Bernhard is a founding partner of PLANIT // LEGAL. He advises on any data protection and IT law matters and is appointed as external Data Protection Officer by various companies. Clients value in particular the combination of his legal and technical experience.

Before founding PLANIT // LEGAL, Bernhard worked for the Hamburg Data Protection Authority (Hamburgischer Beauftragter für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit), as Lawyer for the Practice Group Technology, Media and Telecommunication in the Hamburg office of the international law firm CMS Hasche Sigle and as a software developer.

Bernhard studied law and computer science at the University of Bielefeld. After having accomplished his undergraduate studies and scientific research activities at the universities of Bielefeld and Torino, he completed his postgraduate studies in law (LL.M.) at the University of Wellington.

Bernhard was legal clerk (Rechtsreferendar) at the Hamburg Court of Appeal (Oberlandesgericht). During his legal clerkship he worked, inter alia, for international law firms and a public health insurance provider. During this time, he also finished his studies in computer science at the University of Hagen, majoring in artificial intelligence, with a thesis on knowledge-based systems.

Bernhard was Ph.D. student at the chair of Prof. Dr. Hans Schulte-Nölke, University of Osnabrück. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on “Specific Performance in Sales Contracts” (Erfüllungszwang im Kaufrecht). Bernhard was associate professor (Lehrbeauftragter) for data protection law at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and currently is a trainer with the PLANIT // Academy.

Bernhard is fluent in German and English.

Bernd is a founding partner. He advises on any data protection and IT law matters and is assigned as Data Protection Officer for various companies. Clients value in particular his experience as external Data Protection Officer and his hands on advisory approach.
Before founding PLANIT // LEGAL, Bernd worked as Attorney at Law for the “Practice Group IT Commercial, Outsourcing” in the Munich office of Bird & Bird and as Attorney at Law and external Data Protection Officer in a boutique law firm for data protection law.

Bernd studied law at the Universities of Hannover, Lausanne and Münster. He made his postgraduate studies in commercial law (LL.M.) at the University of Auckland and his Ph.D. studies at the chair of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Taeger, University of Oldenburg. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on “Compliance in Corporate Entities” (Compliance in Kapitalgesellschaften). During his Ph.D. studies Bernd was member of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) graduate school “Trustsoft”.

Bernd was legal clerk (Rechtsreferendar) at the Bremen Court of Appeal (Oberlandesgericht). During his legal clerkship he worked, inter alia, for the Hamburg Data Protection Authority (Hamburgischer Beauftragter für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit) and the IT/IP groups of Taylor Wessing in Hamburg and Simonsen Advkatfirma in Oslo.

Bernd is member of the EuroPrivacy Certification Board of Experts and teaches at the PLANIT // ACADEMY.

Bernd is fluent in German, English and Norwegian.

Sebastian joined PLANIT//LEGAL as a partner in 2020. He advises on all questions of IT law as well as on commercial and data protection law. Clients value his pragmatic and solution-oriented consulting approach, which stems from his extensive experience in the corporate environment and his work as an attorney in an internationally operating law firm.

Before joining PLANIT//LEGAL, Sebastian was an in-house senior legal counsel in the legal department of Körber AG, the holding company of an international technology group. As “Head of Commercial Law” of the business unit Medipak Systems, Sebastian provided legal advice to domestic and foreign software and machine building companies, particularly in questions of software contract law and commercial law. Sebastian has also accompanied the set-up of an internal digital unit and advised Körber AG on M&A transactions. Before joining the legal department of Körber AG, Sebastian was an attorney and senior associate in the Hamburg office of CMS Hasche Sigle, specializing in IPR, commercial law and life science.

Sebastian studied law at the University of Konstanz. After the first state examination in law, he received his ph.D. under Prof. Dr. Jochen Glöckner, LL.M. on the subject of “Lauterkeitsrechtlicher Schutz vor Herkunftstäuschung (§ 4 Nr. 9 lit. a UWG) und Rufausbeutung (§ 4 Nr. 9 lit. b UWG) im Verhältnis zum Geschmacksmuster- und Kennzeichenrecht“ and was a research assistant at the Chair for German and European Private and Business Law of Prof. Dr. Jochen Glöckner, LL.M. .

