Professors and Teachers
The teachers in the M.C.B.L. program at the University of Mannheim are both university professors and practitioners such as lawyers, judges, and managers from renowned companies.
Dr. Simon Apel
Dr. Simon Apel studied Law at the University of Bayreuth. He then pursued graduate studies there on a scholarship from the German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) in the Research Training Group “Intellectual Property and the Public Domain”, receiving a doctoral degree for his thesis on copyright law involving extensive comparisons to US law. In his subsequent attorney training clerkships in Frankfurt am Main, he worked at the Chamber for Intellectual Property and Media Law of the Regional Court of Frankfurt and in the Frankfurt-based IP/
IT teams of two international corporate law firms. Since 2012, Dr. Simon Apel has practiced as a lawyer, advising national and international businesses on questions of intellectual property law, IT-related law, and data protection law. He advises clients both in litigation and out of court, primarily on questions of copyright law, software projects, and unfair competition law, with a specialty practice in the field of improper product imitation. Dr. Simon Apel regularly publishes articles on copyright law, unfair competition law, and trademark law in respected scholarly journals. He is a co-editor of the “Biographical Handbook of Intellectual Property” ("Biographisches Handbuch des Geistigen Eigentums”) and teaches copyright law at the University of Mannheim. Prof. Dr. Oliver Brand, LL.M. (Cambridge)
Prof. Dr. Oliver Brand, LL.M. (Cambridge) studied Law at the Universities of Münster and Cambridge (United Kingdom) and Political Science at the University of Münster. He obtained his doctorate in international law of interest and usury at the University of Münster, where he also conducted research for his professorial thesis on compulsory licensing. Currently, he holds the Chair of Private Law, Insurance Law, Business Law and Comparative Law at the University of Mannheim and is the director of the Mannheim Institute of Insurance Sciences.
Comparative Law I – European Legal Traditions
Comparative Law II – The Common/Civil Law Divide In his class, Prof. Oliver Brand will introduce you to the history, methods, uses, and fallacies of comparative legal reasoning as well as to important legal traditions.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Cremer
Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Cremer has held the Chair of Public Law and Legal Philosophy at the University of Mannheim since 2000, where he had also studied Law from 1981 to 1986. After taking his first (1986) and second (1990) state examination, he worked as a senior research assistant to Prof. Helmut Steinberger, a former Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court, at Heidelberg University. It was there that he earned his doctorate summa cum laude, winning the Heidelberg University’s Ruprecht Karl's Award in 1995 with his thesis on legal protection against trans-border effects of expulsion and deportation. In 1999, he completed his habilitation. His post-doctoral thesis investigates the methodology of constitutional interpretation. He has gained teaching experience abroad as a visiting scholar at the Institute of Global Law of the University College London, at the University of Connecticut School of Law, at the Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, and at the University of Adelaide Law School.
European Union Law – Institutional Aspects
International Organizations: Legal Sources, Actors, and Means of InfluenceIn his classes, Prof. Cremer will provide you with insights into the institutional aspects of EU law and into the law of international organizations.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Fetzer, LL.M. (Vanderbilt)
Prof. Dr. Thomas Fetzer, LL.M. (Vanderbilt) is a professor of law at the Department of Law at the University of Mannheim, Germany, where he holds the Chair of Public Law, Regulatory Law and Tax Law. Moreover, he is an academic co-director of MaCCI (Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation) and an academic co-director of MaTax (Mannheim Taxation Science Campus). In addition, he is an adjunct professor of law at the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an adjunct professor at the MBS (Mannheim Business School). He has been a guest lecturer at the Vanderbilt University Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His fields of expertise are telecommunications law, media law, European competition law, and European tax law.
Comparative Competition Law
In his class, Prof. Thomas Fetzer will focus on a comparative analysis of competition law and policy under US antitrust law and EU competition law. By studying legislation and case-law on select topics, students will acquire knowledge about both legal systems. The course will also examine the historic, economic and social causes of differences and similarities between competition law on the two sides of the Atlantic.Prof. Dr. Philipp Fischinger, LL.M. (Harvard)
Prof. Dr. Philipp Fischinger, LL.M. (Harvard) studied Law at the University of Regensburg (2000–2005), where he also obtained his doctorate at the chair of Prof. em. Reinhard Richardi. After taking his second state examination, he spent 1 ½ years at Harvard Law School, where he took part in an LL.M. program and conducted research. Between 2010 and 2014, he completed his habilitation at the chair of Prof. Martin Löhnig at the University of Regensburg. He holds the Chair for Private Law, Labor Law, Sports Law and Commercial Law.
International Labor Law
In his class, Prof. Fischinger offers the opportunity to take a comparative view on various employment and labor law issues that cover a wide range of subject matters. The course focuses on five different legal systems: Germany, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and the USA.
Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Franck, LL.M. (Yale)
Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Franck, LL.M. (Yale) studied Law at the University of Halle and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He earned an additional law degree, an LL.M., from Yale Law School as well as a doctoral degree, Dr. iur., from the Humboldt University of Berlin. Jens-Uwe Franck has clerked at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for Judge Egils Levits and has worked for the Advisory Service to the Legal Reform in Beijing in China. Before joining the Department of Law at the University of Mannheim as a professor (ad interim), he held a postdoc position at the University of Munich where he finished his habilitation. As an academic, he has specialized in private law, commercial and competition law, among other things, and has published numerous articles in these fields.
European Market Freedoms
In Prof. Jens-Uwe Franck's class, students will gain in-depth insights into the substantive provisions on the internal market as well as on their link to competition law.
Prof. Dr. Friedemann Kainer
Prof. Dr. Friedemann Kainer studied Law at the University of Heidelberg, where he worked as an assistant professor before joining the University of Mannheim as a full professor in 2012. He has held the Chair of Private Law, German and European Business and Labor Law at the University of Mannheim since 2012. His areas of interest include the law of the internal market and European labor law. Friedemann is a member of the European Community Studies Association. He has taught European Union Law in various Eastern European countries and is currently teaching at the German Law School in Cracow.
Introduction to European Business Law
In his classes, Prof. Friedemann Kainer aims to provide you with a basic understanding of European business law, especially in the context of the internal market. Students will also gain a strong background in the international legal framework related to employment issues.
Dr. David Kleimann
Prof. Dr. Markus Köhler
Prof. Dr. Markus Köhler studied Law in Mannheim and wrote his doctoral thesis on German and cross-border TV advertising. In his daily practice as an equity partner at the Stuttgart-based law firm OPPENLÄNDER Rechtsanwälte, he focuses on IP and unfair competition law on the one hand and infrastructure law, especially network pricing issues, on the other. He is the author of various articles on IP and energy matters and the co-author of Köhler/Arndt/Fetzer, Recht des Internet, 7th edition 2012. He has been a teacher at the University of Mannheim since 2000 and is Honorary Professor of Trademark Law, Law of Unfair Competition, and Internet Law. Additionally, he is a member of the Executive Board of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Intellectual Property (IZG) and an elected member of the Special Committee for Trademark and Unfair Competition Law in the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR).
E-Commerce & Internet
The key issues in Prof. Markus Köhler’s lectures will be e-commerce activities and the establishment of online-shops.
Jérôme Kommer, LL.M. (Berkeley)
Jérôme Kommer, LL.M. (Berkeley) is an attorney and counsel at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s Mannheim and Munich offices. His expertise covers all aspects of complex patent litigation, including the coordination of international litigation efforts. He represents his clients both in infringement and invalidity proceedings across a range of technologies, including telecommunications, IT, automotive engineering, medical products, and pharmaceuticals. He studied Law at the Universities of Heidelberg and Lund and obtained an LL.M. degree from the University of California in Berkeley.
Intellectual Property Law – Patents
The patent law part of the course Intellectual Property Law will introduce students to the basic concepts underlying the protection of technical inventions and the enforcement of patent rights in Germany and other jurisdictions around the world, based on real world examples.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Maurer, LL.M. (Osgoode)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Maurer, LL.M. (Osgoode) is a junior professor at the University of Mannheim. He studied Law at the University of Frankfurt, Germany and completed his studies with his first state examiation (LL.B. equivalent) in 2003. From 2003 until 2005, Andreas articled at the Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court) Frankfurt, Germany and concluded his articling service with the second state examination (bar exam). He was admitted to the bar of Frankfurt in 2006. In the academic year 2006/
2007, Andreas studied at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, Toronto, Canada and obtained his LL.M. degree in 2008. He was also a fellow at the Nathanson Centre for Transnational Crime and Security at York University. After he returned to Germany, Andreas started his PhD studies at the University of Bremen and received his PhD in 2011 with his thesis on the “Lex Maritima”, a transnational maritime law. Andreas has received several scholarships and awards, among them the award for the best PhD thesis in law and social sciences (Bremer Studienpreis) in 2012 and the University of Bremen excellent teacher award (Berninghausen Preis) in 2012. His research focuses on private law, international trade law, transnational law, transport and maritime law, and legal theory. International Business Transactions
The course International Business Transactions will focus on problems related to cross-border trade and scrutinize legal as well as non-legal institutions that help cope with these problems.
Prof. Dr. Juliana Mörsdorf, LL.M. (Berkeley)
Prof. Dr. Juliana Mörsdorf, LL.M. (Berkeley) studied Law at the Universities of Cologne and Geneva and has earned another law degree at the University of California in Berkeley. She wrote her doctoral thesis on punitive damages and her habilitation thesis on the procedural and institutional aspects regarding the development of European law through the interpretative work of the Court of Justice of the European Union. She worked as a judge at the Düsseldorf district court and has been a teacher at the University of Mannheim since 2002. In her daily work, she focuses on private law, including design patent law, and has published in the field of private international law, comparative law, civil procedure, tort law, European private law.
European Private Law
Private International LawIn her class, Prof. Dr. Juliana Mörsdorf will equip you not only with the tools needed to spot issues of private international law in theory, but also with an approach to solving these issues in practice.
