Our judges

Born in

• 1974

Educational background

• Law degree from the University of Bonn (1994–1998)
• Master of Laws (LL.M.) at the Pennsylvania State University

Doctorate

• Statutory interpretation in the USA and Germany: Historical development, modern discussion of methods and the effects of divergences for international uniform sales law (CISG), Mohr Siebeck, 2005.

Languages

• English - native speaker level, French - fluent, Spanish - basic knowledge 

Professional experience

• Research associate at the Institute for International Private Law and Comparative Law at the University of Bonn (Prof. Dr. Wulf-Henning Roth)
• Clerkship in the legal department of a major company (Robert Bosch GmbH)
• In the framework of secondment in Dept. II of the Ministry of Justice, responsible, for instance, for international civil law assistance, as well as acting as a state monitor in EU council meetings in Brussels related to European civil procedures.

Professional court experience

• Many years of experience as a judge on the District and Higher Regional Court, including in the 17th/11th Civil Chamber of the Regional Court of Stuttgart (in particular special responsibility for trademark, copyright, antitrust and competitive law) as well as in the 14th Civil Senate of the Higher Regional Court Stuttgart (special responsibility for GmbH law, law governing commercial partnerships, other partnerships and international equivalents, including for “GbR” law (civil law partnerships).
• Public prosecutor in the Commercial Criminal Law department of the Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office.

Publications (excerpt)

• Statutory  interpretation in the USA and Germany: Historical development, modern discussion of methods and the effects of divergences for international uniform sales law (CISG); Univ. Diss., Mohr Siebeck Verlag Tübingen 2005.
• Legal commentary of par. 119b, 184a, 184 b GVG and par. 606-614 ZPO in the BeckOGK-ZPO
• The Commercial Court Baden-Württemberg – open for business! IWRZ 2025, 231-239 (mit Link auf: https://www.nomos.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Aufsatz_IWRZ_2025_05.pdf)
• Choice-of-forum clause in favor of the Commercial Court – the „Stuttgart model clause“, BWNotZ 2026, 58 et seq.
• The Stuttgart Commercial Court – a first progress report, DRiZ 2021, 62 et seq.
• The new Stuttgart Commercial Court: an answer to the challenge of bringen international commercial disputes before state courts, BB 2020, 2702 et seq.

Born in

• 1974

Educational background

• Degree from the University of Tübingen with additional economic qualification (accounting, account management)

Doctorate

• Subscription rights and exclusion of subscription rights during capital procurement measures of joint stock companies, Nomos-Verlag, 2001

Languages

• English, French

Professional experience

• Attorney at Gleiss Lutz, Stuttgart in corporate law, capital market law and M&A practice group
• Employed at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, London
• Multiple years as a research associate at the Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen (Prof. Dr. H. P. Westermann)
• Clerkship in London

Professional court experience

• since August 2025, Chair of the 20th Civil Senate at the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court (focus: stock corporation law, shareholder actions following structural measures under corporate law and corporate valuation, capital markets law and proceedings under the Capital Investors Model Proceedings Act), part of Commercial Court Baden-Wuerttemberg
• Presiding Judge of the 31st Commercial Chamber of Stuttgart Regional Court from September 2017 to August 2025 (focus: corporate law, in particular stock corporation law, shareholder actions following structural measures under corporate law and corporate valuation), part of the former „Stuttgart Commercial Court“ from November 2020 to April 2025 (now: Commercial Chamber);
• many years of experience as a judge, particularly with commercial law adjudicating bodies of Stuttgart Regional Court and Stuttgart Higher Regional Court: Stuttgart Regional Court Judge, including in the 21st civil chamber (focus: banking law), Deputy chair of the 24th civil chamber (focus: Computer and IT software copyright law, communication and information technology, internal within the chamber: corporate law); secondment to the 12th Civil Senate of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart (special responsibility for attorney and tax advisor liability);
• various high-level positions in judicial service for the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, including: Public prosecutor at the Stuttgart prosecutor’s office (Central Department IV – Commercial Criminal Law department, focus: Insolvency crime, insider trading crime and illegal bank lending); officer in Dept. II of the Ministry of Justice of Baden-Wuerttemberg (responsible among other things for civil law and notary personnel issues);
• clerkship with positions at the Regional Court, the public prosecutor’s office and the Regional Council of Tuebingen as well as at law firms in London, Stuttgart and Tuebingen.

