About this office:
Established in 2004 as a spin-off of PwC's former law firm, MKRG is now a completely independent full-service business law firm. From our offices in Düsseldorf and Cologne, 23 lawyers - of whom 16 are partners - provide competent legal and economic advice to domestic as well as international clients and attend to mandates throughout the Federal Republic of Germany. Our aim is to find the best legal as well as commercial solution for our clients in an efficient and cost effective way. Each of our lawyers is an expert in his field, working at the highest legal quality standards and is used to working in multi-jurisdictional teams. At any time, the economical aspects are duly considered order to meet the clients' needs at best.
The main areas of MKRG's legal practice are:
Corporate and Finance
MKRG's Corporate and Finance practice group renders comprehensive legal advice on the structure and financing of enterprises and their stakeholders, including M&A transactions. MKRG's partner Dr. Maximilian Koch has even been included repeatedly in the Best Lawyers list for Germany in the practice area of Private Equity. Furthermore, MKRG advises its clients on all aspects of commercial and contract law. In addition, MKRG's Corporate and Finance lawyers appear before German courts and German as well as international arbitration tribunals in corporate and commercial law cases. Dr. Maximilian Koch is member of the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS).
Health Care Sector
In the field of hospital law MKRG's long-term experience not only covers the aspects of public and social law but also refers to remuneration issues and any other legal issues occurring during the operation of hospitals. The key services are thereby rendered in the fields of labour and public procurement law for hospitals. MKRG's Health Care Sector partner Dr. Kerrin Schillhorn has been elected to the managing committee of the Medical Law working group of the German Bar Association.
Intellectual Property Rights
MKRG's Intellectual Property Rights service covers the implementation of effective protection as well as the management, surveillance, realization and vindication of IP in an national and international context. We help you avoid risks involved in the companies' operational activities. These risks especially include employees' inventions and secret technical know-how and occur in the preliminary stages of a company acquisition as well as thereafter. MKRG's practice also focuses on the realization of intellectual property rights. We survey your portfolio, advise you on optimizing its use and draft the contracts needed.
Labour Law
Due to a long-term experience in all fields of labour law MKRG is able to develop strategies on short notice, to find the solution which fits our client's needs best and - in case of need - to fight for it. The labour law team consists of five lawyers specialized in labour law who are always focusing on the economic needs of their clients. Throughout the Federal Republic of Germany we advise major and middle-sized companies, directors, managers and employees on all matters related to labour law. Our aim is to keep a permanent relationship to our clients, for we are convinced that a profound knowledge of the respective industry sectors and the clients we take care of is the formula of success for best possible results. MKRG's Labour Law team litigates before all local and regional labour courts as well as the federal labour court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) and conducts cases of preliminary ruling before the European Court of Justice.
Public Law/Public Procurement
Profiting from a longtime experience within the complex field of administrative and public law our competent team has particularly focused on real estate. Our strongest points are multidisciplinary know-how in public law and specific industry knowledge which is due to a close cooperation between our departments of administrative and public law and those of public procurement law and real estate. Together with our cooperation partners we develop multidisciplinary strategies and solutions covering each step of a major project, e.g. in the field of Public Private Partnerships (PPP models). In the field of administrative law we attend to private clients (private individuals, medium-sized companies and also important global-acting groups) as well as public authorities (local authorities, statutory corporations and public utilities). We also accompany our clients and enforce their interests concerning official and judicial proceedings.
Real Estate and Construction
Expertise, industry knowledge as well as experience are the crucial preconditions to be fulfilled for a successful legal consultancy in the fields of real estate and construction law at national and international level. Besides decades of experience MKRG's practice group Real Estate and Construction offers comprehensive industry knowledge. Due to strong regional anchoring, local authorities, transportation companies and public utilities are counted among our clients as well as big and medium-sized companies of the building industry, property owners, real estate companies, plant engineers, project developers, project managers, architects, engineers, estate-agents, property developers, construction management agents and international investors. MKRG's Real Estate and Construction practice group is one of the leading teams of specialists in the fields of real estate, construction and procurement law and provides an extensive range of services in order to develop multi-disciplinary strategies and solutions. MKRG's partner Dr. Michael Mütze has been included repeatedly in the Best Lawyers list for Germany in the practice area of Construction; he is also a member of the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS).
Restructuring and Insolvency Law
MKRG advises domestic and foreign companies on reorganization and restructuring. We cooperate with auditing, accounting and consulting firms as well as interim-managers to develop individual and practical solutions that meet all our clients' needs at best. As for bond restructuring, our partner Burkhard Niesert is the first lawyer who has been elected as common representative according to the new bondholders-law in Germany, and according to our knowledge he was also the only common representative for bondholders according to the former German bondholder-law. MKRG also advises on insolvency schemes and the reorganization of companies affected by insolvency; we negotiate with creditors, especially banks and suppliers, to restructure our clients' obligations. A crisis or even an insolvency of a company not only threatens its existence but also brings about considerable financial and legal problems to all parties involved, like partners, shareholders, managers, directors, banks, contracting parties and all other creditors. By comprehensive advice, though, it can turn out to be a chance. MKRG advises on all problems regarding the crisis or insolvency of a company. This includes the advice of managers and directors on restructuring and reorganization, the sale of companies or parts of them, liability risks, scheduling/start of insolvency proceedings and on insolvency schemes. MKRG has also practical knowledge in insolvency management. In addition, MKRG advises managers and directors on all criminal liability issues in insolvency and fend off any prosecution. In the past it has proven to be very effective to start advising the client in the early stages of insolvency already (i.e. pre-opening stage) in order to eliminate risks right from the start. MKRG offers advice to contracting parties and creditors on how to secure their claims prior to an insolvency. After the opening of insolvency proceedings we focus on enforcing and registering insolvency claims and fend off claims made by the insolvency manager. Finally, MKRG advises on private and consumer insolvencies.
MKRG won inter alia the following awards:
· ACQ Global Award 2011 in the categories "Client Focused Law Firm of the Year - Central Europe" and "Full Service Small Law Firm of the Year - Central Europe";
· ACQ Law Award 2011 in the categories "Corporate Governance Law Firm of the Year - Germany," "Most Trusted Law Firm of the Year - Germany," "Real Estate Law Firm of the Year - Germany," "Small Law Firm of the Year - Germany";
· Corporate INTL Global Award 2010 in the categories "Small M&A Law Firm of the Year in Germany," "Corporate Immigration Law Firm of the Year in Germany" and "Employment Law Excellence in Germany";
· ACQ Global Award 2010 in the categories "Small Law Firm of the Year - Germany," "Project Law Firm of the Year - Germany" and "Commercial Law Firm of the Year - Germany";
· ACQ Global Award 2009 in the category "Small Law Firm of the Year - Western Europe";
· ACQ Country Award 2009 in the category "Real Estate Law Firm of the Year - Germany";
· ACQ Law Award 2009 in the category "Corporate Immigration Law Firm of the Year."