Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has lost another partner in Germany, with corporate lawyer Christoph Nawroth exiting for Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF).

Nawroth is the latest in a string of exits from the magic circle firm’s German practice following the decision to merge its offices in Cologne and Düsseldorf last November.

Munich-based corporate partner Ferdinand Fromholzer is leaving for Gibson Dunn & Crutcher this summer, while Latham & Watkins also picked up competition partner Michael Esser in May.

The departures followed Freshfields’ co-head of energy and natural resources Anselm Raddatz leaving for Clifford Chance at the end of last year.

Corporate partner Nawroth is co-head of Freshfields’ power and utilities group and infrastructure funds practice, based in Düsseldorf.

He has been at the firm for his entire career and trained in Freshfields’ New York office during 1999. Six years later, he worked in the magic circle firm’s London base for several months, before moving back to Düsseldorf in 2005.

He will join HSF’s Düsseldorf office, which opened in February after the hire of Thomas Weimann from Clifford Chance.

Other new joiners include Baker & McKenzie’s EMEA M&A chair Sönke Becker, who joined HSF’s Düsseldorf office in May, as well as nine-strong arbitration team from boutique Acker Görling & Schmalz.