White & Case is set to close its Munich office, becoming the latest firm to scale back its presence in Germany.

The firm, which also has offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Duesseldorf, is offering its Munich lawyers and support staff the opportunity to relocate to Frankfurt.

The office has two partners – including one who spilts his time between Munich and Frankfurt – five local partners and four associates, making it the smallest of the firm's five German offices.

The planned closure comes as the firm has also been cracking down on performance in emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe in particular. In addition to a number of partners leaving its Warsaw office, earlier this year it closed its presence in Hungary when Dentons took on its Budapest office.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "We will continue to serve our clients in Germany from our offices in Berlin, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt and Hamburg and we have decided to focus on consolidating and strengthening our offering in these four locations."

Last year, the firm closed its Romania office, opting instead to operate there through an exclusive alliance with Bondoc & Associatii.

White & Case's new strategy, which was announced by chairman Hugh Verrier to the partnership over the summer, sees the firm put a greater focus on its London and US offering, with the firm aiming to grow in the City by up to 40% over the next five years to 2020 as well as boosting New York. The result of this growth will be a lower proportion of its lawyers elsewhere in non-core offices.

The firm is not alone in struggling in Germany, with several others pulling out or scaling back in the country. Many international firms have several bases in the country, making turning a profit a harder task.

Most recently Olswang closed in Berlin, with its team joining Greenberg Traurig, while earlier this year Orrick Herrrington & Sutcliffe announced it would be pulling out of Berlin and Frankfurt. In 2014 King & Wood Mallesons closed in Berlin, while Hogan Lovells and Shearman & Sterling have also both shrunk their presence in Germany.

Legal Week's Hugh Verrier interview in full