As a criminal law boutique, advising predominantly in the areas of white-collar and corporate criminal law, penal tax law and data protection criminal law, we understand how to respond to constant changes in the legal environment and how to meet the associated challenges with our wide range of competence and experience. The personal and comprehensive support of our clients is paramount during every stage of the legal proceedings. Our aim is always to provide a discreet and appropriate defence.
We regularly receive awards for our work from prestigious industry magazines. Amongst other legal matters, we advise on effective litigation avoidance strategies and provide support and assistance in the instance of internal investigations, as well as representing and defending clients before authorities and courts.
If a preliminary proceeding is initiated against a private individual by a prosecutor, this constitutes a major professional and private liability. We consistently advocate for our clients at all stages of the proceedings. We adapt our legal and procedural defence strategy to each client individually. Particularly important, is the fast and discreet closure of proceedings. In situations where trial is unavoidable, we support our clients with our long-standing experience.
Continuously more and more companies find themselves the focus of investigative authorities. If there is an alleged violation by an individual person, sometimes a leading corporate body can also be accused of misconduct. This may result in asset forfeitures and fines. It is not uncommon that companies are searched in the course of an investigation.
We represent and advise companies in a discrete manner with advice specifically tailored to such situations. In cases of misconduct by an individual, companies sometimes have a legal obligation to conduct internal investigations. We support and coordinate the entire internal investigation, including the correspondence with a variety of parties to the proceedings and other involved institutions. In addition, we support the implementation of the knowledge gained from the process in the company.
The initiation of preliminary proceedings against senior employees, managing directors and board members has increased significantly in recent years. Thus, the requirements imposed on companies in terms of risk prevention and control of law-abiding behaviour have grown in equal measure. A compliance programme and risk management system designed bespoke for the company can protect the company from risk realisation. Based on our many years of experience, we support clients in the development and implementation of such a system and conduct appropriate training.
Dr. Astrid Lilie is a specialist attorney in criminal law and has been advising companies and individual defendants on white-collar and corporate criminal law since 2010. Her predominant focus is in criminal tax law, criminal banking and capital market law, corruption offences and compliance issues. She also represents and accompanies witnesses and victims of crimes and is involved in counselling in connection with the filing of criminal charges.
She has defended clients in several large-scale proceedings. Including proceedings against members of the management board of a federal state bank for accounting fraud and breach of trust, proceedings against employees in connection with allegations of a “CO² turnover tax carousel”, as well as in proceedings regarding allegations of tax evasion in the context of Cum-Ex transactions.
Dr. Lilie is also named in the Handelsblatt ranking of “Germany’s Best Attorneys” in the category “White-Collar and Corporate Criminal Law”. The German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche lists her as one of the foremost renowned attorneys for white-collar and corporate criminal law. Her name and work have also been recommended on Legal500 in the category of “White-Collar and Corporate Criminal Law” for several years.
Dr. Ihwas is a specialist lawyer for criminal law and a certified external data protection officer. His predominant focus is in areas of white-collar and corporate criminal law, data protection (criminal) law and internet criminal law. He also advises persons subject to professional secrecy on data protection law.
Dr. Ihwas defends and advises individual defendants as well as companies at all stages of proceedings. His advisory work to these companies includes the conduct of internal investigations as well as in complex scope proceedings. He also represents companies and individuals against data protection authorities in cases of violations of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Federal Data Protection Act.
He is recommended by name in the JUVE Handbook 2023/2024 (“a competent professional, on the pulse of the digital age”, “solution-oriented, exceptional in IT and data protection criminal law”) in the category of white-collar and corporate criminal law. Furthermore, he was awarded in the Handelsblatt ranking “Germany’s Best Attorneys” in the category “White-Collar and Corporate Criminal Law” and is listed in the Focus magazine’s list of attorneys in the category “Criminal Law”.
Melissa Jung’s practice focuses on general criminal law, as well as the speciality areas of white-collar and corporate, internet and employment criminal law. She advises and defends individuals and companies at all stages of proceedings.
She studied law at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, specialising in criminal law. From 2014 to 2015, she studied at the University of Leicester in the UK, where she received the Certificate of Achievement in English Legal Studies with Distinction.
Adrian Baldewein’s practice focuses on general criminal law, as well as the specialty areas of white-collar and corporate, medical and data protection criminal law. He advises and represents individual defendants and companies, particularly in complex, large-scale proceedings. He also assists companies in internal investigations.
Mr. Baldewein studied law at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, specialising in criminal law, criminal defence and white-collar crime. He spent part of his practical studies at a law firm in Mainz specialising in white-collar and corporate crime.
In addition, he devoted his attention to the intersection of law and business during his studies and acquired relevant qualifications by successfully completing modules of a Bachelor’s programme in Economics. He is currently pursuing a doctorate on a topic related to criminal procedure.
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Our law firm emerged from an office partnership that we ran with our highly esteemed colleague and friend Dr. Wolf Schiller.
