We advise companies in various industries, in particular print media and press distribution, telecommunications, insurance and mail order business, whose activities are characterized by the establishment, mediation and maintenance of long-term customer relationships, as well as service providers of these companies. Those who gain the long-term trust of their customers create valuable contractual relationships that can be defended against competitors. The establishment, expansion and maintenance of customer relationships touch on different legal areas and require specialized knowledge. Our activities cover the various facets of distribution, competition and trademark law as well as e-commerce, internet and data protection.
We establish and structure effective sales systems, design the complete online presence of a company, recommend suitable measures to protect the customer base and other trade secrets, create profitable cross-selling models, help to establish a successful customer relationship management (CRM) and assist in the optimization of efficient receivables management systems. In doing so, we focus on customer-oriented, individualized and dialogical communication.
The profitable customer relationship is in the area of conflict of mutual interests of entrepreneurs, distribution partners and consumers. We help our clients to avoid the resulting conflicts through appropriate design and advice. We solve unavoidable conflicts. Our clients benefit from our knowledge and our many years of experience in direct marketing.
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Compliance consulting involves conducting compliance audits and the early detection of internal company risks and the implementation of an early warning and risk management system. We work together with other partners in order to offer our clients an automated compliance tool in addition to the strategic and liability components.
This enables the integration of compliance into internal company processes with the following advantages:
- Actual/target analysis
- Opportunity/risk analysis
- Minimization of effort
- Documentation
- Relief and release
- Definition of the internal regulatory framework
- Avoidance of damage and damage to reputation
In doing so, we rely on the complex consulting and auditing services we developed together with Revidata GmbH in Düsseldorf under the name “Compliance Complex Solution”. This service consists of 4 modules, which can be retrieved individually, but also integrated, depending on the focus of the consulting. The modules combine a legal compliance audit with a forensic data analysis. The results of the compliance audit are incorporated into the so-called Legal Compliance Report, which systematically records any irregularities that have occurred and provides concrete instructions for action. This enables the company to legally record and control company-wide risks from the available data stock of the company with regard to concrete business transactions, thus ensuring efficient internal risk management. The Legal Compliance Report therefore also serves to document and absolve the Executive Board of liability.
We support the following areas in close cooperation with external partners
Finance and Accounting
- M&A support
- Process optimizations
- Documentation 8th EU Directive euro-sox/ BilMoG
Internal Audit and Controls
- Contract Compliance
- Enterprise Risk Management
- Fraud/Forensic Services
- Anti-Trust-Compliance
- Anti-Corruption-Compliance
- Data-Protection-Compliance
- Internal compliance guidelines
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The realisation of construction projects is always a complex and multi-layered process. The legal relationships of those involved in the construction, such as the client, project manager, architect, specialist planner, contractor, etc., require careful regulation. The due date of services and payments, the acceptance of construction services, the existence and limitation of claims for defects – facts and circumstances must always be legally structured and assessed and decisions of legal relevance must be made.
With every major construction project, changes arise as construction progresses, and additional services are often required. The question always arises as to whether this results in claims for remuneration – usually referred to as “supplements”.
Few construction projects will be completed in the planned construction time. The consequences are reciprocal claims, additional payment claims due to extended construction time by the contractor, claims for damages by the client due to delay, etc. All of this requires a legal assessment and regulation.
We have decades of experience in this field. We cooperate with legal departments of various large German construction companies, also in the field of technical building systems (TGA), technical building management (TGM) and facility management (FM).
We advise on individual legal issues, but also supervise complete construction projects. We are active in court disputes as well as in conflict resolution proceedings such as conciliation, mediation and arbitration.
We try to avoid litigation in the interests of our clients. Attorney Engellandt is entered in the list of mediators and arbitrators of the working group for private construction and real estate law in the German Bar Association (DAV).
Your contact persons
- Wolfgang Lehner, Attorney
- E. Pedro Engellandt, Attorney and specialized Lawyer for Building and Architecture law
Corporate law related issues are distinguished by their complexity. We solve legal, tax law and business management related issues, within an overall concept.
The following overview offers a summary of our range of services
- Company acquisitions and sales (M&A)
- Incorporations
- Restructuring of corporate groups
Your Contact Persons
In its capacity as the most rapidly growing communications medium ever to exist in economic history, the Internet presents far-reaching challenges for the business world.
In this respect the Internet has become the gateway to an internet-worked information society. The sheer electronic speed of the Internet has a dematerialising, de-territorialising effect and creates new assets that do not lend themselves to legal assessment based solely on the conventional methods of classification. While this transformation is giving rise to a new independent field of “information law”, the Internet is continuing to prove itself as the marketplace of the future. Digital and at ever-increasing speeds will be the business world of tomorrow, which means that in order to keep up, a sound legal framework is required to accommodate the various ways goods can be traded and transacted electronically today.
This is the field in which we work, in which we advise and represent reputable German and international companies, as well as newcomers, showing them ways of using the Internet to achieve their objectives and put their ideas into practice.
Project-specific briefs, working in consultation and co-operation with all of the client’s departments, are a matter of course for us. When working on a particular project, it is necessary to go beyond considering just the legal aspects and to incorporate the counselling into a business environment, enabling projects and products to be realised quickly, efficiently and with the necessary legal safeguards in place.
