The dispute resolution practice at Clifford Chance advises on three cornerstones: commercial, corporate and antitrust litigation. The team defends national and international companies from a variety of sectors in often cross-border proceedings; here the firm's network proves to be useful. Practice head Michael Kremer is known for his expertise in contentious infrastructure and industrial plant projects, whereas Christine Gärtner's focus is on D&O liability as well as post-M&A disputes. Uwe Hornung, Burkhard Schneider and Sebastian Rakob are procedural lawyers with extensive experience, and counsel Jan Conrady recently focused on disputed data protection issues.

Hogan Lovells International LLP has a pronounced focus on the automotive, life sciences, plant engineering, energy and consumer goods sectors. The team is experienced in mass and single proceedings as well as class actions with regard to antitrust, corporate, insolvency as well as trade law and cooperates closely with the firm's adjacent practice groups in contentious situations. Practice head Tanja Eisenblätter who has 'a very good eye for the essential problems of a legal dispute and proceeds very solution-oriented', delivery chain specialist Detlef Haß, well-versed corporate expert Olaf Gärtner and Kim Lars Mehrbrey are all key figures of the established practice. Among other internal promotions at the beginning of 2020, especially noteworthy are Christian Ritz' promotion to partner as well as Michael Penners' promotion to counsel.

Latham & Watkins LLP has a 'dedicated and strong team which works across several offices without any friction losses'. Led by the experienced Christoph Baus, the group handles contentious bonds and trade matters, shareholder disputes and professional liability proceedings as well as corporate and antitrust proceedings. After several departures, Stefan Patzer was made counsel at the beginning of 2020. At associate level, the team includes Alena McCorkle and Anne Löhner.

In addition to its strong product liability and arbitration practice, Noerr also impresses with dispute resolution expertise in the course of mass and class action proceedings with focus on contentious insurance, antitrust tort and corporate matters. Michael Molitoris is particularly experienced in the automotive industry and Christine Volohonsky frequently handles insolvency claim proceedings. The team is under the joint leadership of insurance expert Oliver Sieg and arbitration specialist Anke Meier.

The team at White & Case LLP represents national and international companies and frequently assists with proceedings in the technology, automotive, energy and natural resources sectors. Another focus of the group is on disputes with regard to insolvency law. Practice head Markus Langen predominantly handles corporate disputes and Sonja Hoffmann focuses on collective legal protection. Christian Wirth advises clients from the banking, finance and insurance sectors and Thomas Burmeister is well versed in energy law.

One of the best-staffed practices in Germany, CMS assists with a multitude of different proceedings. Among the clients are medium-sized companies, hidden champions and also increasingly large corporations. Recently, the team advised on corporate, post-M&A, D&O liability and infrastructure disputes, which often had cross-border components. Thomas Lennarz is experienced in proceedings pertaining to climate change; he co-heads the practice with Nicolas Wiegand, who divides his time between Hong Kong and Munich. Matthias Schlingmann, Tilman Niedermaier and Claus Thiery are further points of contact.

DLA Piper is 'very competent, high-performance and established' and has several German offices. The team advises on numerous legal matters, but particularly stands out with expertise in mass proceedings as well as corporate and D&O disputes; Thomas Gädtke is a key figure for the latter. Frank Roth and practice head Ludger Giesberts are experienced procedural lawyers at the Cologne office; and the 'intelligent and strategic' Wolfgang Jäger frequently handles criminal proceedings. Additionally, counsel Sebastian Schneider is experienced in contentious banking and capital markets issues.

The dispute resolution team at Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek is 'perfectly positioned'. With numerous lawyers at different seniority levels, the team regularly handles proceedings pertaining to trade, insurance, corporate and distribution law. On behalf of Volkswagen, the group is strongly involved in the defence against customer lawsuits in connection with the 'Diesel-Gate'. Elke Umbeck and Thomas Wambach jointly head the team. Daniel Froesch is a busy procedural lawyer and salary partner Alexander Weiss joined the Munich office in October 2020 from Clifford Chance. Ulrike Gantenberg founded her own boutique Gantenberg Dispute Experts in March 2021.

Norton Rose Fulbright's team has expertise in disputes with regard to patent, real estate and insurance law, but also represents companies and financial institutions in post-M&A and trade disputes. The group also increasingly assists with contentious matters pertaining to climate change and sustainable financial products. Jamie Nowak heads the practice group, which also includes Christian Wolf, Sven Förster and the 'strategically well-versed' Constanze Bandilla-Dany who was promoted to partner in January 2020.

The focus at Taylor Wessing is on trade, distribution, corporate as well as post-M&A disputes. The team represents clients from a variety of industries such as energy, life sciences, consumer goods and increasingly from the technology sector. Practice head Philipp Behrendt is well versed in liability matters, whereas Jörg Wimmers is a technology, media and telecoms specialist.

Eversheds Sutherland handles trade and corporate disputes at national and international level. Besides court proceedings, the team also takes on arbitration proceedings and product liability matters, the cooperation with its international network is on a continuous basis. Practice head Joos Hellert's expertise in dispute resolution is further enhanced by his compliance and preventive counselling know-how; the team also includes Ralf-Thomas Wittmann and Stephan von Marschall who joined the practice at the end of 2019 from Taylor Wessing.

Jones Day represents several international companies from sectors such as telecoms, aviation and construction in contentious proceedings. The team often handles disputes with reference to tax and antitrust law as well as commercial legal protection; here the clients can count on the expertise from adjacent practice groups. Dieter Strubenhoff and Johannes Willheim jointly head the practice, both have a focus on the energy sector.

The team at Kantenwein Zimmermann Spatscheck & Partner advises on a wide range of contentious matters, but is particularly experienced in disputes regarding the financial and energy sector. The recently extended group is headed by Alexander Kröck, who is frequently active in issues pertaining to D&O and advisor liability. Stefan Hackel and Nico Köppel were promoted to equity and salary partner respectively in January 2020 and Marcus van Bevern is also a key figure.

SKW Schwarz Rechtsanwälte focuses on disputes with regard to trade, liability and coverage law as well as on civil proceedings. The team especially has experience in proceedings following the disruption of delivery chains, a particular advantage in recent times with regard to the corona crisis. Practice head Arndt Tetzlaff advises insurance companies and banks on disputed situations. Oliver Korte and Andreas Seidel are also key contacts.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP mainly handles disputes with regard to corporate, insolvency and antitrust law, and the team recently noted an increase in contentious IT as well as IP matters. Practice head Britta Grauke puts a predominant focus on national and international procedural law.