Dr. Hubertus Schwarz

Founder and namesake of the law firm Dr. Schwarz & Collegen, established in 1974.

Before discussing his extensive professional experience, here is an overview of his current activities:

Current representative cases handled by Dr. Schwarz (selection)

• Negotiation, acquisition, structuring, and completion of new rental apartment buildings in Berlin, some of which were financed with KfW loans.
• Tax-structured sale of a prime commercial property in Vancouver with a specific focus on the high-tech sector, taking into account national and international Canadian and German contract, corporate, and tax law, as well as the necessary integration of the legal systems of Guernsey and the British Virgin Islands in German and English legal terminology; this included approval of the proposed solution by foreign and German tax authorities.
• Expert opinion and proposed solution regarding national and international German and Uruguayan contract, corporate, tax, banking, agricultural, and criminal law.
• Review and structuring in Germany and the U.S. of a German company’s relocation to the U.S.; securing a Green Card and avoiding German exit taxation.
• Expert opinion on the risks associated with the inheritance of Argentine real estate held through an Argentine limited liability company (GmbH), taking into account national and international German and Argentine corporate and tax law, with particular consideration of the Germany–Argentina Double Taxation Agreement (DTA).
• Advice in accordance with national and international German and Australian investment law, particularly residence, corporate, labor, and tax law, taking into account the latest case law and the Germany–Australia Double Taxation Agreement (DTA).
• Planning the relocation of a startup from Germany in accordance with national and international German, U.S., Irish, and Portuguese contract, corporate, and tax law.
• Expert opinion on succession planning, particularly inheritance, in accordance with national and international German and U.S. tax and trust (foundation) law, taking into account specific family law circumstances.
• Drafting of a French real estate purchase agreement for a property in Paris, taking into account national and international German and French sales and real estate law, as well as the respective national and cross-border tax implications—particularly those related to succession law (inheritance law)—in both German and French.
• Advising on and negotiating a succession plan regarding a Spanish property, taking into account national and international German and Spanish contract law, corporate law, and gift tax law, including research into old handwritten Spanish contracts.
• Asserting a claim to an estate under European law in Italy.
• Ongoing contractual and tax structuring for the purchase and sale of real estate in Malibu, California, for a German owner, with continuous support through trips to the U.S. from 2008 to the present.
• Legal and tax review for the purchase of real estate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Assertion of a claim against an English company that has been provisionally dissolved, including clarification of the legal situation under German and English private international law, particularly intertemporal law before and after Brexit.
• Correction of an erroneous Portuguese real estate purchase agreement in both German and Portuguese.
• Ongoing review and advice for a German client in Spain regarding her Spanish-German tax situation (inheritance tax / planning for the future of her assets).
• Analysis and structuring, under corporate and tax law, of a change of legal form from a GmbH & Co. KG to a GmbH, taking into account real estate transfer tax and banking technicalities in accordance with the German Transformation Act (Umwandlungsgesetz) and the German Transformation Tax Act (Umwandlungssteuergesetz), including the resolution on transformation and the articles of association.

Personal

Studies in Hamburg, Paris, Madrid, Aix-en-Provence, and Lisbon: law, business administration and economics, psychology, literature, art, history, and languages.

Diploma de Cultura Española (Complutense University of Madrid); diplomas in language and literature from the Universities of Aix-en-Provence and Lisbon. First State Examination in Law in Hamburg in 1969.

Comprehensive legal clerkship, Ph.D., and research assistant from 1970 for nearly 5 years at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law in Hamburg, in the Spain-Portugal and Latin America Division (including expert opinions on behalf of the Institute regarding private international law and foreign law for courts and attorneys, as well as independent private legal opinions focusing on foreign commercial law in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Fernandez de la Gándara).

Max Planck Institute: Ph.D. in comparative contract law on the unification of European contract law for the Unidroit Institute in Rome, with special consideration of U.S. law as a model for harmonizing common law and civil law. 15 legal systems examined. The findings were largely incorporated into model provisions for legislators and legal practitioners in the “Principles of International Commercial Contracts, 1994 Unidroit” (see also the 2004 and 2010 versions) in Articles 3.5 and 3.11.

Passed the Second State Examination in Law (1974) and completed banking training (1975) in Hamburg, as well as serving as acting head of the Spain Department at the Max Planck Institute.

Authorized signatory and senior corporate lawyer at a German-Brazilian banking group in São Paulo from 1975 to 1976.

