JURISDICTION · CENTRAL EUROPE
Cross-Border
Legal Counsel in Germany
Enforcement, complex commercial litigation, and post-M&A disputes before German courts — coordinated as part of a cross-border strategy, not handled in isolation.
Since 2011
boutique international counsel
boutique international counsel
Partner-led
one partner owns your matter
one partner owns your matter
35+
jurisdictions covered
jurisdictions covered
Germany is one of the most active jurisdictions in VLO's cross-border practice. As Europe's largest economy and the commercial hub of the continent, it features in a high proportion of the disputes we coordinate: enforcement against German-domiciled debtors, litigation arising from German-law contracts, and post-acquisition conflicts where a German subsidiary or holding company sits inside a wider international group.
What distinguishes our German work is that it is handled directly. Our Central Europe desk is led by a German-qualified partner who appears before German courts and works in German, rather than relaying instructions through an unfamiliar local agent and adding a layer of translation, delay, and lost nuance. For a foreign client, this is the difference between a German matter that is genuinely managed and one that is merely forwarded.
Equally important is that Germany is rarely the whole picture. The disputes that bring clients to us usually have a German component alongside obligations, assets, or counterparties in other jurisdictions. A judgment obtained in one country may need enforcement in Germany; an arbitral award may require recognition here while assets are simultaneously pursued elsewhere; a corporate dispute may centre on a German entity whose parent and financing sit abroad. We treat the German element as one coordinated part of a single strategy, owned by one partner, rather than as a standalone engagement billed separately from the rest.
What distinguishes our German work is that it is handled directly. Our Central Europe desk is led by a German-qualified partner who appears before German courts and works in German, rather than relaying instructions through an unfamiliar local agent and adding a layer of translation, delay, and lost nuance. For a foreign client, this is the difference between a German matter that is genuinely managed and one that is merely forwarded.
Equally important is that Germany is rarely the whole picture. The disputes that bring clients to us usually have a German component alongside obligations, assets, or counterparties in other jurisdictions. A judgment obtained in one country may need enforcement in Germany; an arbitral award may require recognition here while assets are simultaneously pursued elsewhere; a corporate dispute may centre on a German entity whose parent and financing sit abroad. We treat the German element as one coordinated part of a single strategy, owned by one partner, rather than as a standalone engagement billed separately from the rest.
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VLO IN GERMANY
Send a Germany brief
How we work in Germany
LEGAL SYSTEM
What foreign parties need to know about Germany
Germany follows the civil-law tradition, with private law codified across its Civil Code and Commercial Code, and procedure governed by the Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozessordnung, the ZPO). For a foreign party, the first thing to understand is that German civil litigation is decided entirely by professional, career judges. There is no civil jury. Cases are resolved on the documents and the law, with oral hearings serving to clarify and test the written submissions rather than to perform for a lay tribunal. This makes German litigation comparatively predictable: outcomes turn on the quality of the legal argument and the documentary record, not on advocacy theatrics.
The court structure runs in tiers. Most commercial disputes of significant value begin in the Regional Courts (Landgerichte), many of which operate specialised chambers for commercial matters (Kammern für Handelssachen) where experienced judges sit. Appeals proceed to the Higher Regional Courts (Oberlandesgerichte), and points of law of fundamental importance may reach the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof), Germany's highest court for civil and commercial matters. Understanding which tier a dispute belongs in, and how appeal rights shape settlement leverage, is part of the early strategic work on any German matter.
Two features of German procedure matter most for foreign clients making decisions about whether and how to litigate. The first is the loser-pays cost regime: the unsuccessful party generally bears the statutory costs of both sides, calculated by reference to the amount in dispute. This makes early, honest merits assessment financially consequential — it disciplines weak claims and rewards well-prepared ones, and it shapes settlement dynamics throughout. The second is the relative efficiency of the commercial chambers in the major Regional Courts, which by international standards move with reasonable speed and apply commercial law with genuine expertise.
Germany has also responded to international competition for cross-border disputes by establishing English-language commercial proceedings in several states, allowing certain international commercial matters to be conducted substantially in English. For foreign parties wary of conducting a dispute entirely in German, this is a meaningful development, though the underlying procedure and substantive law remain German. We advise on whether these forums fit a given matter as part of forum strategy.
