JUVE Awards 2017: Luther is "Law Firm of the Year for Environmental and Planning Law"

Law firm Luther was elected yesterday by the specialist publishing house JUVE as "Law Firm of the Year 2017 for Environmental and Planning Law". The JUVE Awards are considered to be the most important award within the law firm's industry. They are awarded annually to the best law firms in Germany. The jury's decision is based, among other things, on the JUVE Verlag's year-round research into the mandate work of the law firms as well as on assessments by clients and competitors.

“The JUVE award is not only a wonderful confirmation that we are on the right track and that the market is aware of our efforts, but also an incentive to consistently continue along this path," says Stefan Kobes, head of the practice group "Environment and planning law, regulatory" and partner of Luther.

The jury gave the following reasons for its decision to award Luther for the award (excerpt from the laudatory speech):

“It is remarkable how strategically Luther conquers new fields of environmental and planning law. Two years ago, network expansion did not play a major role in the practice group, but with the arrival of Prof. Dr Tobias Leidinger, Luther moved into the fast lane. Statkraft and Avacon are just two examples of a number of new clients that the firm has won within a short period of time. The advice provided by Preußen Elektra on the dismantling of nuclear power plants is also due to the fact that its public law experts are able to develop specialist knowledge for market-relevant topics within a short period of time.

But this is no reason for Luther to sit back and relax: the firm has also made progress in terms of internationalization. After having already caused quite a stir with the proceedings for Vattenfall before the World Bank Court, she recently advised an international mail order company on a Europe-wide environmental audit. This is largely due to Dr Stefan Altenschmidt, who is the driving force behind this development and is held in high regard in the market especially for his process strength. He recently proved this again when he had to disclose the EU Commission's files on the emissions trading scheme for Saint-Gobain."

About Luther's consulting activities in environmental and planning law and for the energy industry

With a team of around 30 lawyers and tax advisors, Luther advises industrial clients and the real estate industry throughout Germany and in Brussels. Teams with strong advisory skills are based in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Essen, Hamburg and Leipzig. Responsible partners and counsels are Dr Stefan Kobes, Dr Stefan Altenschmidt, Dr Gernot-Rüdiger Engel, Dr Martin Fleckenstein, Dr Gerd-Ulrich Kapteina, Prof. Dr Tobias Leidinger, Claudia Schoppen, and Dr Holger Stappert.

Specialist focus is on environmental and planning law as well as energy law. Clients include companies from environmentally and energy-intensive industrial sectors such as steel, cement, glass, lime, paper and chemical companies, power plant operators, automobile manufacturers as well as companies in the real estate, construction and housing sectors. Examples:

• September 2017: Luther advises Norwegian Statkraft on investment in enQu
  https://www.luther-lawfirm.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2017/170929_Luther_PM_Statkraft_EN.pdf

• July 2017: European Commission will have to open its files for industrial firms in the future: France-based Saint-Gobain group prevails before ECJ with Luther
  https://www.luther-lawfirm.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2017/170713_Luther_PM_EU-Kommission_Saint-Gobain_EN.pdf
• Public building law support for two apartment towers ("Grand Tower", "Tower 90") in the Europaviertel in Frankfurt am Main for gsp Städtebau. The "Grand Tower" on Frankfurt's Europaallee is soon to be the tallest residential tower in Germany at 172 meters under the direction of Dr Martin Fleckenstein, Berlin.
• Since 2016, the Hamburg-based EPR team led by Dr Gernot-Rüdiger Engel has been advising UPM GmbH – one of the world's largest paper manufacturers – in emissions trading.

Nomination as Law Firm of the Year for Regulated Industries

In 2017, JUVE Verlag also nominated Luther as "Law Firm of the Year for Regulated Industries". This honour includes law firms distinguished by a particularly dynamic development in public law or regulatory advice.

About the JUVE Awards

JUVE Verlag (publishing house for juridical information) is a leading publisher of reports on the German law firm sector. Each year, the publishing house awards in several categories those law firms and legal departments that have attracted a particularly positive attention in a particular legal field or region during the year. The decisions on nominations and winners are based on the extensive research carried out by the editorial team for the annually published JUVE Handbook as well as on numerous discussions with clients, lawyers and judges.

This year, the JUVE Awards were presented on October 26, 2017 at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main.

www.juve.de/awards (German only)

www.juve.de/handbuch/de/2018/eintrag/15550 (German only)