Sebastian completed his legal clerkship at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, including stations at CMS Hasche Sigle in Hamburg and at the German Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong.

Sebastian is fluent in German and English.

Anna joined PLANIT//LEGAL as a partner in 2020. She advises on all questions of data protection and IT law with a focus on IT projects, IT commercial and data protection compliance. She is also appointed as external data protection officer for companies. Clients value her practical experience gained both from internal consulting in a Group environment and from external consulting.

Before joining PLANIT//LEGAL, Anna was Senior Legal Counsel at Körber AG, the holding company of an international technology group. In addition to providing legal advice to software and mechanical engineering companies in the logistics and pharmaceuticals sector, Anna has been responsible for setting up a group-wide data protection organization. She also providing comprehensive legal advice to the internal IT provider of the Körber Group on the centralization of IT, among other things within the scope of a global infrastructure project. Before joining the legal department of Körber AG, Anna was an attorney in the Hamburg office of Taylor Wessing in the Practice Area Corporate and the Industry Group Energy.

Anna studied law at the University of Hamburg. During her studies, she was a student assistant to Prof. Dr. Jan Kropholler at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law in Hamburg. After the first state examination in law, she did her ph.D. under Prof. Dr. Ulrich Magnus on the subject of “Enforceability declaration and enforcement of foreign titles in the European Union” and was at the same time a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law.

Anna was legal clerk (Rechtsreferendar) at the Hamburg Court of Appeal (Oberlandesgericht). During her legal clerkship she worked, inter alia, at the District Court (Landgericht) of Hamburg in the Chamber for IPR, Competition and Patent Matters.

Anna is fluent in German and English.

Robin is Associate at PLANIT // LEGAL. He advises clients on all matters relating to Data Protection and IT Law. Clients particularly value his technical expertise and straightforward advisory approach.

After finishing his studies at the University of Hamburg, he began research on his PhD project on the legitimacy of state-actor public relations, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Roland Broemel. During his studies, he also developed a successful event-management platform for student-run conferences.

He served as a law clerk at the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, working, amongst others, at Google Germany, the IP/IT departments of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and NEUWERK, as well as the Regional Court of Hamburg under supervision of Dr. Jan Tolkmitt (now a Justice at the German Supreme Court).

Robin Schoss speaks German and English.

Ruben joined PLANIT // LEGAL in 2019. He supports the firms advisory services in data protection and IT law matters. Further, he develops legal-tech applications for PLANIT // LEGAL. Clients value in particular his understanding of and enthusiasm for software and information technology.

Ruben studied law at the Christian-Albrechts-University (CAU) in Kiel. He was legal clerk (Rechtsreferendar) at the Schleswig-Holstein Court of Appeal (Oberlandesgericht). During his legal clerkship he worked, inter alia, at the Regional Court of Lübeck (Landgericht) and in law firms specializing in IT and data protection law, in particular the IT department of Taylor Wessing in Hamburg.

In addition to his legal activities, he is involved in the development of web applications.

Ruben is fluent in German and English.

Christian is Counsel at PLANIT // LEGAL. He advises on any Data Protection matters, IT law and commercial law. Clients value Christian in particular as troubleshooter with strong analytical skills and a vast experience of both a lawyer and an in-house counsel.

Before joining PLANIT // LEGAL Christian worked as Senior Legal Counsel to the FINANZCHECK Group, where he supported the growth from a small start-up to one of Germany´s leading FinTech-companies. He provided expertise to both management and staff to all matters in the fields of Data Protection, IT-law, Marketing and Sales. Prior to FINANZCHECK, Christian worked for the Litigation department of Latham & Watkins LLP, where he gained considerable litigation experience in a wide range of legal fields, such as Investment law, Insurance Law, Insolvency Law, and Competition Law. Before his time at Latham & Watkins, Christian worked as lawyer for an expert law firm specialized on media and IP law.

Christian studied law at the universities of Osnabrück, Hamburg and at Charles University Prague. He was a legal clerk (Rechtsreferendar) at Celle Court of Appeal. During his clerkship (Rechtsreferendariat), he worked, inter alia, for the Chamber of Hamburg District Court ruling on press law (“Pressekammer”).

Christian is fluent in German and English.