The court structure runs in tiers. Most commercial disputes of significant value begin in the Regional Courts (Landgerichte), many of which operate specialised chambers for commercial matters (Kammern für Handelssachen) where experienced judges sit. Appeals proceed to the Higher Regional Courts (Oberlandesgerichte), and points of law of fundamental importance may reach the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof), Germany's highest court for civil and commercial matters. Understanding which tier a dispute belongs in, and how appeal rights shape settlement leverage, is part of the early strategic work on any German matter.
Two features of German procedure matter most for foreign clients making decisions about whether and how to litigate. The first is the loser-pays cost regime: the unsuccessful party generally bears the statutory costs of both sides, calculated by reference to the amount in dispute. This makes early, honest merits assessment financially consequential — it disciplines weak claims and rewards well-prepared ones, and it shapes settlement dynamics throughout. The second is the relative efficiency of the commercial chambers in the major Regional Courts, which by international standards move with reasonable speed and apply commercial law with genuine expertise.
Germany has also responded to international competition for cross-border disputes by establishing English-language commercial proceedings in several states, allowing certain international commercial matters to be conducted substantially in English. For foreign parties wary of conducting a dispute entirely in German, this is a meaningful development, though the underlying procedure and substantive law remain German. We advise on whether these forums fit a given matter as part of forum strategy.
ENFORCEMENT & RECOGNITION
Enforcing judgments and awards in Germany
Enforcement is where Germany's role in cross-border disputes most often becomes decisive, because so many international debtors hold assets, bank accounts, or operating subsidiaries here. The applicable framework depends on what you are enforcing and where it came from.
For civil and commercial judgments from other European Union member states, recognition and enforcement run through the Brussels Ia Regulation (Recast). In practical terms, this means a qualifying judgment from one member state can be enforced in Germany without separate exequatur proceedings: the creditor applies directly to the competent German enforcement authority, and the burden falls on the debtor to raise one of the limited grounds on which enforcement may be refused — such as a genuine conflict with German public policy, or defective service of the original proceedings. The Brussels Ia regime is designed to make intra-EU enforcement efficient, and German courts apply it as intended.
For arbitral awards, whether domestic or foreign, recognition is governed by the New York Convention, to which Germany is a long-standing and reliable party. German courts apply the Convention's narrow refusal grounds without the hostility seen in some jurisdictions, and the German judiciary is consistently supportive of arbitration. An award creditor seeking to reach German assets will need a recognition step, but it is a well-trodden and predictable one.
For judgments from outside the EU and outside any applicable bilateral treaty, recognition follows German domestic rules on the recognition of foreign judgments, which examine matters such as the jurisdiction of the originating court, proper service, and consistency with German public policy. This route is more involved than intra-EU enforcement and demands careful preparation of the recognition application.
In our experience, the legal test is rarely the hard part. The real work of enforcement in Germany is locating enforceable assets, sequencing the application so that the debtor cannot dissipate assets before execution bites, and anticipating the procedural defences a sophisticated debtor will raise to create delay. Where there is a risk of dissipation, securing protective measures early — before the debtor is alerted — can determine whether the eventual judgment is worth anything. We build the asset picture and the procedural sequence into the strategy from the outset, rather than treating enforcement as an afterthought once a judgment is in hand.
For civil and commercial judgments from other European Union member states, recognition and enforcement run through the Brussels Ia Regulation (Recast). In practical terms, this means a qualifying judgment from one member state can be enforced in Germany without separate exequatur proceedings: the creditor applies directly to the competent German enforcement authority, and the burden falls on the debtor to raise one of the limited grounds on which enforcement may be refused — such as a genuine conflict with German public policy, or defective service of the original proceedings. The Brussels Ia regime is designed to make intra-EU enforcement efficient, and German courts apply it as intended.
For arbitral awards, whether domestic or foreign, recognition is governed by the New York Convention, to which Germany is a long-standing and reliable party. German courts apply the Convention's narrow refusal grounds without the hostility seen in some jurisdictions, and the German judiciary is consistently supportive of arbitration. An award creditor seeking to reach German assets will need a recognition step, but it is a well-trodden and predictable one.
For judgments from outside the EU and outside any applicable bilateral treaty, recognition follows German domestic rules on the recognition of foreign judgments, which examine matters such as the jurisdiction of the originating court, proper service, and consistency with German public policy. This route is more involved than intra-EU enforcement and demands careful preparation of the recognition application.
