Willkie Raids Fried Frank’s Frankfurt Office, Plans to Triple German Troops

Willkie Farr & Gallagher has lured a capital markets star from the Frankfurt, Germany, office of Fried Frank, as part of a growth plan that reportedly could triple the New York City-based firm's German practice within the next few years.

Michael Schlitt, who currently heads the German capital markets practice for Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, will soon be moving to Willkie Farr, perhaps with as many as six other attorneys, reports the Lawyer. The move potentially strips the Frankfurt office of Fried Frank not only of a star partner (two partners remain) but, if all six capital markets associates move with Schlitt, half of the office's 13 associates.

"Our goal is to become the leading German transactional boutique," Mario Schmidt, a corporate partner at Willkie's office in Frankfurt, tells the legal publication. "We will not become a Clifford [Chance] or a Hengeler [Mueller], but we want to be a speedboat with great people—an alternative to the large firms."

Within the next two years, Willkie hopes to have between 80 and 100 lawyers in Germany, up from about 30 right now, Schmidt tells the Lawyer.

Schlitt joined the 650-attorney Fried Frank, which also has its largest office in New York, last year. At that point, he was moving with a five-lawyer team from Allen & Overy, where he also headed the London-based magic circle firm's German capital markets practice, Fried Frank reported in an Aug. 1, 2007 press release.

His move to 600-attorney Willkie will be effective Oct. 1, the firm says in a press release (PDF).