Shearman & Sterling partner Georg Thoma is being paid €116,667 (£97,000) a year to sit on the supervisory board of firm client Deutsche Bank, according to the company's 2013 financial report.

The annual review – published yesterday (20 March) – also takes pains to explain why Thoma's appointment does not represent a business conflict with the bank's broader relationship with the US firm.

Thoma was elected to the supervisory role last May as part of a push by the bank to add greater financial and legal expertise to its oversight committee.

According to the report, all existing Deutsche mandates for Shearman were approved by the supervisory board's chairman Paul Achleitner on Thoma's appointment. All subsequent mandates – totalling some €2.3m (£1.9m) up to 31 December 2013 – were also approved by Achleitner.

The figures do not include "significant amounts" of work carried out by Shearman on behalf of Deutsche on several deals, which were instead invoiced to lead book runners.

"Mr. Thoma had no involvement in any of the mandates," the annual report adds. "He participates in the economic success of Shearman & Sterling merely through his capacity as one of 159 equity partners."

A corporate partner, Thoma was the managing partner of Shearman's German offices in Duesseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich between 1991 and 2011, during which time he held a number of executive positions in the firm's global management.

He relocated from Duesseldorf to Frankfurt last year to lead the restructuring of the firm's Germany operations, which resulted in the closure of the Duesseldorf and Munich offices.

Thoma – who did not immediately respond to requests for comment – also sits on the board of Calgary-based NOVA Chemicals Corporation, Calgary, Canada.

Separately, Herbert Smith Freehills this month announced it had hired Deutsche Bank compliance head Andrew Procter as a partner in the firm's global financial services regulatory practice.