On 1 January 2025, BLD Bach Langheid Dallmayr (BLD) will appoint three new partners, salary partners and counsels from its own ranks. In addition, the law firm will be strengthened by an additional lawyer to the position of counsel, who will join the specialised law firm's office in Hamburg. BLD is therefore recognising the strong growth of recent years as well as the important expansion of promising business areas. Heinz Otto Höher, a valued former partner, is leaving the partnership at the turn of the year, but will remain with BLD in his role of counsel.
The BLD partnership has now increased to 49 lawyers. Furthermore, there are now five salary partners and 27 counsels working at BLD.
At the turn of the year 2023/24, BLD introduced new career levels, including the level of salary partner. For managing partner Dr Joachim Grote (54), the current promotions show that "we have succeeded in supporting and promoting younger colleagues in particular to develop their careers by introducing each and every one of them to corporate tasks within the law firm." Managing partner Dr Martin Alexander (49) also adds: "We are delighted to welcome two highly esteemed lawyers to the partnership, Judith Schöningh and Anna Kristina Pruß, in addition to our experienced colleague Dr Höld."
The new partners at BLD are:
Dr Florian Höld (47) joined BLD as counsel in 2020 and was appointed salary partner in 2024. As a specialist lawyer for insurance law, he handles national and international losses and lawsuits in the area of property insurance, including reinsurance. [DVX31] He has special expertise in the areas of complex losses, natural hazards and cyber losses as well as fraud defence. Among other things, Dr Florian Höld has made a name for himself when settling claims in connection with the flood disaster in the Ahr valley and in the settlement of cyber losses.
Anna Kristina Pruß (37) joined BLD as a lawyer in 2016 and was appointed counsel in 2023 and salary partner in 2024. As a renowned litigator in the field of occupational disability, Anna Kristina Pruß advises clients in all court districts throughout Germany. She also regularly represents clients as a valued expert in out-of-court proceedings when it comes to the assessment of benefits, such as on the topics of review proceedings and the breach of duty of disclosure.
Judith Schöningh, LL.M. (37) is a specialist lawyer for insurance law and has been working as a lawyer in the Financial Lines department at BLD since 2015. She was appointed salary partner in 2024. She specialises in D&O insurance and cyber insurance cases. She has worked on the Bilfinger compliance case in the past, among other things. Judith Schöningh has a wealth of experience in claims settlement and handling complex cases. As the deputy money laundering specialist at BLD, she is jointly responsible for all internal compliance issues. She is also a member of the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) advisory team and co-initiator of the BLD Women Connect women's network.
The new salary partners at BLD are:
Dr Alexandra Kelker (53) joined the Financial Lines department as a lawyer in Cologne in 2020. She specialises in the defence of liability claims, in particular against lawyers, notaries and tax accountants as well as insurance intermediaries, brokers and property managers.
Dr Martin Lomb, LL.M. (39) is a lawyer in the Industrial Liability department at the Cologne office and was appointed counsel in 2023. He is a specialist lawyer for insurance law and, in addition to major cases of loss, specialises in cases of loss in the areas of pharmaceutical liability, liability for defective medical products and product liability in the food industry.
PD Dr Dominik Schäfers, LL.M. (42) joined the Cologne office in 2022 as a lawyer specialising in Life and Regulatory insurance. He advises our clients in all sectors, especially on matters of insurance supervision law, general questions relating to private insurance law, competition and antitrust law, questions relating to DORA and data protection law. Dominik Schäfers is a member of the ESG advisory team, where he focuses in particular on sustainability issues of all kinds from the perspective of insurance supervision law. He is also a lecturer at the University of Münster.
The new counsels at BLD are:
Florian Krapoth (49)is a lawyer specialising in motor insurance at our office in Cologne. He is a specialist lawyer for traffic law. His main focus is on conducting third-party vehicle liability litigation for our clients.
Matthias Stößer, LL.M. (43) is a lawyer specialising in motor insurance at our office in Cologne. He specialises in third-party vehicle liability claims and litigation, especially on issues of liability ratio and amount of damages. He also handles strategic litigation and claims surrounding traffic accidents that have an international dimension.
Christoph Welcker (41) is a lawyer in the Financial Lines department at our office in Munich. He specialises in pre-litigation advice and litigation in the areas of professional indemnity, D&O and aviation insurance. Another focus of Christoph Welcker’s work last year was the defence of claims in the area of business closure insurance, in which he represented several insurers in a large number of legal disputes.
Tina-Katharina Wulff (39) will join BLD as of 1 January 2025 as a lawyer in the Industrial Liability department at our office in Hamburg. She completed her elective traineeship at the BLD office in Berlin in the past and has been working as a lawyer since 2014, as of 2017 at CMS in the area of product liability specialising in medical device liability and automotive. [DVX32] She will return to BLD as counsel at the turn of the year and will continue to expand the Hamburg office.
Notes for the editors:
BLD Bach Langheid Dallmayr Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB is the largest German law firm specialising exclusively in liability and insurance law. The law firm has specialised in this field since it was founded in 1911. [DVX33] Today, there are approximately 200 lawyers and more than 500 non-lawyer employees working successfully for German and international insurers and industrial companies in Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Karlsruhe, Dortmund and Hamburg. On an international level, BLD co-operates with DAC Beachcroft and is a founding member of the international law firm network Legalign Global.
Contact us for further information:
Dr Christopher Holl
Theodor-Heuss-Ring 13-15 | 50668 Cologne
Email: marketing@bld.de | Phone +49 221 944027-839
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