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Herbies hires partner from ex-ally Gleiss for German launch

13 February 2013 | By James Swift

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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has secured a partner from former alliance partner Gleiss Lutz to help launch its first office in Germany.

Gleiss partner Ralf Thaeter, who specialises in domestic and cross border M&A, will join HSF on 1 April to help launch an office in Frankfurt. However, the new base is not expected to open until later in the second quarter of 2013. The news was first reported by Juve magazine.

It is not yet known if anyone else from Gleiss will join with Thaeter. Thaeter has been a partner at Gleiss since 1995 and led the firm’s Prague office between 1994 and 1997.

HSF has been looking to open an office in Germany since the collapse of its alliance with Gleiss and Benelux firm Stibbe at the beginning of 2012 (24 November 2011).

It was initially reported that HSF would open three offices in Germany (10 February 2012) – in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Munich – but corporate partner James Palmer told The Lawyer that, although the firm briefly considered its options in other German cities, this was not the case and that no further launches were planned.

Palmer added that HSF has remained on good terms with Gleiss and that the Thaeter hire was made amicably. He added that the firm is making progress with other lateral hires to join the firm in Frankfurt, but nothing has yet been settled.

HSF’s joint global head of corporate Patrick Mitchell was in charge of establishing the firm’s presence in Germany and although the initial focus of the office will be on M&A, it is likely that the firm will look to expand into litigation and finance.

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Readers' comments (10)

  • Cheapsider | 13-Feb-2013 10:35 am

    Munich would have been a better place to open because it has a thriving legal start-up culture. In Frankfurt Herbies will get lost among the giants. Why have Herbies dismissed ever opening in Munich?

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  • anon | 13-Feb-2013 10:38 am

    'the Thaeter hire was made amicably' - really? If he left to join Herbies then he's going to be the competition, can't see how Gleiss can be happy about that (unless they wanted to see the back of the partner - which seems unlikely if he is able to bill the Euro 3m a year needed to make it worth having him on-board.)

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  • Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 10:51 am

    They did say they wanted to launch in Munich too

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  • Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 10:52 am

    Off to a weak start after raising the expectations high ...

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  • Vercingetorix | 13-Feb-2013 11:24 am

    The failure of HS and Gleiss to do a deal is going to end up as being a lose-lose situation for them both. Very silly they have ended up here.

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  • Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 12:11 pm

    Can never understand why anybody thinks HS and Gleiss should have merged. Mergers only work if both sides see the business sense and in this case Gleiss certainly didn't and HS only asked as a matter of course.
    Thaeter is a good first hire. Outstanding corporate lawyer who did lots with HS. But of course it's only a first step. Why Gleiss let him go - and more to the point didn't hold him to his notice period - is an interesting question. When Olaf Ötting (regulatory lawyer) announced his departure to A&O, Gleiss held him almost a year. Perhaps Thaeter couldn't really have a decent corporate practice in Berlin (that's why Gleiss wasn't heartbroken), and maybe he didn't want to get involved in the scrum in the Gleiss Frankfurt practice. This way he gets to lead it all, just like at Gleiss until a few years ago when he was practice-group leader.

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  • Vercingetorix | 13-Feb-2013 12:49 pm

    Good to see the Gleiss spin doctors are monitoring this thread...

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  • Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 1:38 pm

    @vercingetorix If you knew Gleiss at all, you'd know they wouldn't have any idea what a spin doctor is. No word for it in Swabian.

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  • anon | 13-Feb-2013 2:52 pm

    @Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 1:38 pm ' they wouldn't have any idea what a spin doctor is'
    I remember Gleiss had quite a smart and forward-looking PR guy. Although it is true as a firm they are a bit stiff. The partners didn't seem to know their PR manager's first name and always referred to him only by his surname, which felt a bit uncomfortable. Though, this could just be German formality.

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  • Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 4:37 pm

    Herbies was, as in most things, too slow off the mark with Germany in the first place - which is why it was left with an unsuitable "alliance" partner in Gleiss in the first place. Whether a Gleiss hire now is the answer is open to question.

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