DWF Europe chair Ulrich Jüngst aims to triple German lawyer headcount and launch in Frankfurt after opening the firm’s second international office since listing on the London Stock Exchange. DWF announced its fourth German base in Düsseldorf in October after taking over six-lawyer corporate boutique Marccus Partners.
While Marccus is not listed in any of the recognised legal directories for Germany, Jüngst described it as ‘a good fit with what we have’. ‘We want to cover the western regions in Germany and it’s much better to do that with integrated offices in Cologne and Düsseldorf,’ he told Legal Business.
The deal brings DWF’s German lawyer headcount up to around 50, spread across an unusual footprint. While international firms have typically prioritised Germany’s financial centre Frankfurt, DWF entered the country in December 2015 with the acquisition of Cologne and Munich-based BridgehouseLaw, followed by the takeover of DLA Piper’s Berlin operations in March 2017.
Following the firm’s £95m initial public offering (IPO) in March, Jüngst said the plan is to build up the German offices substantially: ‘We need 150 lawyers,’ he said, despite declining to commit to a specific time frame. ‘It’s not something you achieve in a couple of months or one year. In the medium term, we are looking to be in Frankfurt.’
As for the rest of the continent, after the £3m acquisition of K&L Gates’ 11-partner Warsaw branch in May the firm will now focus on growing in the western European countries where it already has a presence – France, Italy and Belgium.
‘People are very interested in the IPO,’ said Jüngst. ‘This is something completely new to the market, particularly in continental Europe, so it takes some time to explain it. But generally people like the opportunity to participate in growing the value of the firm. When you retire you have a certain value that you take out and that’s what people are interested in.’