WACH UND MECKES und Partner Rechtsanwälte PartGmbB

Dispute Resolution Only – WACH UND MECKES focuses on one thing only:Resolving large-volume, complex and predominantly international commercial disputes by seeking viable financial solutions for our clients’ businesses - if necessary, through the avenues of litigation or alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration.

Partner-Driven Approach - Our partners personally drive our clients' cases and are intensively involved in their daily work.

International Focus and Independence – We are a team of expert lawyers with long-standing international experience in complex dispute resolution. At the same time, our firm's independence and exclusive focus on dispute resolution allows us to advise our clients free from the influence of other practice groups and related conflicts of interest.

Decades of Experience in High End International Dispute Resolution – Planning, structuring and managing complex, large-volume commercial disputes is our firm’s daily business. Our founding partners, Dr. Karl J.T. Wach, who has been in the business for 35 years, and Frank Meckes, who brings more than 20 years’ experience to the table, have established a reputation for excellence in the field of dispute resolution. This experience, and their broader litigation and arbitration expertise is complemented by the technical excellence of their partners, Dr. Arno Riethmüller (international arbitration), Maximilian Menz (tech disputes and international civil procedural law), and Robert Straubmeier (insolvency litigation and corporate disputes).

WACH UND MECKES predominantly acts for international clients in complex litigation and arbitration proceedings with a combined current value in dispute of over EUR 9 billion. These matters involve 17 different jurisdictions and a significant number of them exceed EUR 100 million individually.

Our main practice areas are:

·(Post-)M&A disputes

·Corporate disputes

·Capital markets disputes

·Energy disputes

·Liability of financial institutions, directors and officers, and professionals

·Commercial disputes (including international trade, sales and distribution, and sports marketing)

·Cartel damages

·Insolvency litigation

Recent work highlights

• Representing one of the German States as a creditor in relation to its nine-figure claim in the insolvency of a subsidiary belonging to a Dutch transport group which operates internationally.
• Defending a middle-east airline (with operations worldwide) against a multi-billion Euro damages claim by the insolvency administrator of a German carrier.
• Advising a UK-based portfolio manager in connection with a nine-figure investment in a mass litigation portfolio in the automotive sector and monitoring the portfolio for the client.
• Representing a US-based institutional investor, with a focus on technology, media and communications, in a post-M&A dispute with three listed German automotive groups relating to an eight-figure claim for profit participation and damages.
• Representing the former chairman of a German automotive group in the defense against a multi-billion Euro claim by international institutional investors with regard to capital market information.
• Advising and representing a power-plant manufacturer based in England concerning the enforcement of claims relating to the construction of a substitute fuel power plant.
• Defending a former board member of Hypo Real Estate Holding AG against 200+ parallel investor proceedings and in proceedings under the German Capital Markets Model Case Act (KapMuG) for a nine-digit figure in damages due to an alleged breach of ad hoc obligations.
• Representing a US-based investment fund in nine-figure securities litigation against a listed German automotive group.
• Defending a globally active Swiss energy trader against the claims (in the double-digit million range) of an international petroleum company due to the alleged breach of a purchase agreement for upstream emission allowances.
• Representing an international manufacturer of device components in a post-M&A dispute with subsidiaries of a Japan-based international motor engineering corporation in connection with an eight-figure claim for purchase price adjustment and damages due to breaches of the SPA.