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Practical Insights

Practical insights for the moments when contracts meet reality.

Contracts often reveal their true character only when a conflict arises. What may look balanced on paper can shift significantly under pressure, often to the disadvantage of the party that overlooked or misjudged a legal or commercial risk.

The articles on this page are based on my daily work in contract design and litigation. A particular focus is on mechanical and plant engineering. In this sector, legal risks often become especially visible: in complex project chains, cross-border contractual relationships and disputes with substantial economic consequences.

The articles address questions that arise again and again in practice: Where are the legal breaking points of a contract? When do they become dangerous in the course of a project? And what can be done before commercial tension turns into litigation?

Each article combines legal substance with the perspective of a lawyer who does not only draft and review contracts, but also conducts the disputes that arise from them.

These articles cannot replace individual legal advice. They do, however, show what matters in practice and where contracts, projects and conflicts should be examined more closely.

LATEST ARTICLES

Commercial law

Procedural law: The inactive expert witness

The inactive expert witness is a major dilemma for those affected. The legislator has certainly recognized this and, with a reform of the law on expert witnesses with effect from 15.10.2016, has anchored quite relevant tightening in civil procedure law.

Evidential value of private expert opinions

The evidentiary value of private expert opinions is very close to that of court expert opinions. In practice, this is often not the case: many courts tend to regard private expert opinions, i.e. expert opinions commissioned outside the proceedings, as a nuisance. These expert opinions, which are usually “labeled” as biased, are therefore in most cases considered to be of lesser value than court-commissioned expert opinions and are downgraded in the judgment with clichéd justifications. However, this approach, which is widespread in practice, is not covered by supreme court case law! In fact, expert opinions provided by the parties are important for the constitutionally guaranteed legal protection of the parties. This is the only way to fully uncover – not infrequent – errors in court reports.