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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. Since the summer semester 2024, Dr. Sebastian Heep has also been a lecturer at the University of Potsdam (teaching the compulsory course IT Law for Information Systems Specialists).

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 a salary partner 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.

Kirsten Ammon is a senior associate at PLANIT // LEGAL. She represents and advises clients on IT, data protection, contract and software law. Her practice focuses on consulting on digital business models (in particular cloud computing, artificial intelligence, FinTech, blockchain/smart contracts, e-commerce), data protection advice/acting as an external data protection officer and complex contract drafting.

Clients value her experience in the field of IT/data protection and her technological understanding, which also extends to IT security-related aspects. Her advisory approach presents complex legal issues in a simple and comprehensible way and focuses on the client’s wishes and risk affinity.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Kirsten Ammon was a lawyer in the Tech&Data team at Fieldfisher, a large international business law firm.

Kirsten Ammon studied law at the University of Hamburg, specializing in “Information and Communication”. She completed her legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig with stations at the Regional Court of Lübeck and in the IT/data protection/IP area at the law firms Heissner/Struck in Hamburg and Buse Heberer Fromm/DibbsBarker in Sydney, Australia.

Kirsten Ammon advises in German and English.

She enjoys spending her free time with her family and her dog as well as playing sports in nature.

Nils Eckert is a senior associate at PLANIT // LEGAL 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.

Patrizia Neifert is a Senior Associate at PLANIT // LEGAL. She represents and advises clients on all matters relating to data protection and IT law. Her practice focuses are e-commerce and consumer protection law at national and European level. Clients appreciate her pragmatic and solution-oriented approach in providing advice, which is shaped by her extensive experience and work in an international law firm.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Patrizia Neifert was an attorney at TaylorWessing in the Hamburg office, where she advised clients in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications practice area.

She studied law at the University of Würzburg and also worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Criminology. There she taught courses and contributed to various publications, including on juvenile criminal law and prison law. She completed her legal clerk at the Higher Regional Court in Bamberg.

Patrizia Neifert speaks German, Russian, and English.

In her free time, she enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy books and lifting weights.

Patrick Munro supports the clients of PLANIT // LEGAL as Of Counsel (external) with a focus on IT and IT security law. His core competencies include contract drafting, negotiation and legal advice, in particular in the areas of cybersecurity, including the implementation of NIS2, DORA and Data Economy. Patrick Munro’s presence in the heart of Munich enables PLANIT // LEGAL to provide even more targeted support to clients in southern Germany. As an ideal complement to the Hamburg office, PLANIT//LEGAL is thus strategically positioned in one of Germany’s most important technology centers.

His clients value his sound technical understanding and his pragmatic “hands-on” mentality, which result from his experience as an in-house lawyer as well as an external consultant. His consulting approach enables him to develop practical and legally sound solutions that optimally support economic interests while minimizing legal risks.

His professional career has taken him both to Simmons & Simmons, an international commercial law firm, where he advised clients in the field of digital business, and to the legal departments of DXC and Capgemini, two leading international companies in the fields of digitalization, outsourcing and IT consulting. This combination enabled him to develop extensive expertise in both international business law and technology law.

Patrick Munro studied law at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, specializing in international and European law. After his first state examination, he completed his legal clerkship at Darmstadt Regional Court.

He speaks German, English and French.

In his private life, he is passionate about science, animal welfare and chess.

Lasse Kamin joined PLANIT // LEGAL as an associate in 2024. He advises on IT, contract and data protection law. Clients appreciate his friendly and approachable nature.

Lasse Kamin studied law at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg and in Cape Town. During his studies, he specialized on legal theory and legal philosophy perspectives on the law, thereby scrutinizing backgrounds and connections within the law as well as in relation to politics, economics and technology. Before studying law, he completed a bachelor’s degree in economics and business psychology in Lüneburg and St. Gallen.

He completed his legal clerkship at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court, with stations, at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and in media, IP and IT law at DLA Piper and Neuwerk.

Lasse Kamin is fluent in German and English.

He enjoys spending time in nature, doing sports or with friends and family.

Svenja Bottke is a business lawyer and has been a data protection and legal tech consultant at PLANIT // LEGAL since June 2024. She advises companies on all areas of data protection law and supports them in setting up a data protection organisation. She is also part of the PLANIT // PRIMA team, where she is responsible for marketing and content creation.

Svenja Bottke previously worked at PLANIT // LEGAL as a data protection consultant from 2016 to 2020. Before rejoining the firm, she was employed as a data protection officer and an appointed information security officer at EDEKA Handelsgesellschaft Nord mbH.

She speaks German and English.

Lea Spohr is a data protection and legal tech consultant at PLANIT // LEGAL. She is mainly responsible for advising clients on data protection law and content developing of PLANIT//PRIMA.

Clients appreciate her friendly and open-minded manner as well as her personal and solution-orientated consulting approach.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Lea Spohr worked as a personal career manager at plusYOU GmbH, a legal career consultancy.

She studied business law at the University of Kassel, where she already focused on data protection law.

Lea Spohr is fluent in German and English.

In her private life, she enjoys spending time doing sport, dancing, cooking or eating out with friends.

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 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 forwarding merchant in a logistics company in Hittfeld. After her apprenticeship, she worked as an internal sales support 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.

Martin Wolfer is a software developer at PLANIT // LEGAL. In his role, he is responsible for the further development and improvement of PLANIT // PRIMA.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL, Martin Wolfer worked at Hamburger – Software GmbH, where he focused on the further development and improvement of financial accounting software.

He has several years of experience in software development and is well-versed in both backend and frontend technologies.

He speaks German and English.

In his private life, Martin Wolfer is interested in cryptocurrencies.

Christian Schmerl is a software developer at PLANIT // LEGAL. In his role, he is responsible for the further development and improvement of PLANIT // PRIMA.

Christian Schmerl has several years of experience in software development and worked at Hamburger – Software GmbH before joining PLANIT // LEGAL. There he focused on the further development and improvement of various software solutions. He also worked as a Scrum Master for several teams.

He speaks German and English.

Privately, he makes music.

Nicolas Rastorfer is Privacy Success Manager at PLANIT // LEGAL. In his role, he is responsible for sales expansion and continuous development of PLANIT // PRIMA.

Before joining PLANIT //LEGAL, Nicolas Rastorfer was a data protection consultant at a Swiss company.

He speaks German and English.

In his private life, he does a lot of sport and enjoys traveling around the world.