UR Law & Society

Regina Rick, a Munich-based specialist in criminal law, is currently one of Germany’s most prominent criminal defence lawyers. Her most recent successes include securing a retrial and an acquittal in the case of the alleged ‘bathtub murder’ and securing an acquittal in the ‘ice cellar case’. On 9 July 2026, we spoke to Regina Rick about miscarriages of justice, how and why they occur, how they can be prevented, and how they can be rectified if necessary.

During the 2022/2023 winter semester, the UR Law & Society lecture series focused on key figures in the administration of civil justice, their professional roles and the responsibilities they bear. To this end, we held discussions with a presiding judge at the Federal Court of Justice, a media lawyer and campaigner against online hate speech, and a partner at a well-known major German law firm.

What does it mean to work at a major law firm? How do you build a career there? And how do you balance work, family and your personal life? On Thursday 2 February 2023, we discussed the topic ‘A career at a major law firm – high-end legal advice & work-life balance’ with Dr Lucina Berger, LL.M. (Yale) .

Lucina Berger is a partner at Hengeler Mueller in Frankfurt am Main and advises on company law, particularly on issues of corporate governance, compliance and liability, as well as on restructuring and M&A transactions. She also advises on capital market law, particularly in connection with corporate acquisitions and takeovers. A key focus of her work in company law is advising on annual general meetings, capital measures, conversions and other structural measures, as well as on group law issues.

Lucina Berger gave us an insight into day-to-day life at a major law firm, the potential career paths within the firm, the actual workload, but also the satisfaction that challenging cases and the pressure to deliver results can bring. Finally, she told us how a couple with two demanding full-time jobs and three children manage to juggle it all.

The rampant hate speech on so-called ‘social’ platforms stems from the lack of a real-name policy. It is, in any case, far more difficult to defend oneself effectively against hate speech when defamation offences are committed online. On the topic of ‘Hate speech on the internet – and what can be done about it’, lawyer Chan-jo Jun gave a lively talk to a large audience on Thursday, 26 January 2023.

Chan-jo Jun (born 1974) runs a law firm specialising in IT law with 17 lawyers in Würzburg (external link, opens in a new window). Mr Jun became known, amongst other things, for his legal work against hate crime on Facebook and, more recently, for an urgent legal proceeding against Twitter, which he successfully conducted before the Frankfurt Regional Court on behalf of Michael Blume, the Anti-Semitism Commissioner for Baden-Württemberg, who had been the target of hate speech. Together with his team, Jun is working on the use of artificial intelligence to solve legal tasks in legal departments. A particular area of specialisation is software licensing law, especially in relation to open-source software. His clients include both medium-sized software companies and car manufacturers; however, part of the team’s working hours is set aside for unpaid work for society.

In 2022, Mr Jun was awarded the ‘For..Net Media Award’ and the ‘Max Dortu Prize for Civil Courage and Active Democracy 2022’ (external link, opens in a new window).”

What is the role of the Federal Court of Justice? How does one become a judge at the Federal Court of Justice, and what are ‘BGH-Hiwis’? What is a typical working day like for a judge at the Federal Court of Justice? On Thursday 12 January 2023, we discussed these and many other questions with Dietmar Grupp, former Presiding Judge of the Ninth Civil Division at the Federal Court of Justice, and took a look at the Federal Court of Justice – both in front of and behind the scenes.

Dietmar Grupp was appointed a judge at the Federal Court of Justice on 1 September 2008 and served on the Ninth Civil Division, which is primarily responsible for legal disputes in the fields of enforcement and insolvency law, as well as for claims for damages against solicitors and tax advisers. In November 2016, he was appointed Deputy Chair of the Ninth Civil Division and, on 2 July 2020, senate chairperson.

The spring semester of 2022 focused on ‘Future Issues Facing the Legal Professions’: What does the future hold for the legal professions? And what about legal education? What specific challenges will lawyers have to overcome in the future – challenges that may already be emerging today, but which are not yet fully apparent?

Is the judiciary underestimating the threat posed by enemies of the constitution within its own ranks? (external link, opens in a new window) The opening event on the topic “Lawyers as guardians of the rule of law?” took place on Wednesday, 11 May 2022. Our guest was Dr Joachim Wagner, who presented his new book *Rechte Richter* and discussed the topic and his arguments with us.

Joachim Wagner (external link, opens in a new window) is a lawyer, journalist and author with many years’ experience as a political editor (including as head of the ARD studio in London and a correspondent at the ARD studio in Berlin). In his new book*Rechte Richter (external link, opens in a new window). AfD Judges, Prosecutors and Lay Judges: A Threat to the Rule of Law?” Joachim Wagner warns of the danger of increasing politicisation of the judiciary by judges and public prosecutors whose views are hostile to democracy and the rule of law, thereby ultimately highlighting a vulnerability in the rule of law.

“Right-wing Judges” has now been published in a second, updated and expanded edition. (external link, opens in a new window)

Photos: Katharina Herkommer

On Wednesday 29 June 2022, Dr Cord Brügmann spoke on the topic: What might the future of the legal profession look like? Cord Brügmann is a legal and political adviser (external link, opens in a new window); as a long-standing association director, he has in-depth knowledge of the legal services market and hosts‘Rechtsgespräch’ (external link, opens in a new window), a podcast on innovation in the legal market and access to justice.

Our lecture series for the 2022 summer semester concluded with a lecture by Prof. Dr. Dr. Hanjo Hamann, JSM (Stanford) . On Wednesday, 20 July 2022, he spoke on the topic: What might the future of legal education look like?

“Why go back to the lecture theatre?” With this question, our guest speaker Hanjo Hamann provoked readers in August 2021 in an article for the LTO (external link, opens in a new window). He, according to Hamann, is “probably one of the few law lecturers who do not long to return to the face-to-face lecture theatre”. ‘Law lectures in the inverted classroom’: rather than a ‘return to the lecture theatre’, would it be better to continue with online teaching using new digital teaching formats?

Hanjo Hamann was a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Collective Goods in Bonn and, from 1 April 2022 , (external link, opens in a new window) will be a Qualification Professor at EBS University of Business and Law in Wiesbaden (external link, opens in a new window). In 2020, Hanjo Hamann was named Young Researcher of the Year (external link, opens in a new window) by the online careers portal academics, and in 2022 the German Research Foundation (DFG) awarded him the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, the highest honour for young researchers in Germany (external link, opens in a new window).

The SS 2021 was centred on the overarching theme of ‘Legal Tech’. To this end, the Chair organised a lecture series comprising three sessions, which – due to the pandemic – took place online. The series was open to interested participants from across Germany.

The kick-off event on the topic ‘What is Legal Tech?’ took place on Wednesday 28 April 2021. The guest speaker was DIRK HARTUNG, Executive Director of Legal Technology at Bucerius Law School, Hamburg (external link, opens in a new window).

Dirk Hartung’s presentation slides (external link, opens in a new window) and lecture notes (external link, opens in a new window), which include numerous further references, sources and web links, are available for download.

On Wednesday 9 June 2021, Dr Sven Bode, founder of Flightright – the market leader in enforcing air passenger rights – and managing director of financialright GmbH, the operator of the consumer portal myRight (external link, opens in a new window), spoke about the experiences of a German legal tech pioneer.

On Wednesday 7 July 2021, Dr Roland Vogl, Executive Director of CodeX – the Stanford Centre for Legal Informatics – and Executive Director of the Stanford Programme in Law, Science and Technology at Stanford Law School, USA, (external link, opens in a new window) spoke about the legal tech industry in the USA.