International Business Lawyers in Germany

WINHELLER Attorneys at Law & Tax Advisors provide comprehensive legal and tax services for German and international businesses and nonprofits and charitable organizations. We provide our German and international corporate clients with full-service support for everything from transactional matters (e.g. licensing agreements, employment contracts and visa applications) to dispute resolution and litigation support before all German courts.

As a German-based law firm, we regularly assist German clients who are expanding their business activities outside of Germany. However, about half of our clients reside and do business outside of Germany, with most of our international clients located in other European countries, the U.S., Russia and the People's Republic of China.

We assist our international clients, including executives and entrepreneurs, with all aspects of German and EU market entry, including 

• establishing a business in Germany,
• importing and marketing products,
• engaging in real estate transactions in Germany and the EU,
• entering into partnership, joint-venture and franchise agreements, and
• negotiating and managing M&A transactions.

Tax, Accounting and Payroll

Our services to international companies, executives and entrepreneurs are not limited to legal matters: we also provide ongoing tax, accounting and payroll services. By having one German-contact who can handle all of their financial and legal matters, our clients save time and money.

One of the key reasons that our international clients rely on and trust our firm is that we speak our clients’ languages and know their culture. For each of our French speaking, Russian speaking and English speaking clients, we have one or more designated staff members who are fluent in the target language and know the culture.

Irina Winheller and Svetlana Tammer are responsible for our Russian Desk. For Mandarin-speaking clients we have freelance consultants who are fluent in Mandarin.

• German market entry, including the selection of the proper legal form for the new German business and the subsequent formation and registration,
• Business immigration, including visas for persons starting a business in Germany,
• German Customs Law,
• Performing legal and tax due diligences for international investors interested in acquiring or merging with German target companies,
• Sales of German subsidiaries (asset deals and share deals),
• Compliance with German tax and financial laws,
• Compliance with relevant German capital market rules, which are set by various German law and the financial supervisory authorities, including BaFin,
• Buying and selling German real estate,
• Negotiating and drafting transactional documents, including business agreements and contracts,
• Representing our clients' interests in negotiations with suppliers, employees, governmental agencies and competitors,
• Compliance with German labor and employment law,
• Licensing and sublicensing copyrights and trademarks,
• Protecting IP (intellectual property) and shareholder rights,
• Marketing and subpublishing products in Germany, as well as developing distribution solutions (franchising, sales and commission agents, authorized dealers, e-commerce, etc.),
• Reviewing and revising business websites to ensure compliance with German media and internet law, and
• Arbitration, litigation and representation before all German courts.

WINHELLER cooperates with external expert partner firms located throughout the world. As a result, we are able to ensure that our German and international clients have the best possible legal and tax advice on all international legal issues that may arise. Our firm is a proud member of The International Society of Primerus Law Firms, a highly selective alliance of medium-sized and partner managed law firms from all over the world. As a member of Primerus, we are able to provide legal and tax advice in international business law and to enforce our clients’ claims just as well, if not better, than firms which maintain hundreds of offices and employ thousands of consultants worldwide.