Commercial management: Established the international operations of a European construction company with more than 2,000 employees in Essen from 1976 to 1979,

continued legal collaboration until the company’s sale in 2001, including in particular the establishment, tax planning, and commercial and legal support for 27 subsidiaries and branches in Germany and abroad—with a focus on construction law—as well as for internationally active sister companies in various sectors of the group, Seminars as well as litigation matters, including, for example, independent contract negotiations and personal guidance involving years of preparation for proceedings in Hong Kong and London, culminating in a successful arbitral award in London regarding the largest construction contract in the company’s history in Hong Kong (Tsing Ma Bridge) with English and Chinese clients under English law and UN arbitration law, Led the process from contract negotiations in 1992 through to the conclusion of the arbitration proceedings in 2001.

Has consistently held various long-term supervisory board and executive management positions since 1975, e.g., member of the supervisory board of Aachen-Münchener Versicherung, São Paulo / managing director of Kienzle, Sao Paulo / Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hawesko Holding AG, Hamburg, following his initiation of the project and significant legal and tax contributions from the initial negotiations through to the IPO in Hamburg; as well as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Tate & Lyle Food Systems, Lübeck, with subsidiaries on nearly every continent, where he also made significant legal and tax contributions from the initial negotiations through to completion.

Of particular note are his current roles as managing director of Katharina Hahn Familien GmbH, Berlin, and Katharina Hahn GmbH & Co. KG, Lübeck, as well as his membership on the Board of Directors of Wergen & Partner Vermögensverwaltungs AG, Zurich, for more than 15 years, as well as numerous other advisory and supervisory board positions in medium-sized companies (e.g., at Deutsche Media Group GmbH, Hamburg; TechniGraphics GmbH, Steinebach; the Nietiedt Group, Wilhelmshaven; KaTech Katharina Hahn+Partner GmbH, Lübeck; and Seccua Holding AG, Steingaden).

Since 1994, he has been a certified tax law attorney specializing in cross-border matters, having submitted a proposal to the Hanseatic Bar Association for the acquisition of this professional designation regarding cross-border corporate and tax planning for the acquisition of an international freight forwarding company, taking into account Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, and England as the future headquarters for a holding company engaged in business development—with London ultimately selected—and served for many years on the Board of Directors of this English international holding company.

Integrated the successes achieved for clients into a family office within the law firm, particularly in a management capacity within the international Katharina Hahn Group.

In Germany and various other countries: Publication of numerous scholarly articles. Core areas of practice include international and foreign private law and international tax law.

Dr. Schwarz has practiced law in more than 60 countries and has, in addition, worked with another 20 countries to analyze their legal and tax systems for specific mandates, strategically leveraging their implications for German law and tax law—or for other home country laws—and developing solutions for cross-border business investments. Of particular note is his exceptionally successful negotiation strategy—both abroad and domestically—which takes into account cultural nuances.

Involvement in the reestablishment of his parents’ estate in Mecklenburg.

Languages

In addition to German and English, Dr. Hubertus Schwarz is fluent in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian—at a level sufficient for business negotiations—and also drafts contracts in these languages.

Memberships

• Friends of the Hamburg Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law, e.V.
• IIFS – Association for the Promotion of the Interdisciplinary Center for International Finance and Taxation, e.V.
• The Family Entrepreneurs, e.V. (formerly ASU—Working Group of Independent Entrepreneurs)
• Society for Comparative Law e.V.
• IBWF Institute – Management Consulting, Economic Development, and Research e.V.
• German Lawyers’ Congress e.V.
• LAV Latin America Association e.V.
• German Society for Inheritance Law e.V.
• Working Group on Agricultural Issues e.V.
• The Übersee-Club e.V.
• Hanse-Lounge

Publications

Dr. Hubertus Schwarz has published various articles on German and foreign civil and real estate law, corporate law, tax law, and licensing law in German, Spanish, and Portuguese legal textbooks and journals.

These journals include, among others: *Recht der internationalen Wirtschaft* (RIW), *Internationale Wirtschafts-Briefe* (IWB), *Die Wirtschaftsprüfung* (WPg), *Anuario de Derecho Civil* (Madrid), and *Revista de Direito e de Estudos Sociais* (Coimbra).

In addition, Dr. Hubertus Schwarz has written about current legal issues for *Welt am Sonntag* (the origin of the “Weltrecht” website), the *Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung* (FAZ) group, and the *Handelsblatt*.

Contact

dr.schwarz-rechtsanwaelte@weltrecht.de