Bakers chooses Munich for third German office

International law firm Baker & McKenzie is to open a third German office in Munich early next year.

Ninety-nine per cent of the firms partners voted for the new office at the annual partners meeting, held in London from 8 to 12 October.

According to Nigel Carrington, Bakers' managing partner in London, the decision was made on the bases that clients could be served locally and that the firm now has strong links with the Czech and Hungarian markets.

The office will be up and running by 1997 and will be staffed by three partners. Dr Walter Henle and Dr Stephan Spehl will be moving to Mun ich from the Frankfurt office.

The other partner, Dr Uwe Steininger, has been poached from Munich firm Dissmann & Partners.

Dr Horst Amereller of the Frankfurt office said: "The rat ionale for opening a Munich office is to be closer to our existing client base in southern Germany. We see a strong demand for the presence of an international law firm which covers the areas of venture capital, international taxation, mergers and acquisitions as well as IP and IT law."

Also discussed at the partners' meeting were plans to expand into the Commonwealth of Independent States and Central Asia, where the firm is already involved in a number of projects. The firm expects to open offices in this region before the end of the century.

Gene Theroux, from Bakers' Washington office, is in Delhi negotiating with the Indian government to find a solution to the restrictive practice rules there. He expects to set up an office there within 12 months.

The partners also decided on the election of 27 partners and the setting up of a research centre to provide a global facility to collate the firm's research material, client data and key precedences in corporate law, banking, finance and securities.