Baker McKenzie Vienna office managing partner Stefan Riegler is set to leave the firm to join his former firm Wolf Theiss.

The move, which was first reported by Juve, comes just over four months after Reigler was appointed to head the office in July 2017.

Reigler will be returning to his old firm, which he left in 2005 to join Baker McKenzie. He was made partner in 2009.

Wolf-Theiss managing partner Erik Steger said: “Strengthening our team with Stefan Riegler is a particularly strong signal, both for our dispute resolutions practice as well as for our entire operations in Vienna. We are indeed extremely delighted.”

He joins the firm’s arbitration team, which includes Budapest-based partners Zoltan Faludi  and Gabor Bardosi; Vienna-based partner Thomas Anderl; Warsaw partners Peter Daszkowski and Marcin Aslanowicz (Warsaw); Bucharest partner Ligia Popescu; Zagreb-based partner Dalibor Valincic; Belgrade partner Vidak Kovacecic; and Kiev-based partner Taras Dumych.

At Bakers, Riegler was one of the partners responsible for the development of the arbitration practice in Vienna for the last 12 years.

At the time of his appointment to office managing partner, Reigler said that he would focus on hiring talent and professional development within his remit.

This is the second European management change for Bakers in three months, after Madrid managing partner Jose Maria Alonso Puig stepped down and was replaced by partner Rodrigo Ogea in September.

Bakers has also lost several partners across its European operations in the last few months. According to data collated by The Lawyer, the firm lost three finance partners to Ashurst in Germany in August; four tax partners in the Netherlands to Dentons and one further banking and finance partner and an associate to Dentons in Germany in March.

Baker McKenzie EMEA chair Gary Senior stepped down as part of leadership changes last month following the election of Paul Rawlinson as global chair.

A Baker McKenzie spokesperson said: “We thank Stefan for his contribution and wish him the best for the future.”