Reed Smith has announced that it has hired lawyers from a raft of international firms to launch a seven-partner office in Frankfurt.

The base will be led by current Munich managing partner Stefan Kugler.

He said Frankfurt had been "a city of significant interest" for the firm "for some time".

He added: "Having built strong foundations in Munich, our goal is to add to our existing bench strength and also broaden our full-service offering to support the growing needs of our clients with interests in the German market."

The firm has hired Mayer Brown finance and banking partners Dirk-Peter Flor and Simon Grieser and Jones Day finance partner Volker Kammel to establish its banking practice in the city.

Reed Smith has also recruited Jones Day corporate partner Andreas Jurgens.

In addition the firm has taken on Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Martin Mei