Experienced German Lawyers provide Expert Reports in Matters of German Law for Litigation in the UK
In many legal disputes before the courts in England and Wales – ranging from cross-border commercial litigation, international family law cases, to inheritance and probate matters – the way in which German law governs certain facts of a case may become relevant at one point or another. From the perspective of an English judge, this foreign law aspect of a case is a question of fact that must be clarified by expert evidence.
In practice, this means that a qualified German legal professional must be commissioned to prepare an expert report in which they explain the German legal position (German statutes and relevant German case law, including European Union law) to the English court.
Of course, there are thousands of German solicitors, retired judges, university professors and civil law notaries who have an excellent knowledge of German law and also speak English reasonably well.
However, they usually do not have the faintest idea about the formal requirements regarding an expert report under English Civil Procedure Rules or Family Procedure Rules because expert reports under German procedure rules are provided entirely differently. In Germany, there are no strict formal guidelines for expert witnesses and while in England the Single Joint Expert is nowadays the preferred approach, a SJE is the rare exception to the rule in German civil litigation.
German Lawyers familiar with the Civil Procedure Rules of England & Wales
So wouldn’t it be convenient if there were highly qualified and experienced German lawyers who speak English and are also well acquainted with the procedure rules of the courts of England & Wales? A German legal expert who knows Part 35 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and its accompanying Practice Direction 35 (PD 35) and who may even have heard a.
Well, there is.
German advocate Bernhard Schmeilzl, Master of Laws (Leicester), fully qualified German lawyer and admitted to the German bar in 2001, has specialised in advising commercial and high-net worth private clients on German-British legal matters and representing those clients in cross-border proceedings for 25+ years.
In his role “Of Counsel International Relations” for the German law firm Schlun & Elseven, he works with a dedicated team of 40+ German lawyers and tax experts who all have extensive experience in international cases.
Bernhard has published the only German language textbook on Civil Procedure Rules (“Der Zivilprozess in England”) in the renowned Beck Verlag and is thus the German go-to expert regarding all matters concerning civil litigation in England and Wales.
German Law SJE Reports for UK Legal Disputes
He and his team of German lawyers have prepared hundreds of expert reports on German law for disputes before the High Court, County Courts, Family Courts, Employment Tribunals and arbitration panels.
So, if you need to clarify a matter of German and/or European Union law, be it for a pre-action assessment or by way of a formal expert report under the Civil Procedure Rules, Bernhard Schmeilzl and his team of qualified German lawyers will be happy to advise.
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