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Gerd Leutner
Partner

Dr. Gerd Leutner

Rechtsanwalt

Languages
  • German
  • English
  • French
Social media

Gerd Leutner advises German and international companies on structuring their business activities in Germany with a focus on M&A, restructuring of groups of companies, change of legal form and mergers (domestic and cross-border). His practice includes corporate and contract law (limited liability companies, partnerships, sector-specific contracts), international private law and international procedural law.

Gerd has special hotel, smart mobility, electromobility, transport, logistics and rail sector expertise as well as long-standing experience advising major business cooperations, including public-private partnerships. As the coordinator of CMS’s German-French Group, he particularly focuses on German-French mandates and on supporting the firm’s German-French teams of advisors.

Before joining CMS, Gerd started his legal career with a business law firm in Düsseldorf in 1998. In 2001/2002, he was seconded to CMS in Paris and in 2004 became a partner. He regularly publishes articles on German-French corporate law topics and speaks on German corporate law and M&A topics. Gerd also represents CMS in the "digital networking" and "rail" steering committees of Deutsches Verkehrsforum (German Transport Forum).

Awards & Recognitions
01
  • Quote
    Listed for Real Estate
    Deutschlands beste Anwälte 2024 – Handelsblatt in Kooperation mit Best Lawyers
  • Quote
    Listed for Corporate
    Deutschlands beste Anwälte 2024 – Handelsblatt in Kooperation mit Best Lawyers
  • Quote
    Listed for Mergers and Acquisitions
    Deutschlands beste Anwälte 2024 – Handelsblatt in Kooperation mit Best Lawyers
  • Quote
    Listed for Corporate
    Deutschlands beste Anwälte 2023 – Handelsblatt in Kooperation mit Best Lawyers
  • Quote
    Listed for Mergers and Acquisitions
    Deutschlands beste Anwälte 2023 – Handelsblatt in Kooperation mit Best Lawyers

Relevant experience

  • Advising Accor on acquiring and selling various hotel portfolios (since 2006)
  • Advising Cofiroute/VINCI on its investment in truck toll system Toll Collect (since 2000)
  • Advising Elior on entering the German market with a portfolio of motorway services and on expanding the company’s German activities (since 2009)
  • Assessing the acquisition of a German transport provider for a foreign transport provider including structuring of alternative financing models in the regional rail sector
  • Advising allego/Alliander on the successful participation in the federal state of Berlin’s tender for setting up and running a network of electric vehicles charge points

Publications

  • Gewerbemiete; "Vertragsparteien" C.H. Beck 2023 (co-author)
  • Die Operation am lebenden Unternehmenskörper, Die Welt "SMART Rechtsguide 2021", co-authors: Prof Dr Marion Bernhardt, Prof Dr Winfried Bullinger
  • Beurkundung von Unternehmenstransaktionen, Praxishandbuch mit Gestaltungshinweisen, C.H. Beck 2015, co-authors: Dr Jochen N. Schlotter, Dr Jörg Zätzsch
  • Standardvertragsmuster zum Handels- und Gesellschaftsrecht Deutsch-Französisch, C.H.Beck, 2nd edition 2013, (co-author)
  • Beurkundungsbedürftigkeit der Verknüpfungsabrede beim Geschäftsanteilskaufvertrag?, NZG 2012, page 1406 (co-author: Dr Igor Stenzel)
  • Wrongly unnoticed: the enforceable lawyer's settlement agreement (Anwaltsvergleich), NJW 19/2012, page 1318, co-author: Maximilian Hacker
  • Kommentar zum Handelsregisterrecht, Band 61, C.H. Beck 2010, co-authors: Prof Dr Martin Schmidt-Kessel, Dr Peter-Hendrik Müther
  • Fusion tranfrontalières en Allemagne: premiers retours d'expériences, Option Finance, Hors-série N°32, January 2010
  • Neubearbeitung der Teile "Organisation Judiciaire" und "Droit des Sociétés", Dossiers Internationaux Editions Francis Lefebvre, "Allemagne - Juridique, Fiscal, Social", 8. Auflage 2007
  • Ausländische GmbH: Insolvenzverschleppungshaftung des Alleingesellschafter-Geschäftsführers einer englischen "Limited" wegen Unterkapitalisierung, GmbHRundschau, Heft 13, Verlag Dr. Otto Schmidt Köln 2006, (co-author)
  • Die Entdeckung der Grundschuld: Die "wiederauffüllbare Hypothek" (hypothèque rechargeable) als neues Kreditsicherungsmittel im französischen Recht, Zeitschrift für Immobilienrecht, ZfIR 2006, p. 817 ff, (co-author)
  • Verabschiedung der EG-Verschmelzungsrichtlinie, GPR Zeitschrift für Gemeinschaftsprivatrecht 2006, p. 32 ff, (co-author)
  • "Confusion de patrimoines" nach Art. 1844-5 Code Civil: Ausweg bei deutsch-französischen Verschmelzungen, Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft 2004, p. 264 ff, (co-author)
  • Anmerkung zu BGH IX ZB 11/97 vom 26.06.1997 (Vollstreckung Dänischer Schuldurkunden in Deutschland), Zeitschrift für Zivilprozeß 1998
  • Die vollstreckbare Urkunde im europäischen Rechtsverkehr, Duncker & Humblot 1997
  • Die Rechtsstellung des gewerblichen Zwischenmieters nach § 549a BGB, Juristenzeitung JZ 1996, (co-author)

Memberships & Roles

  • Cercle économique franco-allemand de Berlin
  • Arbeitsgruppe "Internationaler Rechtsverkehr" des Deutschen Anwaltvereins
  • Steering committees "Rail" and "Telematics" of Deutsches Verkehrsforum (German Transport Forum)
  • Head of the Advisory Board of the Humboldt European Law School - Foundation

Education

  • 1996: PhD on comparative law, "The enforcable deed in European Law"
  • 1995 - 1997: Trainee lawyer in Freiburg, Rostock and London
  • 1988 - 1994: Law studies at the Universities of Freiburg and Montpellier