Team size: 12

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Automobiles must comply with a significant number of regulations both on a national and international level. Only cars which comply with these regulations will be accepted on the market. My team was specifically set up to provide legal advice on all regulatory law aspects a vehicle must comply with.

My team has achieved great success on a national and international basis in regulatory driven procedures and court cases. In these cases, customer organisations claim compensation from Volkswagen with respect to emissions related issues. My team defends these cases steadily and achieved significant success both in German courts and abroad. We have defended high profile cases in front of the European Court of Justice. One of our most prominent cases dealt with the question whether an engine function called “thermal window” is legally permissible. The case received significant media attention on an international level.

My team’s core driver is climate protection. In this respect the team advises on CO2 matters and CO2 pooling agreements. Our department also defends Volkswagen in prominent climate litigations. The respective cases are supported by Greenpeace on the claimant’s side. The plaintiffs ask Volkswagen to reduce emissions and to end the sale of vehicles with combustion engines. My team made it clear that Volkswagen, of course, stands by its responsibility to reduce CO2 emissions. We highlighted that Volkswagen was the first automotive manufacturer to commit to all targets set by the Paris Climate Agreement and is committed to become net carbon neutral al the latest by 2050. However, we also made it clear, that lawsuits against individual companies are not the right means to advance climate protection. Protecting our environment is a cross-sectoral task across company boundaries which requires close interaction with politics and intense dialogue with our stakeholders.

The automotive world is currently experiencing the biggest transformation since the invention of the car. The combustion engine will increasingly be replaced by e-mobility, an important step towards a cleaner planet. The next much more radical change is the transition towards much safer, smarter and finally autonomous mobility concepts, making traffic safer, reducing congestion and accidents. Acknowledging this tremendous development, I broadened my team’s scope of legal advice. We built special expertise to advise our business on all regulatory law aspects of autonomous driving

Volkswagen is rapidly advancing the digitalisation of its products and is transforming itself into a full-service provider of hardware, software and mobility services. The car of the future will be fully connected and will become an intelligent assistant to its driver.

The introduction of “over-the-air” updates is the next important step in Volkswagen’s transformation into a tech company and the development of new business models. My team supports these developments with excellent regulatory law advise. We are driven by our passion, providing our customers with exceptional driving experiences.