Instruction of Experts on German Law for UK Court Proceedings
When English litigation involves cross-border elements, proving German law as a question of fact requires an expert who not only possesses authoritative knowledge of the German legal system but also fully appreciates the rigorous procedural demands of the jurisdiction of England and Wales.
The German law firm Schlun & Elseven (www.SE-Legal.de) specializes in providing Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) Part 35 compliant expert reports on German law for use before the High Court, County Courts, and Family Courts, as well as in major international arbitral tribunals.
Core Competencies and Practice Areas
We provide comprehensive legal opinions across a wide spectrum of German law, most notably:
- Commercial and Contractual Disputes: Interpretation of commercial contracts under the German Civil Code (BGB) and Commercial Code (HGB), cross-border supply chain liabilities, and breaches of warranty.
- Corporate and Regulatory: Assessment of corporate liability, shareholder disputes within GmbH or AG structures, and German restructuring and regulatory frameworks.
- German Tax Law
- German Criminal Law
- Private Client and Family Law: Cross-border matrimonial property regimes, international divorce jurisdiction, complex asset distribution, and international succession disputes governed by the European Succession Regulation.
Strict Adherence to English Court Standards
We recognize that a profound understanding of substantive German law is ineffective if the resulting report fails to meet English evidentiary standards. Our experts ensure absolute compliance with:
- CPR Part 35 and Practice Direction 35 (or Family Procedure Rules Part 25), with a clear and explicit understanding that our overriding duty is to the Court, not the instructing party.
- Single Joint Expert (SJE) Mandates: We are frequently instructed as Single Joint Experts, carefully balancing the instructions of both claimant and defendant to deliver perfectly neutral, objective, and collaborative reports.
- Dual-Lingual Analytical Precision: Our expert reports are drafted directly in precise legal English, eliminating the risks, ambiguities, and delays associated with translation services. We bridge the gap between Civil Law concepts and Common Law understanding.
Expert Profile and Qualifications
Our reports are authored by senior German advocates (Rechtsanwälte) and legal scholars with extensive academic and practical experience. Led by Bernhard Schmeilzl (LL.M., University of Leicester), a German litigation lawyer with more than 25 years of courtroom experience and an established author on Anglo-German civil procedure (details here), our team combines native German legal expertise with an intimate familiarity with the English civil litigation life cycles.
We are equipped to provide preliminary feasibility assessments, formal CPR-compliant reports, and expert oral testimony under cross-examination in the English courts.
Contact Bernhard Schmeilzl by email to [email protected], on LinkedIn or call +49 941 4637070.
