Bird & Bird has raided Gassner Stockmann & Kollegen in Germany, hiring banking and finance partner Bertold Frisch for its Frankfurt operation. The firm opened its Frankfurt office in August last year with the aim of breaking into the lucrative financial services sector. Bird & Bird will look to Frisch, who specialises in real estate and acquisition finance, to boost its presence in the German financial capital. Frisch joined Gassner as a partner in 2005 from Allen & Overy.