From the 1st of May 2019 the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession will be led by a team of three directors. Together Prof. Dr. Klaus-Stefan Hohenstatt, Dr. Claudia Junker and Dr. Hariolf Wenzler will set the strategic direction of the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession. The Center’s longstanding director and founder, Markus Hartung, will continue to work closely with the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession as Senior Fellow.
Founded in 2010, the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession has established itself as the leading institute on the development of the legal market in Germany. Through its research, lectures, conferences and events on strategy, management, leadership and organisation, the Center has become regarded as the first point of contact for law firms and legal departments.
Two years‘ ago, the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession expanded its team to include Freshfields’ Partner Prof. Dr. Klaus-Stefan Hohenstatt, an expert in human resources, leadership and new consultancy-fields. Now we are delighted to expand our team by welcoming to the directorate Dr. Claudia Junker, General Counsel for Deutsche Telekom, and Dr. Hariolf Wenzler, CEO of Schnittker Möllmann Partners (SMP). As General Counsel, Claudia Junker heads up a market-leading legal department. Through the introduction of modern management methods and the use of technology, the Deutsche Telekom legal department represents a modern and professional team, which acts as a partner to the business divisions and is highly regarded as a driver of innovation within the company. As CEO of SMP, Hariof Wenzler is responsible for the professionalisation of the firm and its further development through digital business models. He was founding president of the European Legal Technology Association (ELTA) and initiator of the first European Legal Innovation Hub, ReInvent Law.
The decision to expand the Board of Directors was in response to an increased demand from the legal market, which is subject to ever shorter cycles due to digitalisation and the pressure to innovate. According to Dr. Patrick Schroer, Director of Bucerius Education GmbH, “We want to make the future-orientated ideas of the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession more prominent in the legal market. With the Bucerius Open Innovation Lab, and the yearly Autumn Conference, which is now a fixed date in the calendar for key representatives from law firms, legal departments and alternative legal service providers, we are already on the right path. I look forward to the diverse new projects and events which, through the various focus areas of the new Board of Directors, will now reach a broader spectrum of the legal market.”
Originally laid down by Markus Hartung, founder and well-known head of the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession, the new directors have a solid foundation to build on. Through numerous studies, speeches, books and articles, Markus dealt with current topics, innovation and trends, prepared analyses on questions of management and leadership in commercial law firms and legal departments, and carried out research projects on the development of the legal market and the regulatory environment. From an early stage, the Center recognized and addressed the then futuristic topic of digitalisation and its effects on the legal market. Since 2014, digitalisation, and its consequences, have been the focus of the Autumn Conferences. Markus Hartung’s book from 2013/2014 “The Legal Market in Germany”, and his 2018 book, “Legal Tech - The digitalisation of the legal market” address these future-orientated issues. Today, the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession is the first point of contact for anyone who is concerned with Legal Tech and the future of the legal market. According to Patrick Schroer “Thanks to Markus Hartung’s work, we have always been on the pulse of the legal market and can serve the needs of the legal market accordingly. His work on Legal Technology over the last few years is cutting-edge and has made a lasting impact on the entire legal market. Markus’ expertise is highly regarded and well-known in circles outside of Germany. We are delighted that he will continue to work with the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession as Founder and Senior Fellow.” Markus Hartung’s view on this development “I always wanted to have more time for other projects, in particular for the law firm “Kanzlei Chevalier”, a new legal tech law firm with very ambitious plans. With the new Board of Directors, the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession has a Dream Team in charge, which makes it easy for me to step down from my management responsibilities. I will continue to participate in projects and give lectures for the Center.”
About the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession
The Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession conducts analyses on issues concerning the management and leadership of commercial law firms and in-house legal departments, and carries out research on the development of the legal market and the regulatory environment. The results are presented in conferences and events and contribute to the training and advisory offer for commercial law firms and legal departments.
