Large projects need legal management that does not merely react on demand but keeps the whole in view. This is the management I provide, proactively. Embedded in the interdisciplinary project team, I run contracts, proceedings, permits, deadlines and legal risks across the entire project duration — at eye level with management and board. This applies to new real estate, urban development and infrastructure projects of private and public developers, as well as to the restructuring and redevelopment of distressed assets — for owners and financing partners.
WHAT LEGAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT IS
Not a different area of law, but a different way of running a mandate. Five differences from conventional legal advice:
| Legal project management | Conventional legal advice | |
|---|---|---|
| Timing | continuous and proactive, across the entire life of the project | occasional, prompted by events |
| Subject | the contractual and permitting architecture of the whole project | the individual contract, the individual question, the individual proceeding |
| Position | multilateral — as a member of the interdisciplinary project team | bilateral — the lawyer advises the client from outside the team |
| Risk | risks are anticipated and managed before they materialise | limiting the damage after something has happened |
| Output | continuous reporting, risk register, decision papers | the brief that was ordered, the contract that was ordered |
FOCUS AREAS
— End-to-end legal management across all project phases: I hold contracts, permits, deadlines and risks together — from the first acquisition draft to acceptance and exit by asset or share deal
— One point of contact where all the project's legal threads converge: the corporate-law level of joint ventures (JV agreements, shareholder agreements, shareholder meetings); contracts and communication with designers, contractors and authorities; planning and building law including building permits and preliminary building decisions; insurance; defence against variation claims and other claims
— Engagement as needed: as a full mandate across the entire duration, as a staged or modular mandate for individual phases, or as co-counsel alongside existing legal advisers
— The safeguards of an attorney mandate: statutory confidentiality, protection of project files from seizure, professional indemnity cover — a protection that classic project management does not offer to the same extent
SELECTED PROJECTS
— Restructuring of a distressed real estate portfolio in Berlin: 20 properties, around 111,000 m² of residential and usable floor area; dissolution of the joint venture; restructuring of the projects (project concept, planning, service providers)
— Urban development Hauptbahnhof–Laim–Pasing, Munich („Neue Münchner Adressen“): conversion of more than 100 ha of railway land with around 1.2 million m² of gross development land — one of the largest urban development projects in EuropeOn this subjectDas neue Baugesetzbuch 2004 (in German)
— Conversion of a no-longer-lettable, vacant logistics site in Munich into a zero-emission residential quarter; 16,000 m² of gross floor area, 90 flats, local amenities, a day-care centre and academically supported sustainability monitoring
— Optimisation of a dormant property held in a long-term portfolio: joint development with a leading retail and tourism group, land swap, cooperation agreement, joint binding land-use plan (Bebauungsplan); increase in value by a factor of 15 to 20 relative to the original portfolio value
— Overall management of a Munich urban quarter development comprising residential, hotel, food and beverage, retail, office and medical-centre uses; planned investment volume of more than EUR 600 millionOn this subjectRevitalisierung von Militärbrachen: „Auch Juristen müssen hier auf Zack sein“ (in German)
→ Briefing document on legal project management (PDF)