Law firm: Top 50 law firm (2-star rating, category 6); "Close cooperation between teams and offices is now one of the hallmarks of this full-service law firm, which is essentially oriented towards medium-sized companies"; "The firm continues its steady expansion course"; "A large proportion of the clients, mainly medium-sized companies, have been relying on GvW lawyers for many years and very satisfied"; “Positive feedback is given for the legal expertise, but also for the practical suitability of the legal advice and for the personal contact”; “The law firm has applied its insights from the diesel proceedings to other business areas and is now using know-how and tools for other clients in similar cases”; “Independent law firm with established (non-exclusive) international relationships"
Administrative and Constitutional Law: Recommended (1 star rating)
Corporate Law: Recommended (2 star rating); “Many years of experience with a deep understanding of the needs of medium-sized companies characterise the corporate practice"; “Broad regional presence"; “Experience also includes advising on cross-border mergers and in transformation law"; Strengths: advising medium-sized companies with an international focus. German-Chinese legal relations
Distribution Systems Law: Recommended (2 star rating); "Important focus is traditionally on litigation advice in commercial agency and authorised dealer law"; "Companies in the telecommunications industry, in particular large shop operators in disputes against system"; "GvW also regularly acts in cross-border disputes in international arbitration proceedings"; "In addition, the Munich team focuses on advising on franchise and direct sales, while a Stuttgart partner advises well-known clients from the automotive and logistics industry on transport and logistics contracts"; Focus: commercial agents, authorised dealers and insurance distribution law as well as direct sales, international arbitration proceedings
Employment Law: Recommended (1 star rating); "The employment lawyers at GvW are often able to impress their mostly medium-sized clients by working well with other practice groups in the firm"; "Experienced in employee data protection and in the use of external personnel"
Energy Law: Recommended (3 star rating) in energy law, recommended (2 star rating) for transactions/financing; "The energy practice, with several highly experienced partners, is known for providing extensive regulatory advice, particularly to network operators"; "GvW is an increasingly sought-after address on the part of industry"; "Interfaces with environmental, planning and construction law are formative"
Environmental and Planning Law: Recommended (4 star rating); "The public law practice of the medium-sized law firm continues to pursue a very diverse approach under the new leadership of younger lawyers"; "Large-scale infrastructure projects for road, air, rail and power lines are a particular focus"; "As a recognised specialist planning law firm, the team enjoys a good reputation and is thus frequently hired as a project manager"; "Advice on public-sector construction projects provides a second mainstay for the public law practice"; Core areas: public construction and planning law. Environmental law, esp. emissions protection, licensing and nature conservation law, water law. Constitutional and administrative law. Interface esp. with infrastructure projects in the transport sector. Broad-based advice in constitutional law, much litigation. Administrative law, incl. municipal and chamber law. ESG; Strengths: infrastructure projects, esp. in road construction and the airport sector
ESG: Recommended (1 star rating); "GvW is intensifying the bundling of its broad range of expertise into a more unified ESG offering"; "Partial focus in classic sector advice"; "excellent position to meet the enormous demand for advice on LkSG, EUDR, CBAM, etc. from numerous corporations and large medium-sized companies"; "Holistic advice on ESG compliance issues"
Foreign Trade and Customs Law: Recommended as No. 1 in this area (5-star rating); "No. 1 in this area"; "With its broad expertise in foreign trade law, the practice has been among the market leaders for years"; "International corporations and medium-sized companies alike rely on the team, which, under the new management of the renowned Hamburg partners Niestedt and Schwendinger, is successively expanding its advisory services to meet new requirements in the cross-border movement of goods"; Strengths: Fully integrated practice with a large team advising on all areas of customs and foreign trade law, including regulatory requirements in the international movement of goods
Insolvency law and restructuring/reorganization: Recommended (1 star rating); "The strengths of the insolvency and restructuring practice include cross-practice advice, for example with real estate lawyers, and expertise in the hotel and automotive sectors"; "GvW also has a wealth of experience in the area of directors‘ and officers’ liability and contestation"; "D&O insurers turn to the team to defend board members and managing directors against liability claims by an insolvency administrator"; Core areas: insolvency law advice to companies and creditors, specialisation in defending against liability and contestation claims, as well as insolvency administration in the Berlin and Munich regions"
Information technology: Contracts and processes: Recommended (3 star rating), Data law: Recommended (2 star rating); "The IT and data law practice is constantly expanding its market position. Its reputation in IT contracts and complex outsourcing with notable software providers as clients is the basis for this"; "The advice is growing in new fields such as AI, data economy and cybersecurity"; "The practice is increasingly able to qualify with international clients", "GvW scores with legal tech solutions"; Core areas: primarily system implementations, software licence and development contracts; also data protection and international data transfer; public sector IT procurement, as well as outsourcing; clients on the provider and user side
Insurance law: Recommended (2 star rating); "GvW covers a wide range of topics around the core topic of D&O"; "Vergho has brought the team to the forefront; experienced in the growth area of cyber policies; offers direct links to the firm's IT and regulatory expertise"; "In addition to litigation, advice on contract drafting has also increased"; Strengths: D&O cases; Core areas: D&O liability in all its facets, often with insolvency implications. In addition, a broad practice in all areas of liability