Publications (excerpt)

• Subscription rights and exclusion of subscription rights during capital procurement measures of joint stock companies, Nomos-Verlag Baden-Baden, 2001
• The English Limited company, with administrative headquarters in Germany – raising, preserving capital and liability during insolvency, DB 2004, 743 et seq.
• Acting in concert – clarified and non-clarified legal questions, ZGR 2005, 568 et seq.
• The English limited company with administrative headquarters in Germany: Accounting, financial reporting and criminal liability for bankruptcy, ZIP 2007, 1189 et seq.
• Co-author in Müller-Gugenberger/Bieneck, Commercial Criminal Law, 5th edition 2011 and 6th edition 2015
• Co-author in Beck-Online.Commentary on Stock Corporation Law, pub. Spindler/Stilz, since October 2020 (Sections 250 to 255b of Stock Corporation Act)
• Disputes arising from M&A contracts before the Chamber for Commercial Matters at „Stuttgart Commercial Court“, DB 2021, 662 et seq.

Educational background

• Degree from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen with additional economic qualification (accounting)

Doctorate

• Actual effects on properties subject to a priority notice – as well as a contribution to the understanding of invalidity under Sections 883 para. 2, 888 para. 1 BGB, Verlag Duncker & Humblot, 1998

Languages

• English
• French

Publications

• Actual effects on properties subject to a priority notice – as well as a contribution to the understanding of invalidity under Sections 883 para. 2, 888 para. 1 BGB, Verlag Duncker & Humblot, 1998
• Henssler/Strohn, Corporate Law, Verlag C.H. Beck, Comments on Sections 45 and 46 GmbHG (since the 1st ed. 2011)

Professional experience

• Many years of work as a research associate at the Eberhard-Karls University of Tübingen (Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ernst)
• Many years working as Director of the Notarial Academy of Baden-Württemberg as an auxiliary position

Professional court experience

• Multiple years as a public prosecutor in criminal commercial cases at the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office (focus: insolvency offenses, bank and stock market offenses, violations of the Banking Act)
• Multiple years of experience as a judge at the District and Regional Court of Stuttgart (including with special responsibilities for copyright, publishing laws, industrial design laws, industrial property rights, media and competition law matters in the 17th Civil Chamber of the Regional Court of Stuttgart, as well as for disputes arising from banking and financial transactions in the 25th Civil Chamber of the Regional Court of Stuttgart)
• Multiple yeas of work as a research associate at the German Federal Court of Justice (II. Civil Senate) in corporate law
• Many years of experience as a judge at the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart since 2009, in particular as Deputy Chair (including with special responsibilities on the 14th Civil Senate for laws governing partnerships, on the 19th Civil Senate for laws governing private companies and for inheritance law, and on the 20th Civil Senate initially for stock corporation law, as well as stock and transformation law shareholder actions, and later with expanded special responsibility for law governing all corporations and partnerships, partnerships with limited professional liability, cooperations and associations, as well as comparable organizations under international law, D&O liability, shareholder actions and investor model proceedings in accordance with KapMuG).
• Multiple years working as an expert for legal remedies at Civil Senates of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart
• Many years of membership in the executive committee of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart

Born in

• 1976

Educational background

• Law and Economics (intermediate diploma) at the University of Bonn (1996-2000)

Doctorate

• German-French legal comparison with legal and economic analysis of non-material damages under contract law

Languages

• English
• French

Professional experience

• German-Chinese judge exchange 2015
• Study visit ECJ 2017
• Lecturer in “Current civil jurisprudence” at the University of Tuebingen 2024 - 2026

Professional court experience

• Banking law chamber of the Regional Court of Heilbronn (2014-2018)
• Banking law senate of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart (2018-2019)
• Senate for IPR and international law of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart (2020-2025)
• Since 2021 member of the Commercial Court of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart

Publications (excerpt)

• Termination of building loan contracts with bonus interest, WM 2018, 551
• Mandatory details on revocation information, NJW 2018, 1285
• Formal requirements for mandatory information, remark to FCJ, judgment of 09/17/2019 – XI ZR 662/18, BKR 2020, 33
• Reference to mandatory information in the cancellation policy, remark to ECJ judgment of 03/26/2020 – C-66/19, BKR 2020, 248

Born in

• 1974

Educational background

• University of Heidelberg and University of Tübingen (1995-1999)

Doctorate

• German-French legal comparison with legal and economic analysis of non-material damages under contract law

Languages

• English

Work outside the Judiciary

• Research associate at the Department for Civil Law, Labor Law and the History of Modern Private Law at the Legal Department of the University of Tübingen (Prof. Dr. Eduard Picker, 2000-2008)

