After studying law at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany) and completing his legal training, Gerd-Ulrich Kapteina began his professional career as a lawyer in Essen (Germany) in mid-1979. In April 1980, he completed his doctorate on the antitrust law topic "Sec. 5 GWB (Act against Restraints on Competition) – mid-sized business co-operations", which was also published as a book. In May 1982, Dr Kapteina started working in the area of administrative jurisdiction in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. As the presiding judge he was responsible for a department for construction matters at the Administrative Court of Dusseldorf, which amongst other things was responsible for public construction and planning law, listed buildings law and the laws relating to the protection of the countryside as well as immission control law during the process of the granting of building permits. In addition, he was the PR officer and spokesman for the court and also head of the department of judicial mediation and a judge for architects and city planners. Dr Kapteina is a full member of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Baurecht (German Society for Construction Law), and a part-time lecturer at Akademie der Architektenkammer (Academy of the Association of Architects) in North Rhine-Westphalia and at the International Real Estate Business School (IREBS), as well as at various municipal training institutes. In addition to being a teacher and an author, he is also a co-editor of Entscheidungssammlung zum Denkmalrecht (EzD - law reports relating to listed buildings law). Furthermore, for 15 years Dr Kapteina has acted as the honorary spokesman for the non-partisan working group Essen 2030, Architektur und Stadtkultur (Architecture and urban culture). Dr Kapteina joined Luther as a partner in 2016.
Gerd-Ulrich Kapteina specialises in matters pertaining to public construction and planning law and any related issues that need to be resolved, including immission control. A further specialist area is advising project developers and municipalities on the laws relating to listed buildings and the laws relating to the protection of the countryside. His clients include well-known and dedicated project development companies as well as cities and municipalities, industrial companies and commercial enterprises, clinics, large-scale retail traders and landowners.
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