US litigation specialist Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has opened an office in Stuttgart, its ninth in Europe and its fourth in Germany.

The new base, located in the capital of southwest Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state, will be overseen by the firm's Germany managing partner Marcus Grosch.

The firm has also hired Rudiger Lahme, a domestic and international competition litigation associate from Latham & Watkins, who was previously based in Hamburg and Brussels. He will join Quinn as a counsel

Jesko Preuss, a counsel in Quinn's patent litigation team in Mannheim, will also be working from the office.

Quinn managing partner John Quinn told Legal Week: "The more we looked into it, the more attracted we were to the local economy in that area. The state of Baden-Wuerttemberg leads Germany in exports. We have an opportunity here to get into the most active export state and most active export country in the world. A lot of our litigation practice is cross-border and international."

Grosch added: "Lahme and Preuss are both experts in two of our core areas of expertise: competition law and patent law. We expect dramatic growth in both areas both in Germany and elsewhere as we look to the future."

Quinn currently has three other offices in Germany – in Mannheim, Hamburg and Munich.

Earlier this month, Quinn said the firm was also looking to expand in London and Paris. The firm is weighing up whether to add a patent litigation practice in London, while in Paris, it is considering adding traditional litigation capability alongside its existing arbitration practice.

Previously, the firm most recently opened an office in Zurich in Switzerland. The office, which opened in May last year, consists of one partner and one associate.

In 2014, the firm also launched a new competition practice in Brussels in 2014, led by EU and Germany competition chair Nadine Herrmann.

Worldwide, the firm has 21 offices in 10 countries and more than 720 lawyers.

In the firm's latest financial results, its London office – which was launched in 2008 – posted a 22% rise in revenue from £36.8m £44.8m.