AREAS OF LAW

Robust project management is supported by solid contracts. It can contain valuable explanations and precautions for risks, or even regulate communication in dissent before a conflict arises. A well-drafted contract will help you in all stages of your project, not just support a claim. Contracts can contain valuable explanations or provisions for risks, which provides clarity, especially in complex, international, and cross-border contracts.

Around one-third of the world’s population lives in countries with a common law legal system, including the US, England, and Australia. The majority – including Europe, Asia, and Latin Amerika is dominated by the civil law system that originates in Roman Law. Many legal doctrines are fundamentally different in these two legal systems. For example, the limitation of liability in Terms of References can be unlawful and influence the design of a contract if you are planning cross-border business.

We advise you on designing respective clauses in contracts that help you to define and enforce your interests. This includes for example a preamble that explains your motives and allows legal interpretation even if the “four corner rule” restricts a court solely to the written content and does not allow to consider extraneous evidence. In the civil law system contracts can contain clauses that punish parties if they violate the contract (Vertragsstrafen). Such clauses are not permitted under common law and may be replaced by clauses specifying liquidated damages.

Furthermore, you can use arbitration, conciliation and mediation clauses to manage your communication in the event of a disagreement before a conflict arises. Contracts are no longer solely on paper. We also advise you on digital solutions that are precisely tailored to your situation, technically practicable and legally rigorous.

We help you to define, negotiate and enforce your claims or to defend against claims made against you -– also in international contexts and across legal systems.

In addition to advising on labor law in the German and international context, we advise you on questions of due diligence and offer you our many years of international experience in the design, training and operation of peer support structures within individual groups and entire organizations.

Typically, art law concerns and encompasses topics such as copyright and image rights, insurance law, inheritance law, changes of ownership, authenticity and restitution claims and the protection of cultural property.

In addition to these classic art law topics, we offer you legal project management and accompany your project from inception to completion. This allows you to plan your projects better and assert your claims. You always have an eye on your economic and legal risks and opportunities.
You can find further information under Art Law on this website.

The law of development cooperation does not exist as a separate area of law. Our legal advice in this field is composed of a variety of different legal areas. This includes civil law issues (safeguarding of legal transactions, liability for damages, contract law, labor law, etc.) criminal law (liability issues and special regulations on the immunity of international experts working in the field), and public law (grant law, safeguarding missions under international law through bilateral agreements). Often the question of applicable law is relevant when different legal systems from different countries can be applied and the respective norms are partly contradictory. Here it is important to take precautions by means of clear contractual agreements on the settlement of conflicts and to carry out a careful and comprehensive risk assessment if, for example, the contracts do not contain arbitration clauses. For more information on our offer of legal advice in development cooperation, please click here.