Freshfields has added four new private equity and M&A partners across Germany and Austria, as it moves to rebuild following the defection of four senior PE partners last month to Latham & Watkins.
The new partners include one lateral hire from Kirkland & Ellis in Munich and three internal promotions. Two more existing Freshfields partners resident in Frankfurt and Dusseldorf will now also split their time with the Munich office to boost it further, the firm said.
The moves follow Freshfields – the top M&A firm in Germany by deal value – facing a lack of PE rainmakers in the German market after Latham hired the four-partner team led by former continental Europe managing partner Markus Paul last month.
The group’s exit came amid industry speculation about the balance of Freshfields’ global strategy, with the firm’s focus on US growth – underscored by top-tier hires from Wall Street rivals – raising questions about whether that could mean a slimmed-down presence in continental Europe in the medium term.
Patrick Cichy, head of Freshfields’ corporate/M&A practice in Germany and Austria, said the new partners meant the firm was strengthening its “overall position in M&A and PE”, and increasing its industry expertise across technology, insurance and infrastructure.
Private equity partner Florian Sippel has rejoined the firm in Munich after just over a year at Kirkland and a three-year stint at German firm Noerr. Before that he spent seven years at Freshfields, where his work included advising Permira on its investment in Adevinta in 2021 and Hellman & Friedman on its acquisition of AutoScout24 in 2019.
Freshfields has also promoted M&A lawyer David Schwintowski and transactions lawyer Lukas Treichl to partner in Munich, at the same time elevating Carsten Bork, a private equity M&A specialist, to partner in Frankfurt.
Schwintowski has returned to Munich having most recently been based in Freshfields’ Singapore office; the firm said his elevation meant it now has a partner exclusively dedicated to strategic and transactional advice in the insurance sector. His recent work includes advising Cinven on the sale of Viridium, Germany’s largest life insurer.
Meanwhile Treichl, who will now work across Vienna and Munich having previously been based in the Austrian capital and Berlin, co-leads Freshfields’ Lab initiative, which focuses on developing legaltech solutions. In that role he advises clients on data-driven transformation projects and strategic digital matters, particularly in the automotive industry, and he also advises PE and telecommunications companies on digital infrastructure transactions.
For his part Bork primarily advises cross-border transactions in the infrastructure and energy sectors, particularly for private equity clients, which include CPP Investments, Brookfield, Global Infrastructure Partners and AXA IM.
In addition, Frankfurt-based transactions partner Heiner Braun and Dusseldorf-based Stephan Waldhausen, global co-head of the industrials sector group, will now also work out of Freshfields’ Munich office.
The firm said the new arrivals brought its lawyer headcount in Munich to more than 90, including 19 partners.
“We’re taking our Munich office to a new level,” Cichy said. “We now have even more partners on the ground, further driving international transactions and pushing key future sectors.”
Arend von Riegen, global co-head of Freshfields’ private capital practice group, added: “We are excellently positioned for the future to advise our private capital clients on all topics that are relevant to them. We rely on a cross-generational approach, trusting in established names and emerging talents, all of whom we have trained ourselves – a proven hallmark of quality in the market.”
Freshfields advised on M&A deals with German involvement worth $52.8bn in 2025, according to London Stock Exchange Group, a figure that put it at the top of the market and well ahead of second-placed Hengeler Mueller, which worked on deals worth just over $41bn.
The firm’s boost to its partner bench comes at a time of intense competition for top-of-market PE talent in Germany; the defection of Paul and his team from the firm to Latham came just a few months after a six-lawyer PE team left Latham for Weil. In November Orrick also hired a four-lawyer M&A and PE team in Munich from Norton Rose Fulbright.
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