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HABEL BÖHM & PARTNER RECHTSANWÄLTE Walkmühlstraße 1a 99084 Erfurt

Tel: +49 (0)361 600 83 10 Email: office@advohabel.de Web: www.advohabel.de

Arbitration & Litigation

SPOTLIGHT ON... Dr. Wolfgang Habel and Ev Grossmann, HABEL BÖHM & PARTNER

The law firm of HABEL BÖHM & PARTNER was founded by Dr. Habel in 1991. Its offices are located in Erfurt, a city halfway between Berlin, the political centre of Germany, and Frankfurt am Main, its financial centre. Dr. Habel expresses that “Due to considerable lower costs in our region we can offer litigation services in both jurisdictions (Berlin and Frankfurt am Main) to very competitive hourly rates.” Here, Dr. Habel and Ev Grossmann discuss Arbitration and Litigation in Germany.

T Q

he lawyers of HABEL BÖHM & PARTNER have been engaged for more

than twenty years

in most areas of business law. Dr. Wolfgang Habel and Ev Grossmann have a strong

commercial law focus and both advise and represent companies

in complex litigation

and international as well as local arbitration proceedings.

What are the advantages and characteristics of German litigation?

From our point of view Germany is on a par with other litigation places. Proceedings before German courts are – compared with many other countries – short. This is mainly due to a focus on written submissions in preparation of hearings and strict rules for taking evidence which prevent excessive discovery proceedings and cross examinations.

Costs of proceedings including lawyers’ fees are lower than for example in Great Britain. There are legal schedules to calculate and plan the court costs. A special feature of the German system is that the unsuccessful party shall bear the costs of the proceedings including lawyers’ fees for the winning party up to a legally defined amount.

According to German Civil Procedure Law the language of the proceedings shall be German. But even in international litigation this causes less problems than one might assume at the first

glance. A lot of judges especially in commercial law chambers have a good command of English language and accept documents in English language and uncertified translations submitted by the parties.

Q What are Germany?

In spite of the advantages of Germany as litigation place for cross border disputes there are good reasons for arbitration:

1. The parties can influence the selection of arbitrators and the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. They may therefore take into account specific experience as well as knowledge of the industry, language and the relevant legal system.

2. Arbitration proceedings have only one

instance while in litigation there are at least two often three and sometimes even more instances. Therefore arbitration can save a lot of time and money.

3. The arbitral tribunal sits in closed session. Thus,

it is easier to keep trade secrets

confidential and to prevent rumours from spreading or avoid coverage, etc.

of states under any unpleasant press

4. Arbitral awards are recognized and enforced in the majority

41 then the advantages of arbitration compared to litigation in

Dr. Habel & Ev Grossmann Dr. Habel began his career in international law at the Institute of International Credit Law in Mainz where he worked as an assistant and completed his doctorate in English trade law. In 1979 Dr. Habel was admitted as a lawyer to the Frankfurt bar and at first worked as an associate in a firm specialised in international air traffic law.

Dr. Habel has over twenty years of experience representing clients in international arbitration. In 2013 he was offered membership in the ICC Institute of World Business Law of the ICC in Paris. He is also a member of German Institution of Arbitration (DIS).

Ev Grossmann was admitted to the bar in 2007. Since then she has primarily worked in the field of commercial and corporate law. Before joining HABEL BÖHM & PARTNER in 2009, she worked in a business law firm in Frankfurt am Main.

the New York Convention of 10.06.1958. In contrast to this, judgements

delivered by

German courts are recognized and enforced by all EU member states, by Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Israel, Tunisia and the US, but enforcement may be difficult in other states.