DLA Piper targets IP/IT sector in Munich

DLA Piper targets IP/IT sector in Munich" />There is heavy traffic of lawyers between law firms in Germany at the moment, with plenty of firms still vying to get in on the German action. But where in Germany? After Lovells' decision to axe its Berlin office, one question had to be asked: if firms cannot make sufficient money in Berlin, the capital of Europe's largest economy, then where in Germany could they make it?

Well, according to DLA Piper, Munich is the place. The firm launched in Germany less than two years ago and is going from strength to strength. It already has offices in Cologne, Hamburg and Frankfurt, where it recently took a five-man banking and finance team from EY Law Luther Menold.

The firm is now actively sourcing a Munich office and, rather than trying to break into the German private equity market, which attracts many overseas firms, especially from the US, it will be targeting IP/IT work.

German managing partner Ulrich Jüngst told The Lawyer: "We don't want to be number 41 in private equity. We're looking for a specialised team of people, probably in telecoms, media and technology."

Munich should be the ideal city for this as it is the centre for IP/IT work, partly because the German patent office is located there.