M&A: Recommended (3-star rating); "The firm combines a strong focus on advising medium-sized companies with specialisations in specific sectors, particularly energy and healthcare"; "The team is catching the eye of larger, international network firms and companies"; "The firm's strong ties with China also remain a strong argument for German medium-sized clients"; Strengths: mid-sized transactions, often with an international dimension. Own office in Shanghai
Media and Expression Law: Recommended (1 star rating); "The team for Media and Expression Law regularly represents associations and companies affected by reporting, primarily in the agriculture and food production sectors, from its office in Hamburg"; "Often the focus is on defending against investigative reports or against actions by activists"; "The team's many years of experience are increasingly in demand in the healthcare sector as well’; Focus: press and freedom of expression law on the affected side, in particular food sector and agriculture
Patents: Recommended (1 star rating); "The patent practice of this German full-service firm is well positioned to advise SMEs before German courts"; "Connectivity plays an increasing role in the automotive and medical technology sectors, which are important for the practice" ; "GvW is ready to litigate cases before the new court and has experienced patent litigation teams in the UPC locations of Düsseldorf and Munich, as well as an office in Hamburg"; Strengths: patent disputes for SMEs, particularly in the automotive and medical devices sectors
Press and Statements Law: Recommended (1 star rating); "The broad-based practice is primarily convincing"; "Partners who work in unfair competition often also have a focus on related fields, such as copyright, IT or patents, and can use this to the advantage of their clients"; Strengths: good contacts with the food and IT sectors; Focus: Extensive activity in trademarks, incl. portfolio management. Also design law. In unfair competition, besides litigation (often at the interface with the German Healthcare Advertising Act (HWG)), advice in advance on, e.g., competitions and packaging design
Public Procurement Law: Recommended (3 star rating); "The public procurement practice around the renowned partners Meyer-Hofmann and Reichling focuses on advising clients"; "Strong interface with IT law"; "GvW is also a sought-after advisor for IT law on the bidder side"; Practice: Strong experience in IT and health, also real estate and construction, infrastructure. Experienced state aid practice; Strengths: good cooperation between practice groups
Real Estate and Construction Law: Recommended (4 star rating) in construction law, recommended (3 star rating) in project development and plant construction; Strengths: close, cross-location cooperation between the teams in real estate, construction and public law; clients of the construction law practice benefit from the firm's holistic approach to advice"; “Established in classic construction projects and in project development business”; “Thanks to the credible combination of the individual fields of advice, GvW is now increasingly on the list of advisers for renowned clients”; Core areas: In construction law: project support for both contractors and clients. Litigation practice; increasingly plant construction, infrastructure projects. Project developments, incl. forward deals; in real estate law: extensive experience in the hotel sector
State Aid Law: "The practice advises on a wide range of state aid and funding issues"; "As in public procurement law, it is often used by the public sector to structure and implement projects, including tenders and European state aid law"; "The work also focuses on airports or research organisations such as the Center for Applied Aviation Research"
Tax Law: (from JUVE Handbuch Steuer): 1 star rating in the areas of: Group Tax - tax structuring and project advice, Transaction Tax - tax contract drafting and structuring advice; "GvW's corporate tax advice often goes hand in hand with structuring issues - especially before and after transactions"; "When it comes to restructuring, the firm's legal advice is often on board. The in-house IT, IP, real estate or customs experts also work with the tax team on a regular basis"; "The team regularly assists foreign companies with their activities in Germany on current tax issues"; Practice: Tax restructuring advice, cross-border tax structuring, transactions, compliance advice
Telecommunications: Recommended (3 star rating); "In the TC sector, Nacimiento's practice has grown into an established force with its extensive sector specialisation"; "The practice has become an important address"; "Nacimiento is becoming increasingly successful at networking its clients throughout the firm"; Areas of expertise: telecoms regulation, frequencies, numbering, telecoms surveillance, customer protection. Also telecoms-related services, esp. M2M communication; extensive experience in core regulatory BNetzA proceedings; advice also at the interface with IT and data protection and competition law
Transport Sector: Recommended (2 star rating); "GvW's work in the transport sector is characterised by the firm's strong position in providing specialist planning advice for infrastructure projects"; "Munich partner Hösch is one of the most experienced planning specialists, particularly in aviation"; "In Hamburg, Mr. Steiling is highly regarded for his experience in advising on road construction projects under public law and in state aid law"; "Drömann, on the other hand, focuses on working for several transport associations and public clients, regularly advising together with the firm's public procurement, contract and insolvency specialists"; Practice: infrastructure projects, public law (environmental and planning law, constitutional and administrative law), real estate and construction as well as public procurement law. Extensive experience with PPP, toll and tunnel projects and their financing (incl. state aid law); advice on aviation law as well as increasingly in railway law, regional rail transport at the interface with public procurement law
Venture Capital/Private Equity: Recommended (2 star rating) in VC, recommended (1 star rating) in PE; "The VC practice around Frankfurt partner Walek has positioned itself clearly on the investor side"; "Share of cross-border work increased again"; "The team is increasingly succeeding in advising not only portfolio companies but also the investors behind them"; Focus: venture capital primarily in Hamburg and Frankfurt. Mid-Cap-PE in Frankfurt
