AEEC IN BERLIN
GERMANY
BECKER BÜTTNER HELD
The Becker Büttner Held group consists of Becker Büttner Held Rechtsanwälte Wirtschaftsprüfer Steuerberater PartGmbB (BBH – a partnership of lawyers, auditors and tax advisors), the business consultancy Becker Büttner Held Consulting AG (BBHC) and the auditing company invra Treuhand AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft.
What makes the BBH group special is its interdisciplinary consulting approach: lawyers, tax advisors and auditors work hand in hand with engineers, sales experts and IT professionals.
BBH closely collaborates with invra Treuhand AG, whose service offer complements BBH’s expertise in important areas. Invra’s portfolio encompasses auditing, tax and business consulting services, financial and payroll accounting as well as bookkeeping and trusteeship. As a member of AGN International, invra has a global network of accounting and consulting firms at its disposal.
BBH Consulting AG is a business consultancy based in Munich with offices in Berlin and Cologne. BBHC has a particular focus on the municipal energy sector. Taking an entrepreneurial approach in their practice, the experts of BBHC provide advice to municipalities as well as energy and infrastructure companies on all levels of the energy-industry value chain. The company’s specialists draw on long-standing experience in operative management roles in sales and commerce, marketing, technology and IT.
BBH has established close relationships with many of its clients, providing them with ongoing advice on strategic and operative questions. In its practice, BBH focuses on legal as well as business issues under consideration of technical aspects.
BBH is a leading provider of advisory services for energy and infrastructure companies. Other core practice areas include the provision of advice to industrial clients and the housing industry as well as media and copyright law, civil and commercial law and the entire field of public law.
An advisor to more than 450 municipal utilities, numerous municipalities and public authorities, BBH’s current advisory focus has its origins in the so-called “electricity dispute” (Stromstreit) of 1992/1993, with 146 East German municipalities pursuing a lawsuit for the right to keep their electricity generation and supply infrastructure. According to the intention of the Federal Government at that time, the infrastructure was to be reorganised in an oligopolistic manner and to be controlled by Germany’s major energy supply companies. This plan was challenged successfully in proceedings before Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) resulting in the so-called “electricity settlement” (Stromvergleich), which paved the way for the formation of numerous municipal utilities and laid the foundations for today’s energy supply structure in the new federal states.
To this day, the BBH group is providing strategic advice to the majority of municipalities and municipal utilities in the new federal states, which it assisted in setting up municipal companies and transferring the assets relating to electricity, gas and heat – out of court and, as necessary, in court as well as before arbitral tribunals. The BBH group also counsels these organisations in their daily energy and infrastructure business. Furthermore, BBH supports municipalities and municipal utilities throughout Germany.
More than 250 professionals (lawyers, auditors, tax advisors and engineers) and a total of over 550 employees work with the BBH group in Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Erfurt and Brussels.
BBH advises more than 450 mostly municipal energy supply companies as well as numerous commercial and industrial clients, including almost all major commercial airports in Germany and the housing sector.
BBH provides advice on all matters along the entire value chain, among others: the construction of power plants and energy generation with a special focus on combined heat and power as well as renewable energy; grid-related questions including the legal framework governing concession contracts, grid takeovers and all regulatory matters (such as grid charges, grid connection, grid access etc.); various infrastructure-related topics (e.g. water/wastewater/local public transport/telecommunication); energy supply and trading; services relating to energy and all associated areas of expertise. BBH’s advisory practice covers all of the tasks and responsibilities of municipalities and municipal infrastructure companies, including all matters relating to company law, taxation and budgetary law.
MEMBER
INFORMATIONS
GERMANY
Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Erfurt, Brussels
BECKER BÜTTNER HELD
Magazinstraße 15-16
10179 Berlin
+ 49 (0) 30 611 28 40 0
+ 49 (0) 30 611 28 40 99
info@bbh-online.de
http://www.bbh-online.de
CONTACT PERSON
FOR AEEC MATTERS
Prof. Christian Held
VITA
CV
• Born in Meisenheim am Glan in1961
• Married; two children
• Since 1992 lawyer at BBH in Berlin
• Since 1993 partner at BBH
• Ranking compiled by Handelsblatt in cooperation with the US publisher Best Lawyers: Listed among “Germany’s top lawyers” 2015 and 2016 in the area of energy law
• The Legal 500 Deutschland (2016 and 2017): distinguished in the category of regulatory/energy law
• Since 2012 lecturer at the University of Applied Siences Bingen, becoming honorary professor in 2017
• Chairman of Associated European Energy Consultants e. V. (AEEC)
• Vice President of GEODE, the European Association of Independent Electricity and Gas Distributors
• Deputy Chairman of the Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility – Law, Economics and Politics (IKEM)
• Chairman of the supervisory board of invra Treuhand AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
• Member of the supervisory board of Becker Büttner Held Consulting AG
• Arbitrator for the Energy Arbitration Center Switzerland (EACS)
• Managing Shareholder of the winery Klostermühle Odernheim/Nahe
• Lecturer on energy law, environmental energy law and energy policy at the University of Applied Sciences Bingen
• Co-editor of Schriftenreihe zum Energie- und Infrastrukturrecht, a series of publications on energy and infrastructure law, and the journal InfrastrukturRecht – IR (published by C. H. Beck)
• Publishes and lectures widely on energy law
• Managing partner of the Weingut Klostermühle Odernheim/Nahe
MAIN FOCUS
• Energy law, especially in the area of gas
• Company law
Prof. Christian Held is currently dealing with the foundation of companies and transactions. Another focus of his work is the contractual form of grid access in the area of gas as well as all questions regarding the contractual implementation in the area of power plants.
CONTACT PERSON
FOR AEEC MATTERS
Dr. Dirk Buschle
VITA
FIELD OF ACTIVITY
– Energy and Climate Law
– European Law
– Dispute Resolution
Dr. Dirk Buschle advises in the areas of European energy and climate law and regulation, European competition and state aid law, European environmental law, international law, and dispute resolution.
CURRICULUM VITAE
– Studied law in Constance, doctoral studies at the University of St. Gallen
– 2002 to 2007 Chief of Staff to the President of the EFTA Court in Luxembourg
– 2007 to 2024 Deputy Director and Head of the Legal Department at the Secretariat of the Energy Community in Vienna
– Since 2024 Attorney and Partner at BBH, Head of the Brussels Office
– Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges and Natolin, 2016 to 2024 Holder of the Chair in European Energy and Climate Policy
– Regular publications on issues of European and international energy and climate policy and law.
Offices
Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Erfurt, Brussels
Staff
Approx. 550
Accredited professionals
Approx. 250
Partners
69
Dedicated departments in the field of energy and climate
Gas, Electricity, Grid Use Tariffs, Energy-Intense Industry, Renewable Energy, Emission Trading
Accredited professionals active in the field of energy
Approx. 200
Other departments
Real estate, Tax, Public Procurement, Water, Media and Trademark Law
Clients in the field of energy and climate
Mainly municipal energy utility companies in Germany and throughout Europe, transport and infrastructure companies, industrial companies, public bodies at federal, state and municipal level, banks, developers and operators of power plants (renewable and conventional), performance rights societies, SMEs, intellectual property owners (musicians, composers etc.) and others
Approach
Client-centred, interdisciplinary cooperation of lawyers, auditors, tax advisors and engineers, whose focus is not on isolated legal questions, but on identifying the underlying economic facts with the aim of providing long-term solutions at the highest quality level