Prof. Dr. Ralf Müller-Terpitz
Prof. Dr. Ralf Müller-Terpitz is Professor of Law at the University of Mannheim, Germany, where he holds a Chair of Public Law, Law of Economic Regulation and Media. Furthermore, he is currently Dean of the School of Law and Economics of the University of Mannheim, Co-Director of the Institute of German, European and International Medicine Law, Health Law and Bioethics (IMGB) of the Universities Heidelberg and Mannheim and a member of the Commission on Concentration in the Media (KEK) in Berlin. His research interests include the areas of information and communication law (in particular media, media concentration and internet), regulatory law (particularly energy and telecommunications) and medical law as well as general constitutional and administrative law.
European Infrastructure Law
The course´s objective is to impart a basic understanding of infrastructure regulation under EU Law as well as to provide a deeper insight into the legal characteristics of the sectors energy, telecommunications and media. In this context, the course aims to create awareness for the relevant economic and legal reasons that imply the need for regulation.
Dr. Bajar Scharaw, LL.M. (UQ)
Dr. Bajar Scharaw, LL.M. (UQ) obtained degrees in law and political science from the Universities of Konstanz and Erfurt in Germany, and an LL.M. from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia where he focused his studies on international economic law and dispute resolution. He holds a PhD in investment arbitration and treaty protection from the University of Mannheim. He is admitted to the bar in Germany (Rechtsanwalt) and works as associate in the international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills in Frankfurt am Main. As a lawyer, he focuses his practice on international dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on investment arbitration. Prior to joining Herbert Smith Freehills, he clerked at the same law firm in London, was a research fellow at the University of Mannheim, and worked as associate in a U.S. law firm in Frankfurt am Main in the field of public international law and arbitration. He regularly publishes on topics related to international economic law and dispute settlement (including with Oxford University Press), and has lectured at the Universities of Heidelberg, Saarbrücken, Mannheim, Glasgow, Nur-Sultan and Ulaanbaatar. He is a member of the International Law Association (ILA) and the German Association of International Law (working group: World Trade Law).
International Trade Law
The course seeks to familiarize students with the issues that commonly arise in the context of trade in goods and services between nations. In addition, the course touches upon the topic of international investment law, as an area of law which is governed alongside issues of trade in recent international trade agreements.
Dr. Martin Schmidhuber
Dr. Martin Schmidhuber is an attorney at law and partner at the law firm RITTERSHAUS in Mannheim. He advises clients on issues concerning intellectual property, where he specializes in trademark and labelling law. Having access to a worldwide network of correspondent law firms, he focuses on giving strategic advice on and defending (litigation) trademark portfolios with a national and international orientation in particular. Martin Schmidhuber will take over the trademark-related part of the lecture “Intellectual Property Law”, where he will teach students about the protectability of all kinds of designations as trademark rights as well as the enforcement of such rights.
Prof. Dr. Lea Tochtermann
Prof. Dr. Lea Tochtermann studied Law at the University of Heidelberg as well as the Science Po and Sorbonne Universities in Paris. She has successfully coached student teams for several editions of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, which focuses on the legal fields of international commercial arbitration and the CISG. Past stages of her professional career include work for a leading German law firm in the dispute resolution practice as well as at Advocate General Kokott’s office at the Court of Justice of the European Union. In her current research, she focuses on intellectual property law and private international law. Since 2016, she has been Junior Professor of Private Law and European Patent Law at the University of Mannheim.
International Arbitration
The class is aimed at giving a comprehensive introduction to International Arbitration as one of the most frequent means of alternative dispute resolution in adverse proceedings on the international level. The focus will be on arbitration in commercial disputes between two private parties. Arbitration often is chosen by parties in the belief that it is a superior means of dispute resolution, e.g. because it is said to be time- and cost-efficient, neutral, arbitrators ensure high legal quality and superior understanding of business contexts. In fact, arbitration can be a very reasonable means of solving legal disputes. But whether this holds true in reality will depend on the arbitration rules and venue chosen and the subject matter or the dispute.
International Sale of Goods
This course aims at studying the law of international sales agreements based on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), which entered into force in 1988 and today has almost eighty Contracting States world-wide. It is the most important uniform private law Convention in practice, covering potentially more than 80% of global trade. Since the CISG was influenced by both the common law and civil law systems of contract law, the course will furthermore, focus on the basic principles of the law of contract of both systems in a comparative approach, where appropriate.
Dr. Stefan Zeyher, M.B.L.-HSG
Dr. Stefan Zeyher is a partner of Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz. He was admitted to the bar in 2006. In his practice he focuses on representing his clients in litigation and arbitration matters as a counsel; he also has experience as an arbitrator. Furthermore, Dr. Zeyher advises his clients on corporate law, group law, public and private M&A and commercial law. Dr. Zeyher studied at the Universities of Constance, Mannheim (Dr. iur.) and St. Gallen, Switzerland (Executive Master of European and International Business Law). Dr. Zeyher authored publications in the fields of corporate law, M&A, capital markets, civil procedure law and arbitration.
Introduction to German Private Law
In his class, Dr. Stefan Zeyher will acquaint you with the overall structure of German private law.