Christian Cascante

Volker Schwarz is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Corporate Law and Mergers and Acquisitions Law. Volker, who practices law in Stuttgart, Germany, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Volker is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Before he joined our law firm, Dr. Norbert Hebeis headed the EU trademark department of a large US company (pharmaceuticals, consumer products) for ten years. He has been a partner of FGvW for 16 years and specializes in trademark and design litigation and prosecution, unfair competition litigation and counselling. His international key clients are Novartis (pharma), Wilkinson Sword (razors), erima (sportswear), Gloster (furniture) and Haufe-Lexware (publishing house).

Wolfgang Schmid is a lawyer and of counsel at Friedrich Graf von Westphalen & Partner. His main focus lies on competition and cartel law, copyright, publishing and press law, trademarks and designs, as well as pharmaceuticals and food law. Wolfgang is a member of the German Association for Intellectual Property Rights (Gesellschaft für gewerblichen Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht), the European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA) and the Ligue International du Droit de la Concurr...

Hans-Georg Kauffeld studied at the universities of Bayreuth and Freiburg, he took his doctorate at the University of Freiburg (Dr. jur.). He then worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Commercial and Business Law of the University of Freiburg.

Dr Werner Born studied law at Heidelberg University. After completing his doctorate in Heidelberg, he began working as a lawyer with a focus on family businesses. In 2010 he made partner at RITTERSHAUS where he is a member of the Practice Group dedicated to Entrepreneurial Families & Private Clients consisting of seventeen lawyers and three notaries. In 2017, they took second place for “Exzellenz in Mediation und Konfliktmanagement” (Excellence in Mediation and Conflict Manage...

Gert Brandner studied international business law at the University of Freiburg and the University of Aberdeen. Whilst studying for his doctorate (Dr. jur.), Gert Brandner was an assistant at the Department of Business law of Professor Blaurock in Freiburg. Gert Brandner is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA) and of the German Arbitration Institute (DIS). He is a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Esslingen and at the Stuttgart Bar Association.

Holger Leichtle is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Restructuring and Insolvency Law. Holger, who practices law in Stuttgart, Germany, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Holger is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Andreas is a renowned corporate lawyer who leads Gowling WLG's Corporate/M&A practice in Germany. He can draw upon more than 30 years of experience in negotiating major and complex cross-border projects. Among his - very international - clients, there are leading multinationals, public authorities, private equity firms and private equity owned businesses. Andreas brings with him expertise in reorganisations and compliance investigations and has worked in-house. Andreas is highly recognize...

After studying law and economics at the University of Freiburg, Ekkehard Hagedorn undertook his legal traineeship in Paris, with study periods at the London School of Economics. Ekkehard Hagedorn took his doctorate at the University of Freiburg (Dr. jur.). He is currently a member of the board of examiners for specialist attorneys in the field of inheritance law and of the Working Group on Inheritance Law of the German Bar Association (DAV).

Frank Büchler is a lawyer and partner at Friedrich Graf von Westphalen & Partner in Freiburg. He specialises in restructuring and insolvency law. He is a member of the Expert Committee on Banking and Capital Markets Law of the Freiburg Bar Association, the Working Group on Banking and Capital Markets Law in the DAV and the Bankrechtlichen Vereinigung - Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Bankrecht e. V. He speaks German, English and French.