Shearman & Sterling announced Tuesday it plans to shutter two of its three offices in Germany by year-end amid what the firm described as a softening market for high-end legal services in the country. By the time 2013 is over, Shearman’s 31-lawyer Düsseldorf and nine-lawyer Munich outposts will be closed, leaving the firm’s 33-lawyer Frankfurt office as its only location in the country.
"The market environment [in Germany] has changed quite remarkably over the past few years," Shearman senior partner Creighton Condon tells The Am Law Daily. Germany "is well over-lawyered, the fee pressures are enormous, and frankly we’re taking the tough decision and reducing our footprint there."
