The Team

Dr. Bernhard Freund is a founding partner of PLANIT // LEGAL. He advises on all issues of data protection and IT law and is the external data protection officer for numerous companies. Clients appreciate the combination of sound legal and technical know-how and his pragmatic consulting approach.

Before founding PLANIT // LEGAL, Dr. Bernhard Freund was a software developer, an advisor to the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, and an attorney at a major international law firm in the specialist area of “Technology, Media and Telecommunications”.

Dr. Bernhard Freund studied law and computer science in Bielefeld. After the first state law examination and academic activities at the Universities of Bielefeld and Torino, he obtained a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) at the Victoria University of Wellington.

Dr. Bernhard Freund completed his legal clerkship at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg. In addition, he completed his studies in computer science with a focus on “Artificial Intelligence” at the Open University in Hagen with a thesis on knowledge-based systems as a Master of Computer Science (M.Comp.Sc.).

He received his doctorate from the University of Osnabrück with a thesis on “Compulsory performance in sales law“, which was supervised by Prof. Dr. Hans Schulte-Nölke.

Dr. Bernhard Freund was a lecturer for data protection law at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and is a lecturer at the PLANIT // ACADEMY.

In his private life, he plays marimba, chess and is interested in cryptocurrencies and foreign languages.

He is fluent in German and English.

Dr. Bernd Schmidt is a founding partner of PLANIT // LEGAL. He represents and advises clients in all matters of data protection and IT law. The focus of his work is on procedural representation in court, regulatory proceedings and strategic data protection consulting.

Clients appreciate his experience with the numerous facets of data protection law, starting with the challenge of reconciling data protection law and client interests and “taking clients along”, carrying data protection requirements “over the finish line” and implementing data protection compliance measures in the company, all the way through to representation in regulatory and court proceedings.

Prior to founding PLANIT // LEGAL, Dr. Bernd Schmidt was an attorney in Bird & Bird’s Munich office in the “IT, Commercial, Outsourcing Practice Group” as well as an attorney and external data protection officer in the Hamburg office of a data protection law boutique. Dr. Bernd Schmidt is familiar with the procedures and processes of the data protection authority through his work at the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information.

Dr. Bernd Schmidt studied law at the Universities of Hanover, Lausanne and Münster. After passing the first state law examination, he obtained a Master of Commercial Laws degree (LL.M.) from the University of Auckland and completed his doctorate on the topic of “Compliance in Corporations” as a scholarship holder in the DFG Research Training Group “Trustsoft” under Prof. Dr. Jürgen Taeger at the University of Oldenburg.

Dr. Bernd Schmidt completed his legal clerkship at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Bremen, among others in the IT/IP departments of Taylor Wessing in Hamburg and Simonsen Advokatfirma in Oslo. Dr. Bernd Schmidt is a member of the Board of Experts of EuroPrivacy Certification.

He is fluent in German, English and Norwegian.

In his private life he is a man for the practical things. He takes care of house and garden and breeds the American gaited horses “Tennessee Walker” and “Rocky Mountain Horses“.

Dr. Sebastian Heep has been a partner at PLANIT // LEGAL since the beginning of 2020. He advises on all issues of IT law as well as distribution and data protection law. Clients appreciate his pragmatic and solution-oriented advisory approach, which is shaped by his extensive experience in the corporate environment and working in an internationally operating commercial law firm. Due to his negotiating skills, he is able to successfully drive negotiations forward even in difficult situations.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Dr. Sebastian Heep was in-house counsel and senior legal counsel in the central legal department of Körber AG, the holding of an international technology group. There, as Head of Commercial Law of the Medipak Systems business unit, he was responsible for comprehensive advice to domestic and foreign software and mechanical engineering companies, in particular in matters of software contract and distribution law as well as in the area of purchasing. In recent years, Dr. Sebastian Heep has also provided legal support for the establishment of an intra-group digital unit and advised Körber AG on M&A transactions. Before joining the legal department of Körber AG, Dr. Sebastian Heep was an attorney and senior associate in the Hamburg office of CMS Hasche Sigle, specializing in intellectual property, product liability and life science.

Dr. Sebastian Heep studied law at the University of Constance. After his first state law examination, he completed his doctorate under Prof. Dr. Jochen Glöckner, LL.M. on the topic of “Protection under unfair competition law against deception of origin and exploitation of reputation in relation to design patent and trademark law“ and was a research assistant at the Chair of German and European Private and Commercial Law of Prof. Dr. Jochen Glöckner, LL.M..

