Wolf Bussian

Practice Areas

As our Managing Partner Germany, Wolf heads Allen & Overy’s German practice. He focuses on litigation and investigations in the finance sector. He represents banks, asset managers, insurers, funds, accounting firms and other companies as well as governments and public institutions in disputes both in and out of court. He deals with disputes about complex finance products and tax driven transactions (for example cum/ex and cum/cum trades) on a regular basis. Wolf also frequently advises on capital market disputes and capital market-related professional indemnity claims as well as disputes in the field of payment services. He has special expertise with disputes resulting from bank crises (restructuring, resolution and insolvency) and equity substitution. He regularly deals with international civil procedural law issues (e.g. service, taking evidence and enforcement abroad), in particular in relation to the UK and the United States.

A major focus of his work are investigations in the financial sector (e.g. relating to allegations of tax evasion, market manipulation, fraud or insider trading), typically in multi-jurisdictional teams from several practice groups (including regulatory, tax, corporate). Wolf leads internal investigations and advises on external investigations conducted by regulators (including ECB, BaFin, SEC, DOJ, FCA), tax authorities or criminal prosecutors.

Wolf regularly publishes in legal journals as well as daily press on procedural, capital market and banking issues. He is recognised as leading expert for Finance Litigation and Investigations in legal directories. Legal 500 Germany 2019 praises his Finance Litigation Practice as market leading (Tier 1). Chambers Global recognises Wolf as leading expert for Finance Litigation since 2015 already, highlighting that he "enters the rankings on the strength of his excellent reputation for representing banks and financial institutions in litigation proceedings, often with a significant international aspect". JUVE 2017/2018 lists Wolf as "leading expert for investigations and disputes in the context of tax transactions like cum/ex and cum/cum deals". The Financial Times commended Allen & Overy as "standout" for a matter led by Wolf in the category "Innovation in dispute resolution" at the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards 2015.