Fieldfisher

Commercial

Anke Saßmannshausen is a Counsel in Fieldfisher’s Hamburg office, providing advice on commercial contracts related to the distribution of products and services.

With extensive experience in contract drafting, she helps German and international companies establish legally compliant and efficient contractual relationships for their business in Germany, as well as optimize existing contract structures. She works across various industries, including consumer goods, medical devices, digital services and platforms, software and SaaS applications, and financial services.

A significant part of her practice involves assisting international clients with entering the German market. Drawing on her international experience, she understands the challenges companies face when expanding into new markets and can help identify and mitigate legal risks, contributing to their market success.

Focusing on sustainability and ESG, she supports companies in structuring their contractual relationships for innovative and sustainable business models. Her goal is to create contractual frameworks that not only meet legal requirements but also align with the growing demands for transparency and sustainability. She focuses on developing legal frameworks that strengthen companies' long-term competitiveness, reduce risks, and foster sustainable partnerships.

She also advises on ESG compliance, particularly regarding the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz – LkSG) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). By integrating ESG criteria into contractual relationships, she aims at future-proofing our clients' business models and helping them to position themselves as sustainability leaders.

She has published the following articles in legal journals:

• • Exclusion of Sections 445a, 445b German Civil Code in B2B supply chains under German terms & conditions law (with Sara Bandehzadeh, LL.M.), Betriebs-Berater 2018, pages 1738 et seq.
  • Regarding the admissibility of regulations on contract terms in franchise agreements pursuant to German general terms and conditions law (with Dr. Tom Billing), in: ZVertriebsR 2015, pages 139 et seq.

In addition to her legal training and professional experience, her career has been significantly shaped by her time abroad, which has deepened her understanding of different perspectives and helps her anticipate and meet our clients' needs. From 2021 to 2023, she lived in the United States with her family. Prior to joining Fieldfisher, from 2016 to 2017, Anke Saßmannshausen was part of a multinational legal team in Luxembourg. She started her legal career at a corporate law firm in Berlin in 2014. During her legal traineeship, she gained valuable insights into legal practice in Brazil while working at the German Desk of a Brazilian law firm - a country she had previously come to know during a student exchange program.

She advises our clients in German and English.

She is a member of the German Society for Distribution Law (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Vertriebsrecht) and the German-American Lawyers Association (Deutsch-Amerikanische Juristen-Vereinigung).

Anke Saßmannshausen is admitted to practice law in Germany and registered as a Foreign Law Consultant in the state of Washington, USA.