King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (KWM) is to close its Berlin office in May, following a strategic review of the firm's Germany practice.

The office's venture capital transactional team, headed by partners Frank Vogel and Jan Dirk Heerma, are departing to set up their own boutique firm, while litigation counsel Tilman de Vries will relocate to Frankfurt.

The firm's third partner in the office Till Fock, who specialises in tax and regulatory matters, is considering his options, though the firm has offered to help him relocate to either Frankfurt or Munich.

The three associates at the office are expected to join Vogel and Heerma in their new venture or considering their options. A partner at another firm also expected to be join the new boutique, which is set to launch in April.

"Whilst we proactively manage our business, office closures are always difficult decisions," commented managing partner Rob Day. "We thank the team in Berlin for their contribution to the firm and wish them every success in the future."

"Frank and Jan leave with our support to set up their own venture capital transactional boutique business. They remain friends of the firm and we look forward to continuing to work with them.

Despite the announcement, Day said the firm remains "fully committed to our venture capital funds practice and our substantial and growing client base in Berlin".

The move follows a review of KWM's German practice, and the replacement of German managing partner Rudiger Knopf with co-heads Sonya Pauls in Munich and Stefan Kruger in Frankfurt earlier this year.

Kruger recently moved over to the firm's 12-strong international management committee.

Travers Smith and Mayer Brown are among the other firms to have pulled out of Berlin in recent years. Hogan Lovells also closed its presence in the German capital, after its entire office departed to Morrison & Foerster in September 2013.

Other international firms to have revised their strategy in Germany include Sidley Austin, which has put its Frankfurt office under review, following a number of recent partner departures. Last year, Shearman & Sterling also caused a ripple in the German legal market when it closed its Duesseldorf and Munich offices, a move which resulted in a number of partners – including Duesseldorf senior partner Georg Thoma – relocating to Frankfurt.