Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer‘s German corporate practice may have had a storming year, but according to figures published by German legal magazine JuVe, there is a marked difference between the profitability of the firm’s various German offices.
As revealed by The Lawyer (21 July), the German corporate practice posted figures close to those of London for the first time since the merger.
Equally important for Germany are the inter-office figures, because traditionally, Bruckhaus Deringer offices have competed against each other for work, something the London management has tried hard to clamp down on.
The results indicate that Munich is easily the star performer of the group, while Freshfields’ Frankfurt office, which dominates the firm’s corporate practice, has had a poor year.
The Munich corporate team beat its budget by 40 per cent, billing E12m (£8.4m), and was also the most profitable German office.
Frankfurt, where the firm’s new head of corporate Andreas Fabritius is a partner, billed E43m (£30.1m), but only marginally beat its budget. It was also the least profitable practice after Berlin on profits per partner, beaten by Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne and Munich.
Düsseldorf and Cologne performed well, billing E33m (£23.1m) and E12m (£8.4m) each and exceeding budget by 18 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
The worst performer was Berlin, which came in under budget, but Germany’s capital city is a very difficult market.