The range of advisory services that we offer includes the following:
Counselling and contract formulation in the field of Electronic Commerce
- observing tax requirements
- security in data communications
- contracts and agreements via e-mail and on screen
- advertising in the Internet
- legal structures and safeguards for payments, particularly where credit cards are used within the framework of electronic commerce, in accordance with the stipulations of the EU directives
Protecting intellectual property in the Internet (protection of industrial property rights) and averting interference by third parties
- protection and prosecution within the framework of copyright law
- protection and prosecution within the framework of trademark law (proprietary names and logos)
- protection of information (online services as compilations)
- publishing on the Internet
- prosecution in cases of unfair competition (laws covering unfair business practices)
Formulation of contracts for ASP/SaaS providers and online services regarding IT, Digital Business and Cloud
- formulation of contracts and license agreements for access providers, presence providers, link providers, Saas/ASP and content providers
- drafting server housing agreements, maintenance agreements, contracts covering Web design, Webvertising, Webhosting, Internet access
- giving advice on liability for network content as stipulated by the laws covering information and communication services
- protection of privacy
- drafting General Standard Terms and Conditions
Counselling within the framework of the German Banking Law with respect to the handling of electronic cash transactions and network money-market business
Counselling within the framework of the laws covering information and communication services
- regulations covering the use of teleservices (laws on teleservices)
- compliance with data protection requirements with respect to teleservices (laws covering data protection for teleservices)
- digital signature (signature laws)
- liability as stipulated by the laws on teleservices
Counselling on media services in accordance with the treaty covering media services
Advising within the framework of data protection (GDPR)
- protection of privacy in the context of providers and online services
- protection of privacy in the context of mailboxes
- personal data
International aspects
- services offered on foreign servers
- place of jurisdiction and international authority
- international agreements
- language of contract
Your contact person
Since the liberalisation of the German telecommunications market in 1997, we have been closely involved with all legal matters pertaining to this development. From the drawing up of the initial interconnection agreements with Deutsche Telekom, we continue to guide our clients through the full spectrum of telecommunications legislation, from obtaining licences to market regulation.
The aim of our activities in this field is to continue helping reputable German and international companies achieve their goals and objectives by providing a strong legal foundation. As a matter of course, we undertake project specific briefs and work in co-operation with our clients’ departments as closely as possible. We realise that the success of any venture hinges not only upon an understanding of the legal matters involved, but the type of lateral thinking that can apply this information directly into a business context, enabling projects and products to be realised quickly and efficiently.
The range of advisory services we offer includes the following
- Advice and assistance in drawing up interconnection agreements with Deutsche Telekom
- Invoicing and collecting agreements
- Laws on regulation
- Carrier-to-carrier agreements
- Formulating contracts covering carrier tie lines
- Advising on and implementing license proceedings
- Protection of privacy
- Reselling
- Subscriber access agreements (unbundled local loop)
- Drafting and reviewing General Standard Terms and Conditions
- Test agreements for interconnection
- Interconnection arrangements
- Formulating of collocation/housing agreements
- Advising on billing agreements
- Reviewing and formulating other special network access facilities
- Formulating purchase or leasing contracts covering switching equipment
- Drafting service level agreements
The law of telecommunications as applied to contracts and agreements is a very specialised and demanding discipline, requiring a thorough technical knowledge of the processes at hand. With our skilled consultants we are able to offer our clients a most comprehensive and professional service, enabling the implementation of their objectives with both clarity and professional assurance.
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Purchase and sale, construction or modification, of real property, are complex procedures requiring attention for a large number of various aspects. Economic and rate of return issues play an important role in the property development business. When purchasing from a developer, the laws governing service and works contracts, and residential property, are tightly interlocked. Many aspects are not conclusively solved. We consult, and represent, corporations active in the entire Federal Republic in all questions surrounding real property, whether usage or marketing. We look back onto decades of experience in the field.
Following is a summary of our range of activities:
- Arrangement of Purchase Contracts and other acquisition contracts
- Arrangement of Usage Agreements
- Formulating Developer Contracts
- Accompanying development projects
- Representation, and consultation, within the legal relationship Developer / Purchaser
- Residential Property Law
- Exercising the rights of the building administration of the condominium owners‘ association
Your Contact Persons
- Wolfgang Lehner, Attorney
- E. Pedro Engellandt, Attorney and specialized Lawyer for Building and Architecture law
Specialized mainly in the fields of media, particularly print media, and distribution of printed news outlets, telecommunication, energy contracts, insurance, and mail-order commerce, we represent organizations, renowned enterprises, and distribution partners, as well as their service providers in the entire Federal Republic, spanning over two decades. Our clients profit from our knowledge and our industry related experience. We are members of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Betriebsrecht e.V., and we cooperate with the Bundesverband Direktvertrieb Deutschland e.V. (Berlin).
The following overview offers a summary of our range of services
- Arrangement of Distribution Contracts
- Establishment of appropriate distribution structures
- Selection of suitable remuneration models (commissions)
- Risk minimization when choosing the contract type, prevention of fictitious self-employment
- Selection of suitable procedures for the commission statement calculation
- Arrangement of confirmations of balance
- Protecting company secrets, particularly protection against loss of customers, and of customer bases
- Consultation for the arrangement of prohibitions of competition
- Opening of deposit accounts for commission transactions (checking accounts)
- Rejection of unjustified commission claims
- Assertion of justified commission claims, particularly claims for partial commission
- Review of adjustment claims
- Rejection and assertion of a claim for the statement of account, and calculation
- Review of cancelled commissions
- Review of cross-selling models