In our experience, the legal test is rarely the hard part. The real work of enforcement in Germany is locating enforceable assets, sequencing the application so that the debtor cannot dissipate assets before execution bites, and anticipating the procedural defences a sophisticated debtor will raise to create delay. Where there is a risk of dissipation, securing protective measures early — before the debtor is alerted — can determine whether the eventual judgment is worth anything. We build the asset picture and the procedural sequence into the strategy from the outset, rather than treating enforcement as an afterthought once a judgment is in hand.
DISPUTE RESOLUTION FORUMS
Where Germany disputes are resolved
Germany offers foreign parties a genuine choice between litigation and arbitration, and the choice is often made long before a dispute arises, in the drafting of the contract. We advise on both the forum-selection decision and the conduct of proceedings in whichever forum applies.
For arbitration, the German Arbitration Institute (Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit, the DIS) is the principal domestic institution, with modern rules and a strong reputation for handling complex commercial and post-M&A disputes. Germany is also a frequent seat for ICC proceedings involving European parties, and the German courts that supervise arbitration are reliably pro-arbitration in their approach to challenges, interim measures, and enforcement. For a foreign party, a German seat offers the combination of a sophisticated arbitral culture and a supervisory judiciary that will not undermine the process.
For litigation, the commercial chambers of the Regional Courts in the major commercial centres — Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf — are experienced in cross-border matters and apply commercial law with real depth. The newer English-language international commercial proceedings, available in several states, are designed to make German courts an attractive venue for international disputes that might otherwise drift to London or Singapore. Which forum is right depends on the nature of the dispute, the governing law, the need for confidentiality, the importance of an enforceable cross-border outcome, and the realistic timetable. We work through that analysis with clients rather than defaulting to whichever forum is most familiar.
For arbitration, the German Arbitration Institute (Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit, the DIS) is the principal domestic institution, with modern rules and a strong reputation for handling complex commercial and post-M&A disputes. Germany is also a frequent seat for ICC proceedings involving European parties, and the German courts that supervise arbitration are reliably pro-arbitration in their approach to challenges, interim measures, and enforcement. For a foreign party, a German seat offers the combination of a sophisticated arbitral culture and a supervisory judiciary that will not undermine the process.
For litigation, the commercial chambers of the Regional Courts in the major commercial centres — Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf — are experienced in cross-border matters and apply commercial law with real depth. The newer English-language international commercial proceedings, available in several states, are designed to make German courts an attractive venue for international disputes that might otherwise drift to London or Singapore. Which forum is right depends on the nature of the dispute, the governing law, the need for confidentiality, the importance of an enforceable cross-border outcome, and the realistic timetable. We work through that analysis with clients rather than defaulting to whichever forum is most familiar.
WHEN CLIENTS COME TO US
Common Germany scenarios
ENFORCEMENT AGAINST A GERMAN DEBTOR
You hold a judgment or arbitral award against a company or individual with assets, accounts, or a subsidiary in Germany. We coordinate recognition under Brussels Ia or the New York Convention, build the picture of enforceable assets, and move to execution — while pre-empting the procedural defences a sophisticated debtor will raise to create delay. Where dissipation is a risk, we move for protective measures before the debtor is alerted.
GERMAN-LAW CONTRACT DISPUTE
Your contract is governed by German law or contains a German jurisdiction clause, and a dispute has arisen over performance, termination, or damages. We litigate before the relevant Regional Court commercial chamber, or in arbitration if the contract so provides, integrating the German proceedings with the wider strategy where the dispute touches obligations or assets in other jurisdictions.
POST-ACQUISITION DISPUTE WITH A GERMAN NEXUS
An earn-out, warranty, representations, or MAC dispute has emerged following a transaction involving a German target or subsidiary. We coordinate the German-law component with the forum specified in the SPA's governing-law clause — which is frequently not German — so the two halves of the dispute work together rather than against each other.
CROSS-BORDER GROUP DISPUTE CENTRED ON A GERMAN ENTITY
A shareholder conflict, director-liability claim, or financing dispute centres on a German company whose parent, lenders, or co-investors sit abroad. We act on the German entity while coordinating the parallel claims and enforcement strategy across the other affected jurisdictions, so the group dispute is managed as one matter.
ILLUSTRATIVE MATTER
What a Germany engagement looks like
SECTORS & MATTER TYPES
The Germany matters we see most
The German matters that reach us cluster in a recognisable set of sectors and situations, and understanding which one a matter belongs to shapes the strategy from the first conversation. Industrial and manufacturing disputes are among the most common: supply-chain failures, long-term supply and distribution agreements, and warranty and product-liability claims arising from Germany's large Mittelstand and its export-oriented industrial base. These matters often turn on the interplay between a German-law master agreement and performance or assets located elsewhere.
