• Good Teaching has top priority. For capacity reasons, requests for expert opinions from practice, requests for commentaries and handbook contributions, etc. are rejected if this would compromise good teaching. This applies not only to the chair holder, but also to all research assistants and student assistants..
• The Chair's work focuses on practice. The legal fields covered by the chair are particularly influenced by legal practice (companies, lawyers, courts). To achieve this, the chair strives to work closely with people who actually deal with these issues in their everyday lives..
• The Chair works as a team. An exchange about ongoing projects among the research assistants, student assistants and the chair holder is desired and encouraged. Social activities (from the weekly lunch together to games nights) emphasize a sense of team spirit. All members of the chair have free access to our central ice cream supplies..
• The Chair is actively committed to the promotion of women in science. Women are given preferential employment. In addition, intensive supervision is provided to facilitate a quick and effective doctorate. Exercise cases are specifically reviewed and corrected regarding stereotypes of gender.
• All employees are encouraged to conduct their own research. As far as possible, research assistants should produce their own publications in their own name during their employment. Publications together with the chair holder are possible, but are not the rule. For this purpose, not only is the opportunity provided to discuss and review papers, but problems are also to be discussed together in advance. In particular, the aim is for doctoral theses to be completed within a reasonable period of time (ideally 1-2 years) and in a realistic length (150 pages).
• Student assistants should conduct their own research. Research skills are not acquired through the First State Examination in Law, but at university during the course of studies. Student assistants should be introduced to independent research as early as possible. They should not only edit and research texts independently, but also produce publications themselves during their employment (possibly together with research assistants or the chair holder). In addition, they are actively involved in the creation of the chair's e-learning courses..
• Questions are resolved by mutual agreement. The chair does not follow a didactic / autocratic model, but instead relies on democratic decision-making on all issues - from setting up the offices and technical equipment to the publication projects to be accepted.

The Chair of Private Law, especially Business Law and Digitalisation, specializes in

• Private law - in particular
  • Contract law: General part, General law of obligations, contractual obligations
  • Law of Property
  • Law of torts
• Private commercial law - in particular
  • Company Law: partnerships such as GbR (Gesellschaft Bürgerlichen Rechts), OHG (Offene Handelsgesellschaft), KG (Kommanditgesellschaft), PartG (Partnerschaftsgesellschaft); limited companies such as AG (Aktiengesellschaft), GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) or Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt) as well as the law of affiliated companies (group law) and transformation law
  • Competition Law: competition law: competition law: prohibition of restrictive practices (Section 1 GWB / Art. 101 TFEU), prohibition of abuse of a dominant market position (Sections 19, 18 GWB; Art. 102 TFEU), merger control (Sections 35 et seq. GWB; Regulation 139/2004), rules on commercial practices (UWG)
  • Intellectual property law: copyright law, patent law, trademark law, design law
• Law of digitalization - in particular
  •  the law of online platforms (Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act)
  • the law on data access and data trading (Data Act, Data Governance Act)
  • the law on artificial intelligence (AI Act)
  • the protection of personal data (GDPR, ePrivacy Directive)
  • the copyright framework (InfoSoc Directive, DSM Directive)
  •  the protection of databases (Database Directive) and software (Computer Programs Directive)
• Digitalization of law (legal informatics / legal tech) - in particular
  • Evaluation of legal documents (contracts, pleadings)
  • Information management (databases)
  • Development of software tools