Professional court experience

• Many years of experience as a judge at the District, Regional, and Higher Regional Court (in the 14th and 20th Civil Senate).
• Research associate at the VI Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice (2014-2017)
• Research associate to BVerfR aD Prof. Dr. Johannes Masing, First Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court (2019-2020)

Born in

• 1972

Educational background

• University of Bayreuth
• University of Freiburg im Breisgau 

Languages

• English, Portuguese, French

Professional experience

• Stage Structurel at the European Commission, Directorate General of Law, Freedom and Security (2008)

Professional court experience

• Served in a variety of positions since 2001 at the Baden-Württemberg state judiciary; many years of work as a judge on the Civil Senate at Regional Courts (Heilbronn and Tuebingen and at the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart.
• Head of study groups in civil law for legal trainees at the Regional Court of Tuebingen (2009-2017)

Born in

• 1980

Educational background

• Bucerius Law School, Hamburg
• London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK
• University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, USA (Master of Laws, LL.M.)
• University of Freiburg (Doctor of Laws, Dr. iur

Doctorate

• Directors’ and Officers’ (D&O) Liability Insurance in Corporate Acquisitions: Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions on D&O Coverage, Duncker & Humblot, 2009

Languages

• English

Professional Experience

• Since 2017: Lecturer in Commercial and Corporate Law at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University, Stuttgart
• Legal advisor to the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg (Secondment)
• Attorney-at-law at an international law firm based in Frankfurt am Main
   

Professional court experience

• Various positions within the senior judicial service of the State of Baden-Württemberg, including:
  - Local Court of Kirchheim unter Teck
  - Stuttgart Public Prosecutor’s Office
  - Office of the Attorney General in Stuttgart (GZS KURS Program)
  - Member of several civil chambers at the Regional Court of Stuttgart, including chambers with special jurisdiction over trademark, copyright, antitrust, competition, and corporate law matters
  - Secondment to the 7th Civil Senate of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart (specialized in insurance law)
• Clerkship (Referendariat) at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, with placements in Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, and London

Publications (excerpt)

• Directors’ and Officers’ (D&O) Liability Insurance in Corporate Acquisitions: Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions on D&O Coverage, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2009

Born in

• 1977

Educational background

• University of Konstanz
• Cardiff University (Diploma in Legal Studies)
• Victoria University of Wellington (LL.M.)
• University of Konstanz (Ph.D.)

Doctorate

• The Internal Justification of Forced Heirship – A Historical, Comparative and Sociological Analysis

Languages

• English (fluent)
• French (basic knowledge)

Professional court experience

• Many years of experience as a civil judge at the Regional Court, Local Court, and Higher Regional Court
• Several years of service as a prosecutor in financial crime cases at the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor’s Office (focus: insolvency, banking and stock exchange offences law)
• Judicial Assistant at the Sixth Civil Division of the Federal Court of Justice (2016 – 2019)
• Legal Education Tutor at the Stuttgart Regional Court

Publications (excerpt)

• The Law Commission's Succession Project: A Critical Analysis and an Alternative Model (LL.M Thesis)
  The Internal Justification of Forced Heirship – A Historical, Comparative and Sociological Analysis (Gieseking, 2008)

Born in

• 1978

Educational background

• University of Bayreuth, with additional qualifications in economics/business studies (1999–2001)
• Humboldt University of Berlin (2001–2004)

Languages

• English

Professional experience

• Consultant at a financial firm in London, specializing in renewable energy financing (2004–2005)
• Member of a European working group on the IT conception and IT setup of the Unified Patent Court, as part of a secondment to the Federal Ministry of Justice (2014–2017)
• Regular work as a legal advisor abroad on behalf of the IRZ (German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation), with missions including in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Egypt.

