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Dr. Lutz Kniprath

Dr. Lutz Kniprath, M.A., FCIArb
German Attorney-at-Law
Partner

Phone +49 (0) 30 8145 8193-0
E-Mail

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Dr. Lutz Kniprath, M.A., FCIArb

Biography:

Lutz is an International Arbitration Partner with a particular focus on investment and commercial arbitration for clients in China, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. He has worked on both, investor-state and commercial arbitrations in sectors such as plant construction, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, trade in metals, railway, automobile, etc. under a wide variety of institutional or ad-hoc rules.
He received his legal education in Germany and is admitted as an attorney-at-law in Germany. During his legal career, he lived in various German cities, New York City (U.S.A.), Shanghai (PR China), Istanbul (Turkiye) and Casablanca (Morocco). He currently lives in Tunis (Tunisia) and Berlin.

 

Specialisation:

International Arbitration (Commercial / Investor-State)

 

Current focus:

  • Investment and high-stakes cross-border disputes
  • Infrastructure, Energy, Metals & Mining, Transpor
Dispute Design:
  • Minimal Arbitration - Designing dispute resolution backwards from enforceability - reducing procedure to what is strictly necessary
  • Cultural Expectatiosn as Law - Integrating the parties' cultural and project reality into the applicable law, rather than imposing abstract legal constructs. 

 

Working languages:

German, English, French, Chinese (Mandarin)

 

Professional Experience:

  • German attorney-at-law since 2000: Arbitration, Litigation, Corporate Law
  • Since 2025 Kniprath Complex Disputes, Berlin
  • 2015-2025 co-founder of the law firm of Kniprath Lopez, Attorneys for Complex Disputes, Berlin / Barcelona
  • 2015-2019 visiting lecturer for commercial law and dispute resolution, Hanover University for Applied Sciences and Arts, Hanover, Germany
  • 2010-2015 German attorney-at-law with law firms in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Hanover (since 2011 as partner) (international arbitration, shareholder disputes, corporate law)
  • 2006-2010 Corporate counsel in the corporate legal department of Robert Bosch GmbH (general commercial, corporate law and dispute resolution)
  • 2000-2006 German attorney-at-law with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Frankfurt am Main / Shanghai (dispute resolution, corporate law)

 

Education:

  • Since 2018 Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb)
  • 1999-2000 University of Cologne, Ph.D., thesis: “The arbitration of the Chinese International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) – administration and procedures”
  • 1996-98 Legal clerkship with the Supreme Court of Lower Saxony in Celle (clerkships in Hanover and New York, U.S.A. – American Arbitration Association) (German Second State Exam)
  • 1989-95 University of Trier Law school (German First State Exam)
  • 1989-95 University of Trier, Master of ARats (M.A.) in Modern China Studies
  • 1988-89 Mandarin Daily News Language Center, Taipei, Taiwan, language training Chinese (Mandarin)
  • 1987-88 University of Bonn, Studium Generale (China Studies, Philosophy, etc.)

 

Selection of substantive matters:

Dispute Resolution

  • Several substantive commercial and investor-state arbitration procedures as party counsel
  • Numerous arbitration proceedings, e.g. regarding commercial, construction, plant construction, energy, metallurgy, railway, etc., according to the arbitration rules of the ICC, DIS, CIETAC, Swiss Rules, VIAC, or ad-hoc rules (e.g., UNCITRAL, national civil procedure rules, arbitration rules of the German Stock Exchange)
  • More than 25 arbitration procedures as arbitrator (chairman, sole, co-arbitrator)
  • Several large shareholder disputes among German or non-German shareholders of German limited liability companies, including numerous interim measures of protection, highly contentious shareholder meetings, multiple shareholder actions (including pleas for nullification, declaration, etc.)

Corporate / Commercial

  • Sale and purchase of shares in corporations (M&A) by a variety of large and mid-sized companies, including privatisations by public entities (e.g., energy, health, securities, real estate sectors), including, e.g., leading a group of 25 legal teams worldwide.
  • Ongoing corporate advice, including for various subsidiaries of an international group of companies in the electronics and automotive supplier sectors.
  • Contractual advice, including drafting and negotiating of contracts in various business sectors such as transport, energy, electronics, automotive and trade in metals, among others.
  • Participation in the organisation and implementation of the global compliance structure of a large group of companies in the electronics and automotive supplier sectors.

 

Memberships:

  • International Bar Association (IBA), German Lawyers’ Association (DAV), German Institution for Arbitration (DIS), Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), German-Chinese Lawyers’ Association (DCJV), German-Russian Lawyers’ Association (DRJV), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Germany)
  • Included in the arbitrator lists of the Chinese International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Beijing Arbitration Commission (BAC/BIAC) and the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC), Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).