Hall Of Fame

Firms To Watch: Advice to individuals

Tilman Reichling, previously at Feigen · Graf Rechtsanwälte, and Johannes Corsten, formerly schilling tute, joined forces in October 2022 and formed the white-collar criminal law boutique Reichling Corsten. Instructions primarily originate from the finance and PE sectors and include ​​individual defence, cum-ex proceedings, criminal tax law matters as well as medical and medical criminal law.
After the split of Ufer Knauer at the turn of the year, Florian Ufer and Norbert Scharf founded the criminal law firm Ufer Scharf Rechtsanwälte Partnergesellschaft mbB, which covers all aspects of white-collar criminal law, including medical criminal law and asset recovery, and thus frequently represents managing directors, executive boards and supervisory boards.

Advice to individuals in Germany

Feigen · Graf Rechtsanwälte

Feigen · Graf Rechtsanwälte is among the top players in the white-collar crime segment and has an excellent reputation both in individual defence and in corporate representation. The founding partners Hanns Feigen and Walther Graf act from their respective locations in Frankfurt and Cologne in antitrust, commercial and tax criminal law proceedings and are supported by the renowned pharmaceutical and environmental criminal lawyer Bernd Groß and Matthias Sartorius, who is well versed in employer-related issues, environmental crimes and medical criminal law as well as the expert in money laundering and occupational safety issues Moritz Lange. The law firm has expanded into southern Germany with the takeover of the former Munich-based ROXIN Rechtsanwälte LLP team in September 2023; the new location is led by Andreas Minkoff, who focuses on administrative offences and internal investigations. Cum-ex continues to ensure strong demand for advice at all three locations, with diesel emissions, Wirecard proceedings and ongoing investigations in the financial sector also contributing to the consistently high workload.

Responsables de la pratique:

Hanns Feigen; Walther Graf; Bernd Groß; Matthias Sartorius; Moritz Lange


Autres avocats clés:

Andreas Minkoff


Les références

‘Bernd Groß, Walther Graf and Matthias Sartorius: Strong individual defenders.’

‘Diverse, represented in every generation, excellent personal and professional collaboration.’

‘Bernd Groß: top dog and an indispensable part of the market.’

LEITNER & KOLLEGEN

Munich-based LEITNER & KOLLEGEN is known for its extensive expertise in commercial and criminal tax law and is active in ​​individual defence in both the financial and industrial sectors, with cum-ex and diesel issues continuing to dominate the workload. In addition, renowned law firms, tax consulting and auditing firms regularly call upon the team's expertise. Practice head Werner Leitner has longstanding expertise in criminal defence and represents individuals and companies in Germany and across Europe. Criminal law specialist Julia Exner-Kuhn and the commercial, criminal tax and medical criminal lawyer Martin Würfel are other key figures.

Responsables de la pratique:

Werner Leitner


Autres avocats clés:

Julia Exner-Kuhn; Martin Würfel


Les références

‘Leitner & Colleagues is a truly outstanding law firm in the area. They are realistic, experienced and understand theory and practice down to the smallest detail. One can see real experience and real commitment to their clients and practice.’

‘Werner Leitner: A truly outstanding practitioner in white collar criminal law. One can immediately see his great experience.’

‘Martin Würfel: A proactive, efficient and empathetic team member.’

Wessing & Partner

Wessing & Partner comprehensively covers all aspects of individual commercial and criminal tax law defence and thus accompanies board members, managing directors and entrepreneurs in allegations of fraud and embezzlement, including cross-border matters. While cum-ex proceedings continue to make up the majority of the caseload, the individual strengths of the team are also utilised in other criminal matters: Heiko Ahlbrecht leads extensive international customs investigations with the involvement of European and domestic public prosecutors; Jürgen Wessing is active in criminal and antitrust proceedings, while Matthias Dann focuses on medical and medical criminal law and Eren Basar assists clients in matters pertaining to cybercrime, IT and data protection.

Autres avocats clés:

Heiko Ahlbrecht; Jürgen Wessing; Matthias Dann; Eren Basar


Les références

‘Heiko Ahlbrecht is very experienced and strategic. Easy to work with and good dealings with clients.’

‘Matthias Dann: Absolutely professionally confident, good overview at all times, fair mandate design. Can be contacted at any time and offers client-oriented solutions.’

‘Exceptionally good client support at all levels. Very personable demeanor. Very focused, solution-oriented, responsive and proactive.’

