An Average Legal Career in Weimar: Because They Know What They Are Doing

Bildschirmfoto 2020-05-24 um 19.00.56Recently, I read two biographies of German lawyers in the early 20th century – a real and a fictitious one.  In last week end’s post, I wrote about the historic one, Ronen Steinke’s biography of Fritz Bauer, the prosecutor who brought Auschwitz and – indirectly – Adolf Eichmann to trial, which has recently come out in an English translation. I re-read the Fritz Bauer biography alongside Ottwald’s “Because They Know What They Are Doing. A German justice novel” (Denn sie wissen, was sie tun. Ein deutscher Justizroman), first published in 1931 and newly edited in 2018. Continue reading

IBA Litigation Committee: Impact of COVID-19 on Court Operations and Litigation Practice

IBA LOGOThe IBA Litigation Committe has produced a survey looking at the impact of COVID-19 on court operations and litigation practice across 37 different jurisdictions – from Argenina to the United States. Jeff Galway and Urs Hoffmann-Nowotny served as general editors and I had the honour of contributing the chapter on Germany. The plan is to update the survey as matters develop in the various jurisdictions. Here’s the link to the IBA Litigation Committe homepage and here is a link to the report in its current form. Continue reading

Fritz Bauer: The Jewish Prosecutor Who Brought Eichmann and Auschwitz to Trial

Bildschirmfoto 2020-05-23 um 16.59.36Fritz Bauer (1903–1968) played a key role in the arrest of Adolf Eichmann and the initiation of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials. I have written about Fritz Bauer before, first about the Jewish Museum’s exhibition in 2014 and then, amongst other posts, about Fritz Bauer as an Unlikely Movie Hero. As these posts are consistently amongst the most read, you might be interested to learn that an English translation of Ronen Steinke’s acclaimed biography has been published by Indiana University Press. This post contains further reading on Steinke’s book, and here is a link to Kai Ambos’ English-language review. Continue reading

IBA Webinar: A Commercial Litigator’s Guide to Force Majeure in the Age of Covid-19, 11 June 2020

IBA LOGOThe IBA Litigation Committe, rather than meeting in person in Buenos Aires for our annual litigation forum earlier this month, like so many othes had to resort to Zoom meetings. Following from that there will be, on 11 June 2020, the Committe’s first ever webinar. Here’s from the organizers:

“Because of the unprecedented business disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, companies throughout the globe are seeking to modify or evade their commercial obligations. Force majeure is one legal tool that many businesses are asserting in an effort to accomplish these objectives.”

“So are frustration of purpose, impossibility of performance, material adverse change or effect, and factum principis. In addition, some governments have enacted legislation to help businesses evade or modify their commercial obligations. In this interactive webinar a panel of legal experts from multiple jurisdictions will discuss whether and to what extent these tools can be effectively employed in the international commercial litigation arena.”

For further details, including how to register, please click here.