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The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is one of the world’s leading arbitration institutions. It has now published its new Rules of Arbitration (available here). These will come into force on 1 June 2026 and will apply to all proceedings instituted on or after that date (“ICC Rules 2026”). With this revision, the ICC is...

I was born in Freiburg and grew up in the immediate vicinity of the city. My childhood was heavily influenced by tennis—I spent countless afternoons and weekends on the court. As a young boy, I therefore harbored—like so many children with a favorite sport—the dream of one day playing tennis professionally. Of course, that was...

Germany is often rightly referred to as the “world champion of associations” (“Vereinsweltmeister”). Germanys’ more than 615,000 registered associations (eingetragene Vereine, e.V.) with approximately 34 million active members are an important component of social life. More than one-third of the population is involved in an association, almost every aspect of social, political and cultural life...

Since the entry into force of the DiRUG (Act implementing the Digitalisation Directive) and the DiREG (Act supplementing the provisions for the implementation of the Digitalisation Directive), the Commercial Register has been fully and freely accessible to the public in electronic form. The personal data stored there can thus be extracted and consolidated on a...

A general restriction of annual leave to a maximum of two consecutive weeks violates Section 7(2), sentence 1 of the Federal Vacation Act (BUrlG). Splitting the leave is permissible only for specific, urgent operational or personal reasons; a general shortage of staff is not sufficient. Vacation may also be granted in summary proceedings if there...

In March 2026, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) and the Federal Ministry of Finance jointly unveiled a framework concept for a new type of business entity: the Special Purpose Entity (Gesellschaft mit gebundenem Vermögen, GmgV). But what exactly is behind this initiative — and what does it mean in practice? The...

We continue to expand our practice in the areas of estate planning and business succession, as well as foundation and tax law, with the addition of Dr Georg Tolksdorf as a partner, and Vanessa Siemer as an associate. Both are joining from ADVANT Beiten to FGvW’s Hamburg office. Dr Tolksdorf provides comprehensive advice to private...

The participation of external managing directors as partners in the companies they manage is a common structuring tool to align shareholder and management interests and to retain the management team. Often, the corporate position as partner is functionally tied to the office of managing director, so that the end of the management mandate also leads...

If a company wishes to place its trade secrets under the protection of the Trade Secrets Act (GeschGehG), it must take appropriate measures to protect those secrets. The higher the value of the trade secret, the more effective the protective measures must be. This was decided by the Baden-Württemberg Regional Labor Court in its ruling...

FGvW advised Schwarzwaldmilch GmbH Freiburg on the acquisition of all shares of Martin Bauhofer Käserei GmbH in the Allgäu region in Germany. The Schwarzwaldmilch Group is one of the leading dairies with 430 employees in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. In 2025, the group collected and processed approximately 260 million kg of milk at its locations in...