The law firm FF FinanzRecht® was founded in 2010 and has, for more than fifteen years, provided commercially valuable and legally successful advice in matters of financial law.
Advice on banking and capital markets law and investor law, from FinTech, cryptoassets through to complex executorship of estates
We act in matters across the fields of banking and capital markets law and international commercial law.
Our work encompasses investor rights; corporate and shareholder representation of financial institutions; the rights of capital investors; collective case proceedings for capital investors (Kapitalanleger-Musterverfahren); claims against management and supervisory board members and the enforcement of complex banking and capital markets matters at national as well as cross-border international level. We are further specialised in questions of financial law arising in connection with national and international executorship of wills and estates.
Certified Executor of Wills (AGT) and Certified Adviser on Crypto-Assets and Taxation (WIRE)
Clients benefit from the fact that even less conventional subjects such as FinTech / Crypotcurrencies – from Bitcoin to satblecoins – have formed part of our advice since 2021 and are the subject of qualified counsel.
We are specifically examined and certified in this field by national and international renowned institutes.
Increasingly, estates include crypto-assets held in ‘wallets’, assets secured as ‘tokens’, or shareholdings in FinTech companies – positions whose safeguarding and realisation demand particular technical, commercial and legal knowledge, hitherto rarely met by traditional executors or in traditional executorship.
In complex cross-border matters – for example foreign real property, or company shareholdings within and outside the EU – clients benefit from the fact that active cross-border practice requires one thing above all: experience with authorities and courts in the EU with the the inscription as EU-Lawyer at the Paris Bar Association (Ordre des Avocats de Paris) and due to the cases herewith since 2017.
The rise in cross-border legal issues and disputes, driven in particular by Europe’s economic and legal integration requires cross border experience. While problem-solving skills in international matters are still treated somewhat marginally in general legal education, substantial training and experience in this field was obtained during university time and the Ph.D.-research at Georgetown University, Washington D.C., USA in 1991/1992 and 1993.
Fachanwalt (Certified Specialist Lawyer) for Banking and Capital Markets Law 2010 / Fachanwalt for International Commercial Law 2017 / Inscrit à l’Ordre des Avocats de Paris, France (2017)
The qualification of Fachanwalt is conferred under the requirements of the German legal profession. It presupposes a minimum of professional experience and practical casework, and must be evidenced on a continuing basis through active further training – something not otherwise required of German lawyers, in sharp contrast to the continuing-education requirements of the French Bar (minimum of 20 hours per year).
Unlike a notary, a lawyer practises a liberal profession exclusively in the client’s interest
A lawyer represents the interests of his clients solely on their side of the table – a relationship often sustained by a long and enduring mutual trust.
Enforcing directors’ and officers’ liability claims on behalf of companies requires a comprehensive factual analysis and legal assessment, often in situations of significant factual and legal complexity. Before claims can be raised, certain procedural or corporate law requirements may need to be met – for example, obtaining a shareholder resolution or appointing a special auditor or special representative.
In our longest-running matter to date, a board member from the risk-controlling function of a former DAX-listed group required years of assistance in defending damages claims brought in investor model case proceedings; we stood at his side – with legal shield and sword – for sixteen years, until the matter’s complete conclusion.
In parallel, the work encompassed complex coordination with D&O insurers and, not least, the resolution of conflicts with the client’s own former DAX company.
Sixteen years of experience under sustained media pressure – through to the defence against reputational media attacks, threat scenarios mounted by claimant firms and, not least, the spectre of liability under stock corporation law in respect of alleged damages claims against board members.
Where required, and in complex advisory and negotiation projects, we call upon external support in public relations, business-psychology profiling and international consultancies – insofar as this is desired.