Areas of practise

General criminal law includes, for example, offences against property, offences against physical integrity, offences against life, offences against testimony and much more.

While some time ago it was mainly construction companies or the catering industry that regularly faced customs inspections for undeclared work and illegal employment, these accusations now often also affect other business sectors, such as outpatient care services, among others.

Companies themselves cannot (yet) be sanctioned under criminal law. However, both investigations against management or employees and the consequences that may follow can already have considerable consequences for a company.

Insolvency criminal law punishes actions that lead to a crisis of the company or those that contribute to the deepening of a crisis in the case of already existing insolvency and/or over-indebtedness. The question at which point in time an over-indebtedness or insolvency of the company existed, which was also recognisable to the person concerned, is regularly at the centre of the criminal law assessment.

International legal assistance in criminal matters is the assistance provided by foreign authorities, in particular by public prosecutors' offices, courts and consulates, in investigative, criminal or enforcement matters, or the assistance provided to foreign authorities by German authorities.

The focus of allegations of corruption is still on the classic offences of bribery under sections 331 et seq. of the Criminal Code (StGB), which generally relate to allegations of payments to public officials in order to obtain government contracts.

Medical criminal law includes all offences related to activities in the health sector. This applies to doctors as well as other medical professionals (physician's assistants, nurses, MTAs, etc.), managers or employees of outpatient care services as well as those of nursing homes, pharmacists or employees from the pharmaceutical and health care industry.

The main basic offences under criminal tax law are found in §§ 369 ff. of the German Fiscal Code (AO), such as tax evasion (§ 370 AO) and reckless tax evasion (§ 378 AO). Depending on the type and extent of the offence, a distinction must be made between tax offences and tax crimes, which are sanctioned in a correspondingly graduated manner (fines, monetary penalties and severe prison sentences).

The concept of economic criminal law covers all norms that sanction actions defined as misconduct in connection with economic life. In addition to, for example, international regulations on criminal liability for corruption or foreign regulations on the capital market, these include

  • fraud
  • Subsidy fraud
  • Capital investment fraud
  • Criminal competition law
  • Betrayal of business secrets
  • Criminal law relating to balance sheets
  • Breach of trust
  • Withholding and embezzlement of remuneration
  • Corruption offences
  • Insolvency offences

The most common charges brought by the prosecution authorities in connection with road traffic are

  • Hit and run (unauthorised removal from the scene of an accident, § 142 StGB)
  • Driving under the influence of alcohol (§ 316 StGB)
  • Driving under the influence of drugs (§ 316 StGB)
  • Coercion and insult in road traffic (§§ 240, 185 StGB)
  • Negligent bodily injury in road traffic (§ 229 StGB)
  • Negligent homicide in road traffic (§ 222 StGB)
  • Road traffic endangerment (§ 315c StGB)
  • Dangerous interference with road traffic (§ 315b StGB)
  • Driving without a licence (§ 21 StVG)
  • Breach of the compulsory insurance law (as owner or driver, § 1, 6 PflVG)