Dr. Schiller was born in 1949. He passed his first bar exam in 1972 at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. From 1972 to 1975, he was a research assistant at the Chair of Criminal Law at the University of Frankfurt am Main (Prof Dr. Klaus Lüderssen).
In 1975, he completed his doctorate on “Grundprobleme einer empirisch strukturierten Strafgesetzgebung” (“Basic issues of empirically structured criminal legislation”). Since 1976, Dr. Schiller was an attorney in Frankfurt am Main and a notary at the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main within the district of Frankfurt am Main until January 31, 2019.
Dr. Schiller published various articles in journals, handbooks, commemorative publications and lecture collections. In 2014, the commemorative publication for Wolf Schiller was published on his 65th birthday.
Dr. Wolf Schiller sadly passed away suddenly on 19th September 2021.
In accordance with the motto of our dear colleague “Sine honore malus”, we continue our law firm in his memory.
Dr. Astrid Lilie was a permanent author of the C.H. Beck specialist service on criminal law from 2007 to 2020, and from 2012 to 2018 she was editor of the German specialist journal Neue Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsstrafrecht, Steuerstrafrecht und Unternehmensstrafrecht (NZWiSt); since 2019 she is the publisher of NZWiSt. In addition, she has been managing director of Deutsches Zentrum für Wirtschaftsstrafrecht e.V. since 2015.
She was the regional representative for Forum Junge Anwaltschaft für den Landesgerichtsbezirk Mainz from 2010 to 2022, a working group that provides young lawyers in the district with an important and large network. In 2018, Dr Lilie was elected to the board of the Rheinhessischer Anwaltverein Mainz e.V. and has been its chair since 2022.
She is also a member of the German Bar Association (DAV), the Criminal Law Working Group of the DAV and the Wirtschaftsstrafrechtlichen Vereinigung e.V. (WisteV).
She studied at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and spent her practical study time at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York, among other places. Dr. Lilie completed her doctorate on the subject of “Akteneinsichtsrecht für Schöffen – insbesondere bei Verständigungen in Umfangsverfahren” (“The right of jurors to inspect files – in particular in the case of agreements in comprehensive proceedings“) at the chair of Prof. Dr. Zopfs at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz.
The German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche has listed him as one of the most prestigious attorneys for white-collar and corporate criminal law since 2020. He has also been named in the “White-Collar and Corporate Criminal Law” category at Legal500 for several years.
He is an officially appointed examiner for the first and second bar examinations in Rhineland-Palatinate. He is a lecturer at the German FernUniversität Hagen and regularly publishes on the topics of criminal law and data protection law.
Dr. Ihwas is a member of the Ausschuss Gefahrenabwehrrecht of the Deutscher Anwaltverein (DAV – “German Bar Association”) and he is member of the Verein zur Förderung des Instituts für Digitalisierung und das Recht der Inneren Sicherheit (IDRIS – “Association for the Promotion of the Institute for Digitalisation and the Law of Internal Security”) at LMU Munich. He is also a board member of the Deutsches Zentrum für Wirtschaftsstrafrecht e.V. (DZWiSt) and a member of the Criminal Law Working Group of the German Bar Association and Wirtschaftsstrafrechtlichen Vereinigung e.V. (WisteV).
Dr. Ihwas studied law at the University of Trier. After graduating, he worked as a research assistant in the criminal law department of Professor Dr. Mark A. Zöller at the University of Trier. During this time, he completed his doctorate summa cum laude on the topic of „Strafverfolgung in Sozialen Netzwerken – Facebook & Co. als moderne Ermittlungswerkzeuge“ (“Criminal prosecution in social networks – Facebook & Co. as modern investigative tools“).
Both during and post studies, Ms. Jung worked as a research assistant in law firms with a focus on commercial and corporate law, where she assisted with international, English-language commercial mandates. Since her legal clerkship in the district of the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main, Ms. Jung has already worked as a research assistant in the law firm and joined the law firm Lilie – Ihwas as an attorney after successfully passing her second bar exam.
Adrian Baldewein’s practice focuses on general criminal law, as well as the specialty areas of white-collar and corporate, medical and data protection criminal law. He advises and represents individual defendants and companies, particularly in complex, large-scale proceedings. He also assists companies in internal investigations.
Mr. Baldewein studied law at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, specialising in criminal law, criminal defence and white-collar crime. He spent part of his practical studies at a law firm in Mainz specialising in white-collar and corporate crime.
In addition, he devoted his attention to the intersection of law and business during his studies and acquired relevant qualifications by successfully completing modules of a Bachelor’s programme in Economics. He is currently pursuing a doctorate on a topic related to criminal procedure.
He has already worked for the law firm Schiller & Kollegen as a research assistant during his legal clerkship in the district of the Oberlandesgericht Koblenz with a focus on criminal law. Following this, he joined the law firm Lilie – Ihwas as an attorney.
Adrian Baldewein is also a certified external data protection officer (TÜV®).