Kayßer

Commercial and criminal tax law boutique Kayßer, founded in January 2023, is already market-proven as a Klinkert Rechtsanwälte PartGmbB spin-off and offers longstanding experience in individual representation across all stages, including preliminary and appeal proceedings as well as constitutional complaints. Financial, capital markets and environmental crimes as well as embezzlement and data protection proceedings are among the core capacities. The team is led by Marijon Kayßer, who is well versed in embezzlement, fraud, corruption and insolvency crimes, and Stefan Kirsch, who has an excellent reputation in appeal proceedings and international criminal law. Ricarda Schelzke (commercial and criminal tax law, constitutional law and occupational proceedings) and Simon Becker (criminal tax law and internal investigations) made partners in January 2023.

Responsables de la pratique:

Marijon Kayßer; Stefan Kirsch


Autres avocats clés:

Ricarda Schelzke; Simon Becker


Kipper Durth Schott

Kipper Durth Schott has extensive cross-border expertise in commercial and criminal tax law and is instructed by German as well as international clients. In addition to the continued demand for advice on cum-ex matters, the team is also frequently active in defending board members, CEOs and employees against allegations of fraud, sanctions violations, money laundering, embezzlement and tax evasion. Oliver Kipper specialises in national and international criminal law, while Hanno Durth focuses on cybercrime and the protection of trade secrets and Stefanie Schott primarily assists with criminal tax law as well as European and national white-collar criminal law.

Responsables de la pratique:

Oliver Kipper; Hanno Durth; Stefanie Schott


Les références

‘Hanno Durth has very good detailed knowledge, even in exceptionally complex situations.’

‘kipper+durth stands out among German law firms for the breadth of its work in the area of ​​white collar criminal law, including the defense of tax/tax proceedings, extradition and other cross-border activities, as well as in relation to sanctions advice.’

‘They have not lost sight of their clients and are fighting for those who teach them persistently and with impressive knowledge of the German legal system and tactics.’

Langrock Voß & Soyka

Langrock Voß & Soyka focuses on commercial and criminal tax law as well as criminal compliance and is particularly well versed in advising and defending managing directors, board members, employees, tax consultants and wealthy private individuals, which face allegations of fraud, tax evasion and corruption or seek the team's advice on compliance and sanctions violations. Matters pertaining to appeal procedures continue to be an important core strength, where Marc Langrock in particular is the key figure. Marko Voß and Till Soyka regularly act in high-profile large-scale proceedings.

Autres avocats clés:

Marc Langrock; Marko Voß; Till Soyka


Les références

‘Outstanding technical expertise, great experience, very strategically versed.’

‘Till Soyka is certainly one of the best in his field (creative, responsive, team-oriented and extremely clever).’

‘Till Soyka and Marko Voß: Outstanding white-collar criminal lawyers who are also very experienced in civil law and with whom I can therefore work optimally in mandates with both civil and criminal law aspects (e.g. corporate liability cases).’

Beukelmann | Müller | Partner

Beukelmann | Müller | Partner is experienced in defending individuals in complex commercial and criminal tax law proceedings, including in connection with the emissions, Wirecard and cum-ex scandals. The team regularly represents individuals facing allegations of bribery, embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion and is led by the renowned white-collar criminal lawyers Stephan Beukelmann and Maximilian Müller, who are experience in conducting large-scale proceedings.

Responsables de la pratique:

Stephan Beukelmann; Maximilian Müller


Les références

‘The law firm has excellent professional expertise and is also very well positioned in terms of personnel.’

‘Stephan Beukelmann: Extremely technically experienced and an excellent strategist. The collaboration is very pleasant.’

‘One of the leading law firms in Munich. Very good contact with the Munich judiciary.’

Principaux dossiers


  • Representation of an Audi manager in the Stadler trial.

  • Representation of the accused in the Bavarian mask affair.

  • Witness assistance for General Counsel of Wirecard.

FS-PP Berlin Part mbB

FS-PP Berlin Part mbB has experience in cum-ex and diesel emissions proceedings as well as in defending individuals against allegations of illegal employment and criminal tax offences. The competencies of the four-strong team are clearly defined: Rainer Frank is experienced in compliance and whistleblower systems, Niklas Auffermann advises on money laundering offences and white-collar criminal law, Sebastian Vogel specialises in medical and medical criminal law and David Albrecht focuses on occupational proceedings and internal investigations.

Responsables de la pratique:

Rainer Frank; Niklas Auffermann; Sebastian Vogel; David Albrecht


Les références

‘Excellent team, covers all areas perfectly. Very good size, also for spontaneously required resources, etc for internal investigatives. Very agile and quick to deploy.’

‘Niklas Auffermann: One of the best in the industry. Always to the point. Received extremely well by the client. We can recommend him blindly.’

‘The FS-PP team is broadly based and an established player in the Berlin market.’

Heuking

Heuking has longstanding expertise in commercial and criminal tax matters which is utilised in investigations and criminal proceedings, where practice head André-M. Szesny represents managing directors, board members, senior managers and local politicians; most recently, he defended clients across industry groups against allegations of embezzlement, corruption, tax evasion and fraud and was also active in matters pertaining to insolvency crimes, criminal antitrust law, criminal foreign trade law and cum-ex.

