Ralf Thaeter, a managing partner at British law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, is keen to point out that the bottled water at his new German office was sourced from Berlin.

Most lawyers would not think about where the liquids come from, and more often than not, the water is Vittel from France or San Pellegrino from Italy.

But Herbert Smith Freehills, which was founded in 1882, wants to make it clear that it takes seriously the local environmentalist leanings at its first German offices, which opened in Berlin and Frankfurt last year after a merger with its long-term German partner firm Gleiss Lutz failed.

The law firm is one of several that have recently opened in Berlin. Frankfurt has long been the traditional center for corporate law firms in Germany, which want to stay near the companies they represent, but now a new wave of companies is setting up base in the German capital.

In 2013, four new international law firms opened offices in Berlin. While some had already worked in the market through collaborations with German partner firms, others are entering a new market that may appear saturated from an outsider’s perspective.

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