A history with a clear vision
Since Noerr was founded, we’ve built our practice on a history of three key elements: maintaining our independence, becoming increasingly international and penetrating new, technology-driven legal and business areas early. Here are just a few of our business milestones:
1950
The firm is founded in Munich.
1983
The law firm is renamed Nörr, Stiefenhofer and Lutz.
1987
Up until the 2000s, we play a key role in setting up private television and broadcasting companies as well as pay and digital TV in Germany.
1989
The firm establishes a Germany-wide presence by opening offices in Frankfurt am Main, Dresden (1990), Berlin (1993), Düsseldorf (1999) and Hamburg (2017).
1990
We gradually build up our presence in the Central and Eastern Europe markets for our clients by opening offices in Budapest and Prague (1990), Warsaw (1992), Moscow (1994), Bucharest (1998), Bratislava (2004) and Kyiv (2007). Changes in the business environment lead us to withdraw from Ukraine (2013) and Russia (2021/22).
1995
We establish practice areas for IT/internet law and digital business at an early stage and develop advisory services for IT outsourcing (2003), cloud computing (2009), digitalisation (2015), IoT (2020), and AI and data law (2022).
1996
We advise Fresenius on its takeover of National Medical Care (USA) and the merger with Fresenius Medical Care, the first reverse triangular merger in Germany and the first simultaneous IPO in Frankfurt and New York.
We design one of the first stock option plans for executives in Germany.
2002
We continue to expand our global reach for our clients by becoming the exclusive member firm in Germany for Lex Mundi, the world's leading network of independent law firms.
2005
Our internationalisation continues as we establish offices in New York, London (2010), Alicante (2011) and Brussels (2014).
2008
We establish the Compliance Day, the first forum for exchanging information on compliance issues in Germany. As a result, we are recognised as Innovative Lawyers by the Financial Times.
2009
We advise Germany 1, the first SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) in Germany.
2009/10
Our firm shortens its name to Noerr.
2010
We take over the nationwide litigation for Deutsche Bank as part of an outsourcing partnership – a first in Germany.
Noerr’s summer camp for children and young people, the “KinderCamp”, opens its doors.
2015
Together with the Federation of German Industries (BDI), we create the first comprehensive presentation of the legal challenges of digitalisation with a study and legal opinion.
2018
We advise US financial investor J.C. Flowers & Co. on the first-ever privatisation of a regional state bank, HSH Nordbank. Our work covers the smooth transition from the public bank protection scheme to the private bank deposit protection fund.
2018-22
We advise Schwarz Group on its circular economy journey by building up its PreZero recycling division as part of a buy-and-build strategy. Today, PreZero is the fifth largest recycling company in Europe.
2021-22
In the first-ever insolvency of a DAX company, we advise on the worldwide high-speed sale of the Wirecard Group’s international business.
