Niche M&A and tax firm to launch in Germany

A new German firm, headed by leading tax lawyer Reinhold Pollath, launches this week in Munich and Berlin .

The firm re-unites Pollath with eight partners from his former Munich firm RAdler Raupach Bezzenberger, which became Oppenhoff & RAdler.

Pollath left RAdler Raupach in 1992 to go in-house and eventually became "of counsel" at the Munich office of Doser Amereller Noack/Baker & McKenzie before leaving in October last year to set up his own firm. He has created a stir in the German legal market by recruiting his highly-regarded former colleagues in Munich from Oppenhoff and Baker & McKenzie.

Pollath said he wanted to operate from a boutique practice where administration and management could be kept to a minimum. He said: "There are no partners' meetings, no time spent on administration or policies - we just want to work."

His firm has already been in operation for some months and his presence and that of Dr Andreas Rodin and Dr Matthias Bruse have helped it gain a reputation for M&A and international tax work. The firm shares its Berlin office with leading French practice Bureau Francis Lefebvre, but it has no other official ties with foreign firms.

Partner Philipp von Braunschweig said: "It is not the policy of the firm to enter into talks with other firms when we are at such an early stage ourselves."

A celebratory launch conference will be held in Berlin on Tuesday and Munich on Thursday. Joschka Fischer of the German Green Party - tipped to become the country's foreign minister after the September elections - will be speaking at the Berlin function, and Dr Kurt Falthauser, a tax expert in the Bavarian government will speak in Munich. Both will talk on the politics and practicalities of tax reform in Germany.