Freshfields’ efforts to restore its German private equity (PE) practice have suffered another setback, with partner Florian Sippel leaving less than a year after joining from Kirkland & Ellis.
Following the loss of four senior dealmakers to Latham & Watkins in late 2025, the departure raises fresh questions about the firm’s ability to rebuild its transactional bench and retain key talent in one of Europe’s most competitive legal markets.
A short-lived return to Freshfields
Freshfields has suffered a new setback in its German private equity practice with the departure of Dr Florian Sippel, who joined the firm’s Munich office from Kirkland & Ellis in early 2026. According to German legal publication JUVE, Freshfields confirmed his departure but declined to comment on the reasons behind it.
The move is particularly notable given the strategic importance attached to Sippel’s recruitment. Having previously spent seven years at Freshfields in Frankfurt, Munich and London, he was viewed as a relatively straightforward addition to the firm’s partnership. His appointment was intended to help restore the firm’s private equity capabilities after a series of high-profile departures in Germany.
Sippel’s exit after approximately nine months therefore raises a difficult question for Freshfields: how effectively can the firm rebuild its German private equity franchise if the partners recruited to strengthen it do not remain in place?
The aftermath of the Latham raid
The latest departure follows one of the most significant partner moves in the German legal market in recent years. In December 2025, Latham & Watkins recruited four prominent Freshfields partners: Markus Paul, the firm’s former managing partner for Continental Europe; Wessel Heukamp, former co-head of its global M&A practice; Verena Nosch; and Carsten Haak.
The departures represented more than a loss of headcount. The four lawyers brought substantial experience in private equity, leveraged buyouts and high-value M&A, together with established relationships with major financial sponsors.
Among the transactions associated with the team were Permira and Blackstone’s €14 billion acquisition of Adevinta and Cinven’s acquisition of Grant Thornton Germany. The loss of such experienced dealmakers raised concerns about Freshfields’ ability to preserve its position in the German sponsor market.
The move also intensified a broader debate over the strategic direction of Freshfields, as the firm continued to invest heavily in its US platform. Questions emerged over whether its international growth ambitions could create tensions with its established European businesses.
A rebuild that is proving harder than expected
Freshfields responded swiftly to the December departures. In January 2026, the firm announced Sippel’s arrival from Kirkland & Ellis, alongside three internal partner promotions: David Schwintowski, Lukas Treichl and Carsten Bork. It also arranged for two existing partners to spend part of their time in Munich to reinforce the office.
The firm subsequently recruited Daniel Möritz from Hengeler Mueller. Announced in June, the appointment brought a partner with nearly 15 years of experience at one of Germany’s leading corporate law firms, strengthening Freshfields’ private equity capabilities in Munich.
These moves demonstrated that Freshfields was not abandoning its ambitions in the German market. However, Sippel’s departure complicates the picture. While internal promotions can help secure succession and continuity, replacing established rainmakers requires more than rebuilding the formal partnership structure: client relationships, deal origination and the ability to attract major sponsors are equally important.
The challenge is particularly acute in private equity, where teams often operate around long-standing relationships between investors and individual partners. Reconstructing those relationships after a major team departure can take time, even for a firm with Freshfields’ international reach.
A wider question over Freshfields’ direction
The developments in Germany are unfolding against a broader period of partner turnover at Freshfields. In September 2026, another partner departure in London was reported amid wider exits across the firm’s international network. The firm has also undergone changes to its partner remuneration structure, with reporting in the Financial Times in July highlighting equity-partner exits and reductions in equity stakes as part of a performance-focused overhaul.
These developments do not, on their own, establish a single cause for the departures. Nevertheless, they provide a wider context for assessing the firm’s ability to retain senior talent while pursuing an ambitious international strategy.
For Freshfields, the central issue is not simply the number of partners leaving or joining. It is whether the firm can maintain a coherent strategic proposition across its established European markets while investing in growth elsewhere. The German private equity business, in particular, depends on the combination of institutional strength, experienced dealmakers and trusted relationships with major investors.
Freshfields remains a major force in German M&A, and its recent appointments show that the firm continues to invest in the market. Yet the loss of four senior partners to Latham & Watkins, followed by the departure of a key recruit after only nine months, makes the rebuilding process more uncertain.
The question now is whether Freshfields can turn its recruitment drive into a stable, competitive private equity platform — or whether further departures will continue to undermine its efforts to regain momentum.
Sophie Stevenard