Find Lawyers in Germany for Environmental Law
Practice Area Overview
Environmental law in Germany encompasses a broad variety of legal provisions that aim to protect the natural environment as well as human beings and animals. It is a complex field that is quite often governed not only by federal law provision but also by state law and sometimes even municipal law. Moreover, some of the regulations are dynamic and change fast due to the development of the best available technologies. Also, although the protection of the environment and the principle of sustainability are fundamental aims of the German Constitution, more than 80 percent of national environmental law is governed by EU legislation and case-law.
In practice, the regulatory requirements for both the private and the public sector are widespread. Operators of industrial installations have to meet environmental law provisions from the very beginning, starting from the need to find a location that is environmentally sound and to have a permit to operate a factory or a power station. Once an installation has started its operations, environmental authorities conduct inspections both on a regular and an irregular basis in order to check the operator’s compliance with the permit. Changes to an operation are also subject to a license or a notification to the relevant authority. When an operation is closed down, environmental law requires the former operator to clean-up the site.
Environmental law covers a large number of different aspects: emission control, waste management, noise abatement, zoning, water control, soil conservation, hazardous substances control, nature and landscape conservation, and environmental impact assessment are the principal regimes. Climate change law is becoming more and more important. This is especially true for those sectors that are subject to the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme. Beside the cap and trade scheme, Germany aims to tackle climate change by various instruments, e.g. by provisions for the insulation of buildings as well as for the mandatory use of biofuels. In general, the legal instruments for the achievement of environmental objectives are as numerous as they are diverse.
Counsel advising clients in environmental law issues therefore not only require a broad understanding of the various aspects that are covered. They will also have to keep up with the dynamic development of environmental law legislation and case-law both on a German and an EU level. A thorough understanding of the clients’ business is also a must for a lawyer working in environmental law.
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Born in 1959 Trained and worked as police officer in North Rhine-Westphalia, 1979 - 1983 Legal studies and clerkship at Bielefeld University State bar exam and bar admission in 1989 Worked in the legal department of Dr. Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG, Bielefeld, 1990 - 1991 With the firm since 1992 Certified Specialized Attorney in Administrative Law since 1993 Doctor of Laws (Dr. jur.) 1994 under Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Papier Visiting lecturer at the University of Rostock since 2002 Honorary P...
Born in Göttingen in 1966, Dr. Martin Düwel studied law and history in Regensburg, in Aberdeen, UK and at the Free University of Berlin. From 1994 to 1998, he worked as a research assistant at the Institute for State Studies, Constitutional and Administrative Law. He has been active as a lawyer in Berlin since 1996. In 1999, he received his doctorate in constitutional law on the subject of of “Oversight Powers of the Federal Constitutional Court in Constitutional Complaints ag...
Markus studied Law and Economics at the Universities of Marburg, Gießen, Bonn and Speyer and has practiced as a lawyer since 1994. Before co-founding the Cologne and Brussels offices of avocado rechtsanwälte as partner in 2000, he had already been a partner for a number of years in a reputable public law oriented law firm in Cologne. His practice includes the provision of legal advice to and representation of waste management enterprises as well as enterprises from the manufacturin...
Thomas studied Law at the University of Cologne. He has been admitted to the Bar since 1987; before which he was employed as a research assistant to the professorial chair of Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Hans Joachim Hirsch, under whose supervision he earned his doctorate. Before joining the Cologne team of avocado rechtsanwälte as partner in 2003, he had worked in a law firm specialising in environmental and technology law, where he was a partner from 1990 to 2000. After that he helped dev...
Martin Hamer is a Partner in the Environmental Group in Germany. He focuses on environmental matters including soil and groundwater contamination, environmental permits, nature protection, waste management, mining and climate protection. Martin represents clients in complex permit procedures vis-à-vis public authorities, environmental liability litigation and public law contract negotiations. In addition, he advises on environmental and other regulatory matters in corporate and real es...
Dr Jan Hennig has been equity partner with GSK Stockmann since 2014. He is a certified specialist for administrative law. Practice: Planning law, public construction law, environmental regulations Project development Structuring projects with public sector clients Regulation / Constitutional and European law Short Biography: Worked for a major international law firm in the field of public commercial law and projects from 2006 to 2014 Traineeship at the Court of Appeal Universities in Berlin a...
Dr. Wolfgang Hopp studied law, biology and English in Göttingen and completed his legal clerkship in Lower Saxony. From 1997-2000, he was a research consultant at the University of Münster’s Central Institute for Spatial Planning. In 1999, he received his doctorate in spatial planning law, with a thesis on the subject of “Legal and Enforcement Issues in Spatial Planning Procedures”. Dr. Hopp has been a lawyer at ZENK since 2000. He specializes in advising and assis...
Born in Wesel in 1961, Dr. Ralf Hüting studied law in Bonn and has worked as a lawyer since 1992. In 1996, he received his doctorate with a thesis on “The Effect of Regulatory Tolerance in Environmental Criminal Law”. Dr. Hüting advises and represents commercial enterprises, federal & state ministries, supervisory authorities, cities, municipalities and associations, particularly on cross-jurisdictional projects such as the construction or modernization of industrial...
Ralf studied Law at the University of Cologne. Up until the completion of his doctoral degree and admission to the Bar in 1991, he was employed as research assistant at the Institute for Criminal Science (Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Hans Joachim Hirsch) of the University of Cologne. Before co-founding the Cologne and Brussels offices of avocado rechtsanwälte as a partner in 2000 he had already been a lawyer and partner for a number of years in a reputable law firm specialising in environme...
Olaf Konzak is a partner in the Cologne office of Friedrich Graf von Westphalen & Partner and heads the public law practice. In September 2018, Olaf Konzak and a team of four lawyers from LLR Legerlotz Laschet und Partner moved to the FGvW office in Cologne. Since September 1, 2018, he has been a partner in the practice in public law. His practice focuses on environmental and waste law, chemicals and substances law and public building law. Olaf Konzak has been working as a lawyer since 19...
Christian Von Hammerstein is a Partner at Raue LLP and has been an attorney at Rechtsanwalt since 1994. He has also been a certified specialist for Administrative Law since 2000 and his practice areas include: Energy, Natural Resources, Climate Change, Antitrust & Competition, Litigation & Arbitration, Power Plant Projects, Energy Storage Facilities and Energy Trading, Market Regulation. Christian is affiliated with the International Bar Association, Institute for Energy and Regulator...
Born in Duisburg in 1974, Dr. Kostja von Keitz studied law in Düsseldorf. He received his doctorate in European nature conservation and national administrative procedural law in 2005, with a thesis on the subject of “The Legal Protection of Private Individuals against Special Areas of Conservation”. He began his career as a lawyer in 2005, working initially for a major international law firm. He became a specialist in administrative law 2008 and joined ZENK in 2009. He has be...
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