Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH

Environmental & Planning Law, RegulatoryReal EstateState, Administration, Public Undertakings

Dr Stefan Kobes advises on all matters pertaining to building planning and environmental law, in particular in the context of planning approval procedures, the preparation of development plans, the enforcement of permits under building and immission control law, the removal of contaminated sites and disposal of waste, emissions trading issues and the energy transition, as well as the obligation to maintain the required distances under major-accidents law. His clients include companies from energy-intensive industries, such as the ceramics, paper, and wood materials industries. In addition, he acts as an advisor to builders, project developers, property owners, industrial associations and the public sector, in particular, corporations and institutions, federal enterprises and public utilities. Stefan Kobes is a member of the Environmental Committee of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, of Gesellschaft für Umweltrecht (a German environmental law society), and of Ingenieurtechnischer Verband für Altlastenmanagement und Flächenrecycling (ITVA) (a German association that is concerned with contaminated sites and the recycling of land). From 2003, he was for 15 years a member of the Secretariat of the “Working Group on Emissions Trading to Combat Greenhouse Gases” of the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, which worked on the introduction of emissions trading in Germany.

Dr Stefan Kobes tudied law at the Universities of Kiel, Germany, Lausanne, Switzerland and Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He specialised in public law and worked for the Administrative Court, Freiburg, Germany, the German University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer, Germany, and the German Institute for Foreign Trade Taipei, Taiwan. From 1989 to 1992, he worked on his dissertation regarding administrative law and was simultaneously working as a lawyer in public economic law. From 1993 onwards, he advised the Directorate for Environmental Protection/Contaminated Sites at the Federal Institute for Special Tasks Arising from Unification (BvS) where, before leaving, he was the director of a legal department consisting of a team of 10. Dr Stefan Kobes joined Luther’s predecessor firm in 2000; he has been a partner since 2001.