Dr. Sebastian Heep completed his legal clerkship at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, inter alia with stations at CMS Hasche Sigle in Hamburg as well as at the German Industry and Commerce Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Dr. Sebastian Heep is fluent in German and English.

In his private life, he prefers a view of the countryside and enjoys cycling. Since he regularly kicks in the backyard with his kids, he has also become a gifted soccer player.

Dr. Anna-Kristina Roschek has been a partner at PLANIT//LEGAL since the beginning of 2020. She advises her clients on all issues of data protection and IT law. Her focus is on legal advice for IT projects, in particular group-wide implementation, outsourcing and infrastructure projects, and the establishment of global data protection organizations. She is your contact for legal outsourcing at PLANIT // LEGAL.

Clients appreciate her wealth of practical experience both from internal consulting in the group environment and from external consulting. She knows how to explain complex issues to her clients in a simple manner and find pragmatic solutions to such.

Prior to joining PLANIT//LEGAL, Dr. Anna-Kristina Roschek was with the Hamburg office of Taylor Wessing in the Corporate Practice Area and the Energy Industry Group, then Senior Legal Counsel at Körber AG, the holding company of an international technology group. In addition to providing legal advice to software and engineering companies in the logistics and pharmaceuticals sectors, Dr. Anna-Kristina Roschek has played a leading role in setting up a group-wide data protection organization in recent years, as well as providing comprehensive legal advice to the Körber Group’s internal IT provider on the centralization of IT, among others, as part of a global infrastructure project.

Dr. Anna-Kristina Roschek studied law at the University of Hamburg. After her first state law examination, she completed her doctorate under Prof. Dr. Ulrich Magnus on the subject of “Enforceability Declaration and Enforcement of Foreign Titles in the European Union”. At the same time, she was a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. Dr. Anna-Kristina Roschek completed her legal clerkship at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, including a station at the Regional Court of Hamburg in the chamber for IPR, competition and patent matters.

Dr. Anna-Kristina Roschek is fluent in German and English.

She lives with her family where other people go on vacation, at the coast of the North Sea. Privately, her husband and she therefore welcome vacation guests and prefer to spend their free time on the beach, in the tidelands or on the dike.

Christian Putzar is Counsel at PLANIT // LEGAL and advises on all issues of data protection law, business law and IT law. The focus of his work is on advising and drafting contracts for companies in online business. Clients value his extensive experience as an attorney and in-house counsel as well as his targeted, pragmatic approaches to finding solutions.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Christian Putzar was Senior Legal Counsel at the FINANZCHECK Group. There, he accompanied the development of the company from a start-up to one of the leading German FinTechs and was responsible for all issues of data protection law, IT law as well as marketing and sales law. Previously, Christian Putzar worked as an attorney in the Litigation Department of Latham & Watkins LLP, where he gained extensive litigation experience in a wide range of legal areas, such as capital investment law, insurance law, insolvency law and competition law. Before joining Latham & Watkins, Christian Putzar was an attorney at the Hamburg law firm Senfft pp., specializing in intellectual property law, copyright law and media law.

Christian Putzar is fluent in German and English.

Nils Eckert joined PLANIT // LEGAL as a lawyer at the beginning of 2022 and advises on data protection and IT law. Clients particularly appreciate his practical experience from internal consulting in the corporate environment.

Nils Eckert studied law in Hamburg and Madrid with a focus on information and communication law. He completed his legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Celle (Lower Saxony), including stints at the law firm Senfft pp., which specializes in press and media law, and at the Hamburg Regional Court in the chamber for press matters.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Nils Eckert worked as in-house attorney and legal counsel for the media company gamigo AG, where he was a member of the central legal department of the parent company Media and Games Invest SE, responsible in particular for corporate and compliance law issues.

Nils Eckert is fluent in German, English and Spanish.

Ariane Jung is an associate at PLANIT // LEGAL. She advises and represents clients in the field of data protection law. The core of her work is in data protection and digital compliance in companies, representing clients in legal and regulatory proceedings, and drafting and negotiating contracts. Ariane Jung advises in her role as a lawyer and external data protection officer.

Clients particularly appreciate her solution-oriented and pragmatic consulting style as well as her open and clear communication. When advising clients, Ariane Jung always has their needs in mind and develops solutions that meet their requirements.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Ariane Jung was an attorney at FECHNER Rechtsanwälte in Hamburg, where she focused on advising clients from the advertising industry on all digital compliance issues.

