The trial of a former Linklaters partner for allegedly raping an intern at the firm's Oktoberfest party has begun in Germany.

Tax partner 'Thomas E' is accused of raping and causing deliberate bodily harm to a female student in the garden of a Greek restaurant during the Munich office's annual 'After Wiesen' party in 2014. Another Linklaters partner, litigation lawyer Laurenz Schmitt, has already been sentenced to seven months in prison for punching Thomas E three times in the face. Schmitt claimed that he was protecting the intern, who did not remain with the firm, from Thomas E's unwanted advances.

Both partners resigned from Linklaters in October 2014. When Schmitt stood trial in Munich in 2016 he accused Linklaters of botching its internal investigation into the incident, claiming that then-Senior Partner of Germany Dr. Carl-Peter Feick, who now sits on Linklaters' executive board, failed to follow protocol in his interviews with the student. This week, on the first day of Thomas E's trial, Feick testified as a witness that he elevated the matter to the London office after hearing of the incident the day after it happened, and that then-Senior Partner Robert Elliot flew Thomas E to the UK for an hours-long internal hearing.

There was a weird atmosphere even before things turned nasty.

Sentencing Schmitt, Judge Bonkamp said that he "absolutely believed" the student's "very credible" testimony that she had been raped. Thomas E's lawyers told RollOnFriday the allegations were part of a "fatal campaign carried out by Schmitt in an attempt to justify his grievous assault". 

A Linklaters spokesman declined to comment on the basis that the latest trial was continuing.