Latham & Watkins is adding four high-profile corporate partners from Freshfields in a significant Germany move for the U.S.-headquartered firm. The incoming team includes Frankfurt partners Markus Paul and Carsten Haak, both focused on private equity, and Munich-based corporate partners Wessel Heukamp and Verena Nosch.

Paul, previously Freshfields’ Continental Europe managing partner, is a prominent figure in Germany’s private equity market and regularly advises major sponsors, including Permira. In 2023, he led the team advising Permira on its $14 billion acquisition of Norwegian, eBay-backed listings business Adevinta. Chambers & Partners lists Paul as the only “eminent practitioner” in high-end private equity in Germany.

Heukamp is leaving Freshfields after more than 15 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. He currently co-heads Freshfields’ global M&A group and focuses on domestic and cross-border large transactions. Last year, he co-led the team advising Cinven on its $1.5 billion acquisition of Grant Thornton.

Haak, based in Frankfurt, was named one of Law.com’s Private Equity Rising Stars last year. According to his biography on the Freshfields website, he has worked with sponsors including Warburg Pincus, Permira, and TPG. Nosch, who has been at Freshfields for just under seven years, advises primarily on M&A transactions and also focuses on private equity. She previously worked at Hengeler Mueller.

Commenting on the hires, Latham & Watkins chair and managing partner Richard Trobman said: “Markus, Wessel, Verena and Carsten are highly accomplished lawyers with outstanding reputations in the market. They bring deep relationships, top-notch skills and an exceptional track record in sophisticated transactions, further enhancing our ability to deliver the highest level of service to clients. Their arrival represents an important milestone in the continued growth of our private equity and M&A practices in Germany and Europe and further enhances our position as one of the elite M&A law firms globally.”

Latham & Watkins has been building German strength after a series of departures across Europe, including M&A partner Tobias Larisch, who left in 2024 to help Kirkland & Ellis launch a new Frankfurt office. The firm also lost an 11-lawyer bankruptcy and restructuring team to Willkie Farr & Gallagher in June 2024, led by Jörn Kowalewski, Ulrich Klockenbrink, and Hendrik Hauke, along with counsel Jan-Philipp Praß and seven associates. Soon after, partners Oliver Seiler and David Rath left to join White & Case in Frankfurt.

Meanwhile, Freshfields’ shift in growth strategy away from Europe and toward the U.S. market has prompted questions about whether Germany is being deprioritised. That perception intensified when the firm dropped “Bruckhaus” and “Deringer” from its name, the legacy German and Austrian firms with which it merged nearly 25 years ago. Its U.S. expansion has included hires such as Cravath Swaine & Moore alumni Damian Zoubek and Jenny Hochenberg, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton’s Ethan Klingsburg in New York, among other established partners.

At the time, one German partner told Law.com: “The firm has made it clear that the strategy equals the U.S. Does that mean people elsewhere might end up feeling a bit left behind? Maybe.”

A Freshfields spokesperson said: “We wish them all the best.”