Ariane Jung studied at the Universities of Hanover and Bonn. After her first state examination, she worked for SKW Schwarz in Berlin, UNVERZAGT Rechtsanwälte in Hamburg and MÖHRLE HAPP LUTHER in Hamburg, where she was a professional support lawyer in data protection and IT law as well as in IP and drug advertising law.

Ariane Jung completed her legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Celle (Lower Saxony), including stints at the Regional Court of Lüneburg, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg (3rd Civil Senate) and the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information.

Ariane Jung is fluent in German and English.

In her free time, Ariane Jung likes to ride racing bicycles and is passionate about cooking.

Melissa Martins de Almeida is a lawyer at PLANIT // LEGAL. She represents and advises clients on IT and data protection law.

Clients appreciate her solution-oriented way of answering interdisciplinary questions in IT and data protection law and her ability of assisting the client in an advisory capacity.

Melissa Martins de Almeida studied law at the University of Hamburg. During her studies, she worked as a tutor at a student-run legal consultancy in internet law as well as independently in the field of e-commerce. Melissa Martins de Almeida completed her legal traineeship at the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig, including stations at PLANIT // LEGAL and the Regional Court of Lübeck.

She speaks German, English and Portuguese.

In her free time, she plays volleyball and volunteers with a youth organisation for political participation.

Bärbel Lühring is a trained paralegal and has been the office manager of PLANIT // LEGAL since 2018. Among other things, she takes care of accounting, client work and general organization of the office processes. She also supports Dr. Roschek in the area of human resources.

Clients appreciate her “hands-on mentality” and can look forward to a friendly and competent first contact in the office.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Bärbel Lühring worked as a paralegal in a law firm in Hamburg specializing in intellectual property and competition law. Prior to that, she worked in a small law boutique specializing in banking and capital markets law. Bärbel Lühring completed her training at a large US commercial law firm based in Hamburg.

In her free time, she regularly participates in combat sports as a balance to her daily work at the law firm.

Ms. Lühring is fluent in German and English.

Cindy Heinsohn is an office manager at PLANIT // LEGAL. She is mainly responsible for marketing, accounting and the organization of the firm.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Cindy Heinsohn worked as a marketing assistant in an international logistics company in Hamburg. Cindy Heinsohn completed her training as a logistics saleswoman in a logistics company in Hittfeld. After her apprenticeship, she worked as an internal sales representative in the logistics industry in Hamburg. After 4 years in sales she changed internally to the marketing department.

In her private life she is enthusiastic about her own garden and creativity. Together with her family she makes wooden decorations for the Christmas season.

She is fluent in German and English.

Irina Diz is a trained paralegal and notary assistant and has been employed by PLANIT // LEGAL as an office manager since May 2022. She takes care of the accounting, the office organization and mainly the client work. She also provides support for PLANIT // PRIMA.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Irina Diz was a paralegal and notary assistant at SBZW Rechtsanwälte Dr. Bodenburg, Zilian und Werk in Göttingen, where she also completed her legal training with honors. Previously, she studied law at the Georg-August University in Göttingen.

Currently, she is studying for a Bachelor of Law at the open university in Hagen in addition to her professional activities at PLANIT // LEGAL.

In her private life she likes to be out in nature with her family and finds her balance during a nice jog in the park.

Ms. Diz is fluent in German and English.

Matz Radloff is a software developer at PLANIT // LEGAL. He is mainly responsible for the technical implementation of PLANIT // PRIMA. In addition, as a full-stack developer, he is also responsible for the server and development infrastructure as well as the improvement of internal tools.

Clients and customers appreciate his fast and pragmatic communication on both technical and content-related issues as well as his ability to translate legal requirements into technical solutions.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Matz Radloff worked as a developer and technical manager at MyMUN GmbH. He also worked independently for many clients and developed various software solutions. He studies computer science at the University of Hamburg.

Matz Radloff is fluent in German and English.

Privately, he is interested in everything from physics to technology to music.

Dmitrij Pastian is a student trainee at PLANIT // LEGAL. His work focuses on the development of PLANIT // PRIMA and internal software projects.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Dmitrij Pastian worked as a system administrator at the ISP and hoster Terralink Networks GmbH, where he also completed his training. After his apprenticeship as an IT specialist for system integration and his work as a system administrator, Dmitrij Pastian started studying computer science of technical systems at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg.

He is fluent in German, English and Russian.

In his private life he is a musician and DIY enthusiast.