The independance of nations and the solidarity of humans are given facts. It is no longer possible to be isolated from people who live in other nations. Their point of view, their kind of action, their opulence or their misery are important to us. The jurist in particular has to ask himself for new solutions. Unfortunately the (legal) world is still divided in sovereign an independent states. As long as individuals abstain from crossing frontiers, legal relations will be exclusively ruled by national law. But people often do have contact with foreign states and their citizens. It is then that the question arises whether the relation is governed by national law or by the law of some other country or jurisdiction. The solution of the question relates to the subject known as private international law (conflicts of law). If a relationship has contacts with more than one country, the applicable law has to be determined by rules of conflict of laws. Conflicts of laws impose a lot of difficult questions to lawyers in every country. Once the national law which governs the case has been determined, the lawyer has to apply the law even if it is that of a foreign country. Knowledge of foreign law is thus indispensable. Foreign law is often very different from national law so that specialists will be needed. That was the reason why Dr. Hök, himself a qualified specialist in private international matters, decided in 1994 to become a member of EUROJURIS, a European lawyer network. Since then the law firm Dr. Hök, Stieglmeier & Kollegen has grown to become a European wide specialised and experienced law firm, whose lawyers practice in several languages, including German, English, French, Polish, and Spanish.
 

Dr. Hök, Stieglmeier & Kollegen law firm deals with commercial law, construction law, property law (conveyancing, facility management), debt recovery especially in foreign countries or cross border litigation, probate and succession law, EC law, medical negligence, labour law.

Construction Business Services
 

We advise our clients on national and international construction, building and civil engineering projects, on infrastructure projects as well as on industrial construction projects.

• Construction contracts under the German Civil Code (BGB) and under the Regulations on the Procurement of Construction Services (VOB/B), e.g.
  - Measurement Contracts
  - Lump sum contracts
  - Design & Build Contracts
  - Guaranteed maximum price contracts
  - General contractor agreements
  - Full-service management agreements
  - Subcontractor agreements 
• Consortium and Joint Venture Agreements
• Architects, Civil Engineering and Project Management Contracts, e.g. under the German Honorarordnung für Architekten und Ingenieure (HOAI) and White Book, RIBA Stages of Work, ACE
• Advisory Services on Procurement Procedures, especially Standard Bidding Documents of multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, EBRD etc.
• Advisory services “on site” during construction and after completion
• International construction law
• The appropriate procurement form, e.g. FIDIC (Rainbow Edition), ENAA, JCT, NEC, AIA
• Advice in different legal systems, e.g. French, Arabian law systems, English and Polish law
  • ”On site" legal support in the construction process
  • Contract Negotiations (Design & Build, Measurement, Turnkey, Engineering)
• Integrated technical-legal construction management
  • Technical-legal project management
  • Claim-Management
• National and international construction litigation, dispute adjudication and arbitration

Probate Law Services (Inheritance law)
 

We advise our clients in international probate cases (inheritance cases)

• Construction of wills (how to establish a will in writing, notary public, etc.)
  Form of a will (Hague Convention)
• Legalisation (Hague Convention)
• Content of wills (droit réservataire, Pflichtteil, portions of inheritance that must devolve upon the heirs, which is often the case in civil law jurisdictions)
• German probate procedures

-          Erbschein (certificate of inheritance)

-          Execution of wills

• French Probate Procedures
• Litigation
• Problems with trusts in Germany, France

On the basis of conflicts of law rules, we are experienced in German, English, US and French inheritance law and German tax law.

International Litigation Services
 

We defend the interests of our clients in front of German courts in international litigation cases, we deal especially with:

• International venue questions
• Conflicts of law rules
• Foreign languages (English, French, Polish etc.)
• Cross border recovery of debts
• Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and other instruments

Commercial Law Services
 

We advise our clients in several commercial law areas, including:

• Establishing of German Companies
• Registration of Companies
• Registration of branches and subsidiaries
• Labour Law Services
• Distribution Agreements (Agency Law)
• Company law, mergers & acquisitions (PME, SME)

Real Estate Services
 

We advise our clients on questions concerning

• How to buy and sell real estate in Germany and France (e.g. drafting and negotiating contracts, land registry research work, title search work)
• Verifying real estate valuation expertises
• How to finance a real estate operation with German banks