Public law

Our specialised lawyers advise on public law from all our German offices, both in collaboration with and independent from our construction law practice. Our key areas include planning, regulation and environment as well as public funding and subsidy law. Our experts in the public law Practice Group also advise on municipal and tax law, school law and data protection law as well as health law.

Due to the broad professional composition of our firm, clients often seek our help on inter-disciplinary matters with public law issues, e.g. regarding corporate compliance or transactions. We also have extensive experience in process management.

Law firm of the year for public law
Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers® 'Germany's Best Law firms 2020'

One of the most recommended law firms by in-house counsels for public construction law and public law
kanzleimonitor.de 2024/25 (law firm directory of the German institute for legal departments & in-house lawyers)

Leading law firm for environmental and planning law; ‘Responsive, competent, good mix of expertise in the various legal fields, practice-orientated’; ‘Friendly and goal-oriented processing’.
Legal 500 Germany 2025

Recommended law firm for public commercial law
Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers® 'Germany's Best Law firms 2024'

It is obvious that the firm's public law practice draws a large part of its clout from the connection with the construction and public procurement lawyers.
JUVE Handbook 2024/25

Public construction and environmental law

We regularly advise on urban land use planning and approval procedures, on spatial planning law and in court proceedings concerning the establishment of building rights and judicial review. We also support clients in environmental and nature conservation law as well as in neighbourhood law and the law concerning the protection of historic monuments. This includes PPP projects, municipal construction contracts, neighbourhood agreements, licensing procedures in connection with emission control law and issues of environmental liability.

Experience includes:

Representing real estate and capital investment companies in the project development of major building projects, in particular high-rise buildings and the development of new urban districts
Advising an international group in BlmSch licensing procedures for a coating plant
Representing the state of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) in judicial review proceedings against the state development plan of NRW
Advising real estate companies in connection with the law concerning historical buildings and monuments as well as negotiations with the competent authorities regarding preservation obligations
Environmental law support in connection with residential building projects in the vicinity of the Seveso-II installations containing potentially hazardous material
Advising the project developer Tecklenburg on Project Wallhöfe (shopping centre and residential complex) in Ratingen
Ongoing provision of advice to various municipalities on construction planning and building law

Public funding and subsidy law

The execution of publicly funded projects is subject to strict legal requirements under the funding notification. We support our clients in the legally secure implementation of such projects and defend them against refund claims that are threatened or that have already been made.

Experience includes:

Alternative dispute resolution and procedural representation of a municipal company in its defence against a subsidy refund claim due to failure of consideration in the sum of c. 6m Euros
Judicial defence against a 1.5m Euro subsidy refund claim against a municipal company on grounds of procurement law infringement
Advising on the subsidy reclaim from a hospital funding scheme due to withdrawal from the hospital plan

Transactional advice

In transactions, particularly real estate and business sales, we analyse public law risks through a due diligence review. In order to highlight risks at an early stage, we investigate the status of real estate and real estate portfolios under environmental or construction law in the run-up to transactions or evaluations.

Experience includes:

Advising the owner of an extensive real estate portfolio on the construction law-conformity of properties to be sold
Due diligence review in the sale of an extensive real estate portfolio belonging to the Deutsche Telekom Group