Professional court experience

• Many years of judicial experience at the Regional Court and Higher Regional Court, including in the 27th Civil Chamber of the Stuttgart Regional Court (special jurisdiction for tax advisor and auditor liability) and in the 7th Civil Senate of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court (special jurisdiction for insurance law)
• Long-standing continuing education officer at the Stuttgart Regional Court
• Public prosecutor in the economic crime division of the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor's Office
• Legal traineeship (Referendariat) at the Essen Regional Court, with an elective placement at the Düsseldorf Fiscal Court

Publications

• Co-author of Duden Wirtschaft von A bis Z (Duden's economics reference dictionary)

Born in

• 1976

Educational background

• 1996 - 2004 Studied law and completed doctorate at the University of Konstanz
• 2004 - 2006 Legal clerkship at the Regional Court of Stuttgart
• 2006 - 2007 LL.M.-degree at the University of Texas at Austin

Doctorate

• General authorizations to implement European environmental law by means of a statutory regulation, Berlin 2005

Languages

• English, Spanish, French (fluent)

Professional experience

• 2007 - 2009 Attorney in corporate law and M&A, CMS Hasche Sigle, Stuttgart
• 2013 - 2017 Expert in corporate law for the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Justice

Professional court experience

• 2009 - 2013 Judge at a Civil Commercial Chamber of the Regional Court of Stuttgart and public prosecutor in the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office for economic crimes.
• 2017 - 2019 Judge at a Civil Commercial Chamber of the Regional Court of Stuttgart.
• 2019 - 2025 Judge at the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart, Deputy Chair of the Senate for partnership law and Deputy Chair of the Commercial Court appeals body with a focus on corporate acquisitions
• Since 2025 Presiding Judge of the Regional Court Stuttgart

Publications (excerpt)

• 2025 Klink, Conducting Proceedings in International Legal Disputes Before the Commercial Court, IPRax 2025, 127-133
• 2025 Klink, Germany’s New Commercial Court System: State Courts with Arbitration Tools, Anwaltsblatt online (8 October 2025)
• 2025 Klink, Point Made and Point Taken: Persuasive Briefs and Opinions for Commercial Courts (book review), Transatlantic Law Journal 2025, 138-139
• 2024 Klink, The Commercial Court after the Legal Venue Strengthening Act  – a model project for international court proceedings, IPrax 2024, 349-355
• 2022 Klink/Fabian, chapter “Changing legal forms” and “Restructuring in the European domestic market” in Haman/sigle/Gub, Corporate Law, Financing and Corporate succession, 3rd ed. 2022
• 2018 Klink, El nuevo Registro de transparencia alemán y otras cuestiones actuales de transparencia en Alemania, Dilemata – Revista Internacional de Éticas Aplicadas, número 27 (2018), 149-165

Membership

• Federal Committee of the German-American Jurists' Association 

Work as an appointed expert

• 2010 Expert in legal dispute within the European parliament regarding introduction of an EU contract law instrument for international transactions
• 2023 Expert on the legal committee of the German Bundestag regarding the German Legal Venue Strengthening Act relating to the introduction of Commercial Courts
• 2024 Expert on the legal committee of the German Bundestag regarding modernizing arbitration proceedings law.

Lectureships

• Lecturer in Corporate Law and Capital Markets Law at the University of Tübingen
• Lecturer in International Civil Procedure Law and Private International Law (advanced course in the 2^nd state examination for lawyers)

Educational background

• 2003 – 2008: Studies in law at the University of Tübingen
• 2011 – 2013: Legal traineeship in the district of the Munich Higher Regional Court

Languages

• English

Doctorate

• Mandatory Rules - The »Unfinished Part« of European Private International Law, University of Passau, 2012

Professional experience

• 2013 – 2016: Assistent Professor (Akademischer Rat) at the Chair of Civil Law, Private International Law and Comparative Law, University of Passau; visiting lecturer at Université Toulouse 1 Capitole as part of the German-French degree program; teaching in the areas of private international law, comparative law, and civil law
• 2016 – 2018: Public prosecutor, Stuttgart Public Prosecutor's Office – specialized division for economic criminal law (focus on capital markets law, as well as insolvency law)
• since 2017: Instructor/study group leader for legal trainees in civil law at the Stuttgart Regional Court; examiner for the First State Law Examination and the Second State Law Examination (since 2018) in Baden-Württemberg; regular speaker at judicial training conferences in the field of private international and procedural law (focus on international contract and commercial law, international inheritance and family law)
• since 2018: Judge at the Stuttgart Regional Court, in the 29th Civil Chamber (special jurisdiction for banking and capital markets law, KapMuG proceedings), the 8th Civil Chamber (special jurisdiction for leasing law, banking and capital markets law, KapMuG proceedings)
• since 2020: Member of the Institute for International and Foreign Private and Procedural Law at the Ludwigsburg University of Public Administration and Finance
• since 2023: Continuing education officer at the Stuttgart Regional Court
• since 2024: Member of the Judges' Council (Richterrat) of the Stuttgart Regional Court
• since 2025: Member of the Presidium of the Stuttgart Regional Court

Membership

• German Society of Comparative Law (Gesellschaft für Rechtsvergleichung e.V.)
• German-French Association of Jurists (Deutsch-Französische Juristenvereinigung e.V.)