A second cluster is financial and corporate: shareholder disputes in German entities, director-liability claims, financing and security enforcement, and the post-acquisition disputes that follow cross-border M&A involving German targets. Here the German company is frequently one node in a group whose parent, lenders, and co-investors sit in other jurisdictions, and the German proceedings must be sequenced with claims and enforcement elsewhere.
A third cluster is enforcement and recovery: creditors — banks, credit funds, trade counterparties, and successful claimants from foreign proceedings — seeking to reach German assets held by a debtor who may have structured those assets to resist recovery. Germany's position as an asset-holding jurisdiction makes it a frequent destination for enforcement campaigns that began with a judgment or award obtained abroad. We also see technology, intellectual property, and licensing disputes, particularly where German operating entities are part of wider European IP-protection or anti-infringement strategies.
We are candid about the matters we are not the right firm for. We do not handle high-volume, low-value debt collection, routine regulatory compliance filing, or domestic German consumer matters. Our work is the complex, cross-border dispute where a German component sits inside a larger international picture — and where partner-level attention and coordination justify the engagement.
A second cluster is financial and corporate: shareholder disputes in German entities, director-liability claims, financing and security enforcement, and the post-acquisition disputes that follow cross-border M&A involving German targets. Here the German company is frequently one node in a group whose parent, lenders, and co-investors sit in other jurisdictions, and the German proceedings must be sequenced with claims and enforcement elsewhere.
A third cluster is enforcement and recovery: creditors — banks, credit funds, trade counterparties, and successful claimants from foreign proceedings — seeking to reach German assets held by a debtor who may have structured those assets to resist recovery. Germany's position as an asset-holding jurisdiction makes it a frequent destination for enforcement campaigns that began with a judgment or award obtained abroad. We also see technology, intellectual property, and licensing disputes, particularly where German operating entities are part of wider European IP-protection or anti-infringement strategies.
We are candid about the matters we are not the right firm for. We do not handle high-volume, low-value debt collection, routine regulatory compliance filing, or domestic German consumer matters. Our work is the complex, cross-border dispute where a German component sits inside a larger international picture — and where partner-level attention and coordination justify the engagement.
HOW COORDINATION WORKS
One partner, one strategy — across every jurisdiction
Clients frequently ask how a boutique firm coordinates a matter that touches Germany alongside several other jurisdictions, and the honest answer is that the coordination model is itself a large part of what we deliver. The principle is simple: one VLO partner owns the strategy and the client relationship for the entire matter, and any local counsel engaged in Germany or elsewhere act under that partner's instructions and report through us — not directly to you in parallel, uncoordinated streams.
In Germany specifically, our Central Europe desk is German-qualified and handles the substantive proceedings directly, so for the German component there is usually no separate local agent to coordinate at all. Where a matter requires a specialist we do not have in-house — for example, a niche regulatory or criminal dimension — we engage and manage that specialist rather than handing you a referral and stepping back. You receive one consolidated set of updates, one coherent strategy, and one point of accountability.
This model matters most precisely when a matter spans borders. The most common failure we are asked to rescue is the situation where a client has separately instructed firms in three or four countries, each competent in its own jurisdiction, none of them owning the overall strategy — and the result is parallel proceedings that work against each other, inconsistent positions, duplicated cost, and missed sequencing. Treating the German element as one coordinated part of a single mandate is how that failure is avoided.
In Germany specifically, our Central Europe desk is German-qualified and handles the substantive proceedings directly, so for the German component there is usually no separate local agent to coordinate at all. Where a matter requires a specialist we do not have in-house — for example, a niche regulatory or criminal dimension — we engage and manage that specialist rather than handing you a referral and stepping back. You receive one consolidated set of updates, one coherent strategy, and one point of accountability.
This model matters most precisely when a matter spans borders. The most common failure we are asked to rescue is the situation where a client has separately instructed firms in three or four countries, each competent in its own jurisdiction, none of them owning the overall strategy — and the result is parallel proceedings that work against each other, inconsistent positions, duplicated cost, and missed sequencing. Treating the German element as one coordinated part of a single mandate is how that failure is avoided.
