Chair of Private Law, Commercial and Business Law, Jurisprudence

Picture of the chair during summer 2024

Chair Tobias H. Tröger Assistant Susanne Schirmer Academic Staff Lea Borger Serhat Cengiz Dvir Ezra Bero Gebhard Jonathan Pfitzer Bella Sosnov Julian Stolte Josephine Uhlig Student Assistants Chiara Ley Bianca Scholz

Victoria Dintelmann
Jannes Drechsler
Alexander Friedrich
Qianting Gao

Jennifer Gehrke
Alperen Gözlügöl
Marie Ghanem
Gustavo Grebler
Julian Greth
Benedikt Happ
Paul Harenberg
Fabienne Held
Thomas Kelm
Theresa Kreft
Claire Meyer
Lara Milione
Viviane Opitz
Lisa Pfaffinger
Marlon Prutzer
Andreas Roth
Philipp Scheibenpflug
Daniel Schellenberg
Ann-Kathrin Schmitt
Henriette Siegmund
Wolfram Stein
Dr. Sebastian Steuer
Gerrit Tönningsen

Profile

The research activities of the professorship aim both to further develop existing law and to assess legislative initiatives from a consequentialist perspective. The evaluation of interpretative and regulatory alternatives incorporates insights and models from the social and cognitive sciences, broadening the methodological approach. Against this backdrop, the focus increasingly extends beyond the collection of descriptive data to empirical legal research that seeks to analyze institutional interdependencies. The overarching normative framework is predominantly informed by the objective of enhancing social welfare. This research orientation is reflected in interdisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional collaborations and partnerships. At the same time, research findings and topics are regularly fed back into legal practice, primarily through specialized discussion groups and conferences.

The key areas of focus include corporate law, banking regulation, and contract law. In each of these fields, both traditional legal questions and emerging developments are examined through the outlined methodological lens.

• In corporate law and securities regulation, research addresses the possibilities and limitations of supranational
       harmonization, as well as the alternative of institutional competition among national regulators, supervisory authorities,   
       and private standard-setters. Additionally, various legal doctrines in organizational and capital markets law are analyzed
       in light of economic theories of the firm and financial economic insights into capital market functions, with        
       particular attention to the potential innovation-inhibiting effects of mandatory legal provisions.
• In banking regulation, research examines prudential regulation and supervisory procedures that are crucial for a 
       sustainable financial market architecture, with a specific focus on prudential oversight and the restructuring and       
       resolution of financial institutions.
• A key question in this context is also whether, and to what extent, corporate and supervisory law can create incentives
      for sustainability-oriented economic activity.
• In contract law, research focuses on the challenges that artificial intelligence poses to traditional civil law frameworks
       and explores the need for a legal framework that fosters welfare-enhancing innovation.

The professorship's research initiatives are conducted within the interdisciplinary Leibniz Institute for Financial Market Research—Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe (SAFE) and are closely integrated into the international fellow network of the Center for Advanced Studies Foundations of Law and Finance.

Publications

SSRN Author Page

Presentations

In line with the research profile of the chair, I supervise dissertations in the areas of private and business law that I represent in my scholarly work. Potential topics for Ph.D.-theses must promise a fundamental and innovative contribution to scholarship in their field. I welcome comparative and interdisciplinary research approaches, particularly those situated at the intersection of law and economics (Economic Analysis of Law).

To ensure the adequate supervision of doctoral students, I generally confine the acceptance of Ph.D.-candidates to those who achieved results significantly above-average in the First State Examination or their comparable foreign law degrees. Applicants I do not know in person yet should have an articulate idea of a potential dissertation topic. In all cases, applicants will have to make sure to meet the general requirements for admission to doctoral studies at the Department of Law at Goethe University.

If you contemplate writing a dissertation under my supervision, your written application should not only include the usual documents (CV, photo-copies of diplomas, transcripts etc.) but also an outline of your research interests and your motivation for seeking to pursue them under my supervision.

