Willkie Farr & Gallagher has poached Latham & Watkins employment partner Anne Kleffmann, who joins the firm in its Frankfurt office.

Kleffmann, who has been hired to be part of Willkie's litigation department and labor and employment practice, has two decades of employment law experience. Most recently she was a Latham partner in Munich, where she worked for three years. Prior to that, she was a partner at Watson Farley & Williams for six years. She was also at major German firms Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek and Beiten Burkhardt in Munich, each for three years, and at Clifford Chance for more than six years, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Willkie's Frankfurt office handles complex corporate and commercial transactions. In a statement, the firm said Kleffmann advises both German and multinational clients on individual and collective labor law and transactional labor law, collective labor law matters, and works agreements, as well as domestic and cross-border transactions, acquisitions of insolvent companies, carve-outs, pension matters, and service and employment contracts.

Corporate partner Georg Linde, who manages Willkie's Frankfurt office, also cited Kleffmann's experience on complex private equity and M&A transactions—a major practice area for Willkie.

"Anne is highly regarded as a talented employment lawyer, known for her pragmatic and commercial approach and extensive experience advising on critical employment law matters, including on complex private equity and M&A transactions," he said in a statement.  

The M&A market has experienced a continued boom, even throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to a PwC report, the deal market in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is well on its way to a new record. 

"Willkie is well-established in Germany as a leader in private equity and M&A, known for its work on many sophisticated transactions, where employment law matters regularly arise," Kleffmann said in the statement. "I am thrilled to join the team in Frankfurt at this time of growth."

Latham & Watkins did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Kleffmann's departure.

In October of last year, Willkie poached a heavyweight antitrust and litigation team in London that included three partners and eight associates from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—a major addition to the firm's London office. That came on the heels of the firm launching an arbitration practice in London with the hire of international arbitration barrister Duncan Speller from Wilmer Culter Pickering Hale & Dorr.