OUR APPROACH
How a Germany matter is run
Germany rewards procedural precision and early strategic clarity. We scope the German issues alongside every other jurisdiction in play, deliver a strategy memo with a procedural map and fee structure within five business days, run the German proceedings through our German-qualified desk, and report to you in English with consolidated updates rather than separate communications from disconnected firms.
SCOPING
Map the Germany issues and any other jurisdictions involved
STRATEGY MEMO
Procedural map, merits, fees — within 5 business days
EXECUTION
Central Europe desk leads; local counsel coordinated by VLO
RESOLUTION
Settlement, award, or judgment — reported in English
Katharina Berg
Matters in Germany are coordinated through the Central Europe desk. For a matter routed to Katharina, use the main contact form — enquiries are routed by jurisdiction and practice area.
PARTNER · CENTRAL EUROPE
KB
GERMANY DESK LEAD
WHY VLO FOR GERMANY
What we bring to a Germany matter
German legal proceedings reward two things above all: procedural precision and early strategic clarity. The loser-pays regime means that a weak claim is expensive and a well-prepared one is rewarded; the document-driven procedure means that cases are won or lost on the quality of the legal argument and the documentary record long before any hearing. A foreign party who treats a German matter casually, or hands it to whoever is cheapest and nearest, tends to discover these realities too late.
VLO's value in Germany rests on two pillars. The first is that the matter is handled directly by a German-qualified partner who appears before German courts and works in the language and procedure of the forum — not relayed through an intermediary. The second is cross-border coordination: in the great majority of our German matters, Germany is one component of a dispute that spans several jurisdictions, and the German element only delivers value if it is sequenced correctly with everything else. The same partner who runs the German proceedings sees the whole map.
For General Counsel and CFOs of international groups, this means a single accountable relationship for the German component of a cross-border matter, transparent fees agreed at the outset, and the discretion that sensitive commercial disputes require. You are not managing a panel of disconnected local firms and hoping they coordinate; you are working with one team that owns the strategy end to end.
VLO's value in Germany rests on two pillars. The first is that the matter is handled directly by a German-qualified partner who appears before German courts and works in the language and procedure of the forum — not relayed through an intermediary. The second is cross-border coordination: in the great majority of our German matters, Germany is one component of a dispute that spans several jurisdictions, and the German element only delivers value if it is sequenced correctly with everything else. The same partner who runs the German proceedings sees the whole map.
For General Counsel and CFOs of international groups, this means a single accountable relationship for the German component of a cross-border matter, transparent fees agreed at the outset, and the discretion that sensitive commercial disputes require. You are not managing a panel of disconnected local firms and hoping they coordinate; you are working with one team that owns the strategy end to end.
PARTNER OWNERSHIP
Germany is handled as part of the wider strategy, not as an isolated engagement.
CROSS-BORDER COORDINATION
TRANSPARENT FEES
Confidential by default. No press without explicit consent.
DISCRETION
FREQUENTLY ASKED · GERMANY
Common questions about Germany matters
Can VLO litigate directly in German courts, or do you refer the work out?
Recognition of a qualifying EU judgment under Brussels Ia is comparatively fast because no separate exequatur is required — the creditor applies directly to the enforcement authority. Execution timing then depends on the type of asset and whether the debtor contests. Recognition of an arbitral award under the New York Convention adds a recognition step but remains efficient before German courts. The variable that most affects timing is not the legal procedure but how well the asset picture and procedural sequence were prepared in advance.
How long does enforcement in Germany take?
Is Germany a good forum for creditors?
The default is German, and that is how most proceedings run; our desk works in German and reports to you in English. Several German states have also established English-language international commercial proceedings for certain cross-border matters, and we advise on whether those forums fit a given dispute as part of forum strategy.
Do proceedings have to be conducted in German?
What about a dispute involving a German subsidiary of a larger international group?
German procedure provides protective measures where the requirements are met, and securing them early — before a debtor at risk of dissipating assets is alerted — can be decisive for the value of an eventual judgment. We assess the availability and strategy for protective measures as part of the initial scoping where dissipation is a concern.
Can you obtain freezing or protective measures in Germany?
RELEVANT PRACTICES IN GERMANY
How we help in Germany
Enforcement of Foreign Judgments matters with a Germany dimension.
Litigation & Arbitration matters with a Germany dimension.
Corporate Disputes matters with a Germany dimension.
RELATED JURISDICTIONS
Matters in Germany often connect with
Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe
Continental Europe