Hogan Lovells is expanding its private equity practice in Germany with key hires, including former Kirkland & Ellis partner David Huthmacher who started work last week, and two others who joined from EY's legal arm.

Huthmacher, who will be based in Munich, joins alongside EY’s Philipp Feigen and Maximilian Menges, who also join as partners and will work out of Hamburg. Feigen, who since 2019 has headed EY’s private equity hub for northern and eastern Germany, takes over as head of Hogan Lovells’ Germany private equity practice.

The newly-minted team know each other from law school and previous deals.

Hogan Lovells’ hiring strategy is aimed at solidifying its footprint in the competitive European market and Germany, its largest economy.

“Hogan is investing heavily into their PE capabilities and wants to catch up to the other international firms,” Huthmacher told Law.com International. “A full-service firm is helpful for a lot of clients in the mid-cap market who don’t like the boutique style of bigger U.S. firms where you need to hire a specialist from a different firm.”

Hogan Lovells hinted at further German expansion in 2025.

"Continuing to build out our global private equity capabilities in key markets is a priority for the firm and these hires are an important milestone in our vision to build a market-leading PE practice in Germany,” said James Doyle, global head of the corporate and finance practice group.

Huthmacher developed a broad practice while at Kirkland & Ellis, focusing mainly on advising private equity fund clients on national and cross-border M&A and private equity transactions. Huthmacher said his goal is to work on transactions involving multiple European jurisdictions, a challenge the Chicago-headquartered firm wasn’t offering.

In a statement, Feigen and Menges added: "We very much look forward to becoming part of an integrated European private equity practice and collaborating with our new colleagues to generate opportunities both in the private capital sector and across the wider corporate and finance practice in Germany and beyond.“

The three appointments follow the August hiring of former Freshfields attorney Mesut Korkmaz as a partner to build out the M&A practice in Germany.