers and a hub for manufacturing excellence and innovation, will be a key gateway for the strategic growth of our corporate capability."

Meanwhile, Shearman has shaken up its German leadership in the wake of its double office closure, with M&A partner Thomas Konig and tax partner Bodo Bender named German managing partner and deputy managing partner respectively.

Konig and Bender will work alongside former Duesseldorf senior partner Georg Thoma, who has relocated to Frankfurt to lead the firm's restructuring of its Germany operations.

Other partners to have moved to Frankfurt include Dusseldorf corporate partner Alfred Kossmann and Munich finance partner Winfried Carli, who will work with Marc Plepelits and Esther Jansen in the capital markets group.

The appointments mean the destinations of all Shearman partners in the Munich and Dusseldorf offices have been accounted for.

Shearman said its Frankfurt office would continue to provide a full service offering as part of the firm's European and global operations.

"Offering the highest quality services remains key to the success of our German practice," added Konig. "We will continue to provide exceptional capabilities and client service in corporate/M&A, capital markets, finance, regulatory, tax and international arbitration/litigation."

Shearman said the two offices would be closed over the course of the year.