Publications (Excerpt)

• Eingriffsnormen – Der „unfertige Teil“ des europäischen IPR, Mohr Siebeck, 2013 (355 Seiten)
• Examinatorium Internationales Privatrecht, Nomos, 1. Auflage 2016 (248 Seiten); 2. Auflage 2020 (276 Seiten); 3. Auflage 2024 (282 Seiten)
• Zivilprozess – Stagen und Examen (gemeinsam mit RiOLG Walter Gierl), Nomos, 12. Auflage 2023 (473 Seiten)
• Internationales Erbrecht – EuErbVO, IntErbRVG, DurchfVO, Länderberichte (gemeinsam herausgegeben mit RiOLG Walter Gierl, PräsLG a.D. Prof. Dr. Ludwig Kroiß und Rechtspflegerat Harald Wilsch), Nomos in Gemeinschaft mit Manz, 1. Auflage 2015 (336 Seiten); 2. Auflage 2017 (441 Seiten); 3. Auflage 2020 (944 Seiten); 4. Auflage 2024 (1167 Seiten)
• Kommentierung Art. 4 Rom I-VO (Internationales Vertragsrecht), in: Budzikiewicz/Weller/Wurmnest (Hrsg.), Beck´scher Online-Großkommentar ZivilR, Internationales Privatrecht, C.H.Beck, Grundwerk v. 01.07.2015 (ca. 222 Großkommentarseiten); fortlaufende Aktualisierung
• Kommentierung des Internationalen Erbrechts, insbesondere der EuErbVO, in: Kroiß/Horn/Solomon (Hrsg.), NomosKommentar Nachfolgerecht, Nomos, 1. Auflage 2015, S. 1471-1682; 2. Auflage 2018, S. 1577-1873; 3. Auflage 2023, S. 1691-1989
• Der sachliche Anwendungsbereich der Güterrechtsverordnungen und der Umfang des Güterrechtsstatuts, in: Dutta/Weber (Hrsg.), Die Europäischen Güterrechtsverordnungen, C.H.Beck, München 2017, S. 147-162
• General Private International Law Institutes in the EU Succession Regulation – Some Remarks, Anali Pravnog Fakulteta Univerziteta u Zenici (Annals of the Faculty of Law University of Zenica) 2016, issue 18, S. 169-191
• Agreements as to succession under the new European Private International Law, Revija za evropsko pravo (REP) [Review for European Law] XVII (2015) 2-3, S. 25-38
• Die Berücksichtigung ausländischer Eingriffsnormen im Europäischen Internationalen Vertragsrecht, in: Binder/Eichel (Hrsg.), Internationale Dimensionen des Wirtschaftsrechts, Nomos, 2013, S. 199-222; – zudem erschienen in serbischer Übersetzung (Slavko Djordjevic): Uzimanje u obzir stranih normi neposredne primene u evropskom međunarodnom ugovornom pravu, Nova Pravna Revija – Časopis za domaće, njemačko i evropsko pravo (NPR) [Neue Juristische Umschau – Zeitschrift für einheimisches, deutsches und europäisches Recht] 2014 (Vol. 8), S. 9-19

Born in

• 1988

Educational background

• University of Freiburg im Breisgau
• Education abroad in India and Hong Kong

Languages

• English, French

Professional experience

• Attorney at PwC Legal, practiced corporate law, M&A, and commercial law
• Secondment to the PwC Legal office in Amsterdam

Professional court experience

• Judge in two chambers with specialized jurisdiction over banking matters
• Prosecutor in the field of white-collar crime

Publications

• Company Types and Choice of Company Type, 2nd edition, published in 2019 by SpringerGabler

Teaching activity

• • 2020 – 2024: Course for master craftsmen for electrical engineering i.a., master craftsmen exam part III (law)

Born in

• 1995

Educational background

• 2014 – 2019 Studied law at the University of Tübingen
• 2019 – 2021 Legal clerkship at the Regional Court of Stuttgart
• 2021 – 2026 Doctoral candidate at the University of Tübingen
• 2025 – 2026 LL.M.-studies at the University of Edinburgh

Languages

• English (fluent)
• Italian (basic knowledge)

Memberships

• Society for Comparative Law, e.V.

Professional experience

• Research Associate in Dispute Resolution at an international law firm in Stuttgart