I am happy to announce that the 2nd edition of the Article-by-Article Commentary on European Financial Services Law edited by Matthias Lehmann and Christoph Kumpan has been published by this month. I had the pleasure to contribute an updated commentary on the EU Short Selling Regulation.
For more information click on the following link
https://www.nomos-shop.de/en/p/european-financial-services-law-gr-978-3-7560-2257-1
My thanks go to Paolo Giudici and Peter Agstner for hosting the Fifth German-Italian Symposium on Company Law at the Faculty of Economics and Management of unibz (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) in Bozen on 16/17 April 2026.
I had the pleasure to talk about „The Duties and Responsibilities of Board Members in Controlled Companies - Between Company Interest, Group Interest and the Interest of the Controlling Shareholder“. I did so with a view to the current debate on the reform of German group law.
Zu diesem Thema habe ich einen Beitrag in der soeben bei Verlag Dr. Otto Schmidt erschienenen und von Walter Bayer, Gerd Krieger und Dr. Marc Löbbe herausgegebenen Festschrift zu Ehren von Jochem Reichert, SZA Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz, beigesteuert (ebenda, S. 1039 ff.). Die Rufe nach der Abschaffung der altehrwürdigen Figur der Leistung causa societatis werden in regelmäßigen Abständen lauter, bevor sie wieder abschwellen. Aktuell ist die Kritik wieder besonders laut. Mein Beitrag vergewissert sich über die Funktionen dieser umstrittenen Rechtsfigur und plädiert unter Verweis auf die teleologische Schlüssigkeit und die praktischen Vorteile für deren Beibehaltung.
On Friday, 13 March 2026, I held a workshop on comparative group law with dear colleagues from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and Universidad de los Andes in Santiago de Chile. In the course of our talk I depicted the current reform debate in Germany and the topics and issues that will be discussed on the next DJT in Erfurt. Once again, I would like to thank Andrea Martínez and Osvaldo Lagos Villarreal for their hospitality.
On 10 March 2026 I had the pleasure to talk about “Multiple hats, multiple liability?“ at the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Santiago de Chile. In my presentation I depicted the many issues related to the assignment of directors' conduct and knowledge to their company under German Law. I did so by referring to a recent FCJ decision that dealt with a case where the tortfeasor held directorships in several members of the same corporate group. My heartfelt thanks go to Andrea Martinez who invited me to Chile and organized the event.
Please follow the link for further information.
The Elgar Encyclopedia of European Law is now available on Elgaronline. Launching with almost 100 entries and expanding to over 400, the Encyclopedia brings together carefully curated contributions by leading practitioners and scholars from across the region, under the expert editorship of Oana Ștefan and Andrea Biondi, who is a current Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
I have contributed the entry on the “Transparency Directive” to the Encyclopedia.
Further information on the Elgar Encyclopedia of European Law is available at: https://www.elgaronline.com/display/book/9781800885240/9781800885240.xml
The entry “Transparency Directive” can be accessed directly at: https://www.elgaronline.com/display/book/9781800885240/b-9781800885240.transparency.directive.xml
I am pleased to inform you that the treatise on Stakeholder Engagement in European Companies – Company Law Perspectives (Edward Elgar) edited by Hanne Birkmose and Karsten Engsig Sørensen has been published these days (December 2025). I contributed the chapter on “Whistleblowing – stakeholder impact on corporate governance and compliance.”
With a view to corporate governance and compliance whistleblowing can easily be conceptualised as a form of stakeholder engagement as it is aimed at overcoming knowledge problems of the corporate organisation in order to reduce compliance and governance costs. Stakeholder engagement is, however, not inevitably good, but also has a “dark side” which is fed by destructive aims, malintent, or intractable conflicts. Whistleblower regulation has to take account of this “dark” potential in order to avoid unnecessary costs. Furthermore, whistleblower regulation has to be aware of traditional governance and compliance mechanisms in order not to weaken them unintentionally. My contribution sheds light on the trade-offs associated with whistleblower regulation and makes suggestions how to interpret existing EU law on whistleblower protection in order to improve the cost-benefit ratio of whistleblowing.
For more information: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/stakeholder-engagement-in-european-companies-9781035356812.html
Zum Jahresende ist mein Aufsatz mit dem Titel „Das Gesellschaftsrecht im Schatten des HinSchG – Whistleblower-Regulierung als Impulsgeber und Irritation für Corporate Governance und Compliance“ in der ZHR 189 (2025), 598 - 646 erschienen. Vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Debatte über den Anpassungsbedarf etablierter Compliance-Strukturen an die Anforderung der neuen Hinweisgeberregulierung entfaltet mein Beitrag die Schnittstellenproblematik und die hiermit verbundene Harmonisierungsaufgabe. Er plädiert dabei für eine am Rechtsdurchsetzungsziel des Hinweisgeberschutzrechts orientierte Auslegung, die systematische Brüche, unnötige Beschränkungen oder gar widersinnige Ergebnisse für die interne Governance- und Compliance-Architektur privater Unternehmen vermeidet. Illustriert wird dieses Vorgehen für die Fragen der Abstimmung der Tätigkeit der internen Meldestelle und der allgemeinen Compliance-Verantwortung der Geschäftsleiter, der Zulässigkeit konzernweiter Hinweisgebersysteme und der Voraussetzungen für den Schutz hinweisgebender Organmitglieder.
Den Aufsatz finden Sie unter: https://online.ruw.de/dfv-xaver/ruw/start.xav#/text/ZHR_2025_06%2FZHR_2025_06_b6?_ts=1765966862107
Am 14. November 2025 fand der 11. EBS Compliance Tag mit den Schwerpunkten Hinweisgeberschutz – Digitale Transformation – Trade Compliance an der EBS Law School in Oestrich-Winkel statt. Ich habe dort zum Thema „Corporate Compliance im Schatten des HinSchG – Hinweisgeberregulierung als Impulsgeber und Irritation für das Gesellschaftsrecht“ referiert.
Mein herzlicher Dank gilt Herrn Prof. Dr. Michael Nietsch und seinem Team für die Einladung und Organisation der Veranstaltung.
On 11 July, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Justice Without Litigation II workshop in Berlin, an EU-funded event dedicated to rethink legal process through interdisciplinary exchange. In my keynote on “Bounded Rationality, Paternalism and the Law”, I explored how insights from behavioral economics can inform legal practicioners, but also legislators in their work.
For more information, please visit the following link: https://juwili.eu/
Many thanks go to the organizers for the kind invitation and the excellent organization.