Responsables de la pratique:

André-M. Szesny


Rosinus Partner

Rosinus Partner 's commercial and criminal tax law expertise is called upon by a diverse range of private and public individuals in the context of individual defence, including managing directors, PE managers or influencers, which face allegations of commercial and criminal tax law allegations, whereas traditional diesel emissions, cum-ex and cum-cum proceedings continue to contribute to the team's workload. The renowned commercial criminal lawyer Christian Rosinus jointly heads the practice with Mathias Grzesiek, who focuses on criminal IT and cyber crime as well as data protection, while Janina Brandau, who made partner in January 2023, frequently assists with criminal tax law matters.

Responsables de la pratique:

Christian Rosinus; Mathias Grzesiek


Autres avocats clés:

Janina Brandau


Les références

Quick perception.

‘Strong communication skills, dynamic, top professional skills.’

‘Mathias Grzesiek: Technically outstanding, special expertise in IT and cyber criminal law.’

Principaux dossiers


  • Defending the managing director of an international crypto exchange against allegations of money laundering.

  • Advising a managing director of a financial services provider on criminal allegations in connection with the provision of accounts.

  • Defence of a suspect in cum-ex and cum-cum investigations.

ADICK LINKE Rechtsanwälte

ADICK LINKE Rechtsanwälte regularly acts on behalf of clients from the financial sector and utilises the expertise in defending managing directors and board members against allegations of money laundering, tax crimes, corruption, insider trading and cum-ex. The criminal lawyer Markus Adick and lawyer and certified criminal tax law advisor Leonie Linke are the key figures.

Responsables de la pratique:

Markus Adick; Leonie Linke


Les références

‘Outstanding technical expertise, excellent team players.’

‘Small but perfectly coordinated team. A very trusting and effective collaboration is possible with both partners.’

‘Markus Adick: An excellent defender, highly skilled. Can lead clients through difficult situations excellently.’

CCI-LEGAL

With the addition of the renowned Karl-Jörg Xylander fromWhite & Case LLP in March to the team of Jofer, Lajtkep & Colleagues, now CCI-LEGAL, the team strengthened its capacities in defending board members, managing directors, employees and high-profile individuals against allegations of tax crimes, cum-ex, bribery, fraud and environmental crimes. Robert Jofer (white-collar criminal law, investigations in connection with disasters/accidents) and Stefanie Lajtkep (criminal defence and investigations) jointly lead the team. In January 2023, white-collar criminal lawyer Teresa Karrer also joined the practice.

Responsables de la pratique:

Robert Jofer; Stefanie Lajtkep


Autres avocats clés:

Karl-Jörg Xylander; Teresa Karrer


Les références

‘The team is characterized by very high availability/flexibility, strong analytical skills and comprehensive competence and experience in legal issues and litigation.’

‘Robert Jofer: An excellent expert and outstanding advisor and lawyer. His extensive network is an important asset. He knows how strategically balanced, considered and courageous action leads to success and he never loses sight of the other side and resists unnecessary escalations.’

‘Robert Jofer and Stefanie Lajtkep: Highly qualified and at the same time very likeable lawyers who stand out in both professional and human terms. This makes collaboration very productive and pleasant, even when problems arise.’

Principaux dossiers


  • Representing both managing directors of an international company producing vehicle parts and technical equipment as defendants on suspicion of evading corporate tax and profit distributions amounting to millions.

  • Criminal proceedings for breach of trust in numerous cases amounting to millions and bribery against the former CEO of a savings bank.

  • Representing the CEO of an investment company in an investigation into suspected investment fraud involving more than €100 million.

Lilie Ihwas

White-collar criminal law boutique Lilie Ihwas is experienced in the banking and finance industry and advises individuals on tax and white-collar criminal matters. The practice has a strong presence in cum-ex proceedings and other traditional corporate criminal law matters pertaining to fraud, bribery and embezzlement; Saleh Ihwas has expertise in criminal IT and data protection law and  Astrid Lilie focuses on criminal tax, banking and capital market law.

Responsables de la pratique:

Saleh Ihwas; Astrid Lilie


MELCHERS Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB

MELCHERS Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB acts from Mannheim and demonstrates strength in the support and defence of individuals in all phases of criminal and administrative proceedings, particularly allegations of fraud, tax evasion and corruption. The commercial and criminal tax law specialists Konrad Schmidt, Hanja Rebell-Houben and Norbert Stegemann are regularly instructed by managing directors, board members and employees.

Autres avocats clés:

Konrad Schmidt; Hanja Rebell-Houben; Norbert Stegemann


Principaux dossiers


  • Defence of a managing director in the Wirecard proceedings.