The final acceptance as a Ph.D.-candidate will occur on the basis of a seminar-presentation of the contemplated research topic of the doctoral thesis or a comparably detailed research proposal.

Completed Dissertations

Lisa Pfaffinger – Unbeschränkte Gesellschafterhaftung und Gläubigerschutz - Eine ökonomische Betrachtung des Haftungssystems der Personengesellschaften [Unlimited Shareholder Liability and Creditor Protection – An Economic Analysis of Partnership Liability Law]

Philipp Scheibenpflug – Aktienrechtliche Vermögensbindung und Verhaltensrisiken [Capital Maintenance and Shareholder Opportunism in the German Stock Corporation]

Henriette Karoline Sigmund – Bindung durch Versprechen oder Vertrag - Untersuchung der Behandlung öffentlicher Belohnungsaussetzung im deutschen und englischen Recht aus dogmengeschichtlicher und rechtsökonomischer Perspektive [Binding Effect Created through Promise or Contract – A Comparative Analysis of Promises of Reward under German and English Law from the Perspectives of a Historical Dogmatism and a Law and Economics Approach]

Gerrit Tönningsen – Gemeinsame europäische Bankenaufsicht nach der Bankenunion - Der einheitliche Aufsichtsmechanismus als Modell für die effektive Überwachung transnationaler Kreditinstitute? [Banking Oversight in Europe post Banking Union: The Single Supervisory Mechanism as a model for the effective supervision of transnational financial institutions]

Theresa Kreft – Die Trennbankenregime im Vereinigten Königreich und Deutschland – eine rechtsvergleichende und rechtsökonomische Analyse [Banking structural reform in Germany and the United Kingdom - a comparative and economic analysis]

Alexander Friedrich – Die novellierte Debt Governance für Banken in der Europäischen Union [Amendments to the Debt Governance for Banks in the European Union]

Thomas Kelm - Vom kontrollierenden Aktionär unabhängige Aufsichtsratsmitglieder - Eine Untersuchung von Kosten und Nutzen unabhängiger Aufsichtsratsmitglieder in der Überwachung von Related Party Transactions mit dem Kontrollaktionär [Supervisory Board Members Independent of the Controlling Shareholder - An Analysis of the Costs and Benefits of Independent Supervisory Board Members in Monitoring Related Party Transactions with the Controlling Shareholder]

Andreas Roth - Related Party Transactions mit kontrollierenden Aktionären - Eine rechtsvergleichende Analyse unter Einbeziehung rechtsökonomischer Aspekte [Related Party Transactions with Controlling Shareholders - A Comparative Law Analysis Including Aspects of Legal Economics]

Lisa Marie Therese Kölsch - Gläubigerschutz in der Umstrukturierung - Umwandlungsrechtliche Zulässigkeit konzernweiter Umstrukturierungsmaßnahmen im Lichte aktienrechtlicher Vermögensbindung [Creditor protection in restructuring - Admissibility of group-wide restructuring measures under reorganisation law in the light of asset commitment under stock corporation law]

Tristan Förster - Regulierung von Verbriefungstransaktionen [Regulation of securitisation transactions]

Benedikt Happ - Der fehlerhafte Beschluss in der Personengesellschaft - Allgemeines Beschlussmängelrecht und Institutionenbildung auf Grundlage des Anfechtungsmodells [The defective resolution in the partnership - general law on defective resolutions and institution building on the basis of the avoidance model]

Lara Milione - Enhancing the Credibility of Resolution - An Analysis of the Impact of Recovery and Resolution Planning and Loss Absorbing Capital Requirements on the Credibility of Bail-In

Sebastian Steuer - Passive Investoren - Indexbasierte Vermögensverwaltung und die Corporate Governance von Publikumsgesellschaften [Passive investors - Index-based asset management and the corporate governance of public companies]

Jannes Drechsler - Rechtsökonomik in der Gesetzesanwendung [Legal economics in the application of law]

Maximilian Johannes Höflich - Systemische Risiken im Asset Management [Systemic risks in asset management]

Jonas Schütt - Towards Risk Based AI Regulation