Former King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) Germany head Sonya Pauls has exited the firm for Clifford Chance.

The exit comes as KWM faces significant upheaval in its UK, Europe and Middle East business following a number of big-hitter exits and two redundancy consultations.

KWM has also restructured its European operations including implementing a capital call that saw partners pay in an extra £14m to the firm.

Pauls is known in the German market for advising private equity houses and investment funds including Rocket Internet, Genui, LakeStar and Montana Capital Partners, according to German legal magazine JuVe.

The Munich-based lawyer was named German managing partner in February 2014 alongside Frankfurt partner Stefan Kruger. The focus on Munich and Frankfurt led KWM to close its Berlin office one month later.

Her departure follows a number of other local exits including banking and capital markets partner Hilger von Livonius to K&L Gates, and German corporate head Julian Lemor, who exited with a team for Mayer Brown.

Pauls joins Clifford Chance’s investment funds team, which is made up of six partners and 19 lawyers.

She is the second high-profile hire for the team in 12 months following Clifford Chance hiring M&A heavyweight Anselm Raddatz from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in November.

Pauls is expected to join her new firm in October. Clifford Chance has also experienced upheaval in Germany in recent years following a review of its operations in 2014 that saw nine partners asked to leave the firm. The review led to a string of big-name exits in the region, including Oliver Felsenstein and Burc Hesse who left for Latham & Watkins last year.