Germany has been one of the major battlegrounds between indigenous and Anglo-Saxon firms. There is no disputing that the country’s premier firm, Hengeler Mueller, sits alongside Linklaters and Shearman & Sterling in the global rankings, but for the most part the market has been dominated by new arrivals from the US and the UK.
Gleiss Lutz is effectively ruled out of the list of independents because of its ever-closer ties with Herbert Smith, leaving just a handful of large independent firms still operating in Germany.
