Law Firms
Willkie Raids Fried Frank’s Frankfurt Office, Plans to Triple German Troops
Posted Sep 23, 2008, 02:10 pm CST
By Martha Neil
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).
Related Stories
- Clifford Chance Plans to Ax Up to 80 Associates, Asks Partners to Ante Up
31 minutes ago - Obama Battles DC Lawyers Over His BlackBerry
1 hour, 52 minutes ago - Some People Love the Blawg 100 a Little Too Much
Jan 7, 2009, 02:53 pm CST - Detroit’s Clark Hill Opens Arizona Office By Acquiring Norling Kolsrud
Jan 7, 2009, 01:49 pm CST
Related Topics
Commenting has expired on this post.
Comments
Posted by Richard Wadsworth - 3 months, 2 weeks, 21 hours, 17 minutes ago
Golly, this sounds like an episode from an old Nazi war movie! Ya Vole! The title of this article is misleading. I thought we were going toread about STORM TROOPERS rather than legal workers!. Germany has come a long way from the Hitler days, and the men have become very docile. Look at Carla Bruni marrying the president of France.
Posted by scott - 3 months, 2 weeks, 16 hours, 11 minutes ago
I thought the title was very clever and a throwback to the old journalistic catch-headlines such as the famous, “Sticks Nix Hick Pix” that ran in Variety in 1935.