Business law firm in Germany

Clear legal advice
for your decisions.

Hallström Ostermeyer advises mid-sized companies, shareholders and management teams on business law. We work in small teams, with clear responsibility and fees you can follow.

Discuss a matter →View practice areas

Client meeting
Partner in conversation with a management team
Calm, factual, daylight

Lawyers6

Offices4

Practice areas5

Focus areas

Corporate & M&A

Employment Law

IT & Data Protection

Real Estate

Dispute Resolution

Corporate & M&A

Employment Law

IT & Data Protection

Real Estate

Dispute Resolution

Where matters begin

Your company grows. Contracts, shareholdings and responsibilities grow with it, and at some point nobody quite knows what was agreed.

Most legal problems do not arise on a particular day. They build up over years: from articles of association that were never updated, from employment contracts based on old templates, from data flows nobody documented.

We start by looking at where you actually stand. Then we recommend what to do, and we also tell you what can wait. Not every uncertainty calls for a legal opinion. Sometimes a short assessment is enough; in other cases a structured project with a fixed scope makes sense.

The articles of association date from the founding years and no longer fit today’s structure.

A sale or a new investment is coming up, and the documents are spread across many folders.

Employment contracts follow different templates. Nobody knows exactly which terms apply where.

New software processes customer data. Whether data protection requirements are met is unclear.

A dispute with a business partner is taking shape. There is still time to see whether it can be avoided.

Working session
Team at a meeting table with documents
Focused, bright

Draft contract
Draft with handwritten notes
Close-up, paper

Conversation
Partner talking with a managing director
Factual, calm

Practice areas

Five practice areas,
one way of working.

Many matters touch more than one area of law. A transaction also affects employment and data, a lease also affects the company. That is why our teams work across practice boundaries.

Practice area

Corporate & M&A

Structure and transactions

Formation, reorganisation, acquisitions and disposals. We support shareholders and management from the first structural question to the closing of a deal.

For management teams and shareholders

View practice area

Practice area

Employment Law

People and employment

From employment contracts to reorganisations. We advise companies on hiring, organisation and separation, and represent them when a conflict arises.

For management and HR departments

View practice area

Practice area

IT & Data Protection

Data, software, contracts

Contracts for software and data. We draft IT contracts, review data flows and implement data protection requirements in a way that works day to day.

For IT leads and data protection officers

View practice area

Portrait of Dr. Katharina Hallström
In a meeting room, facing the camera
Factual, approachable

“First we put the facts in order. Only then is it worth talking about contracts.”

Dr. Katharina Hallström

Founding partner · Hallström Ostermeyer

Portrait
Jonas Ostermeyer
Factual, friendly, office

“This paragraph checks lengths, line breaks and spacing. The final content follows in a later phase.”

Dr. Jonas Ostermeyer

Founding partner · Hallström Ostermeyer

What sets us apart

Clear responsibility,
predictable effort.

We advise in small teams. Whoever takes on your matter remains your contact, from the first conversation to the end.

Understand first

Before we advise, we clarify the facts and your goal. The first meeting is about finding the right question, not about selling a ready-made answer.

One responsible partner

A partner is personally responsible for your matter. You always know who is working on it and whom you can call.

Transparent fees

At the outset we agree on scope and fees. If the assignment changes, we discuss it before any additional work is done.

Workshop
Working session with a management team
Whiteboard, documents

Outcome
Memo and draft contract on the table
Paper, close-up

Advice
Partner in conversation with a client
Calm, daylight

How we work

Four principles
for every matter.

These principles apply in every practice area. They define how we set up a matter and when we consider it complete.

Facts

We work from your documents, not from assumptions. We point out gaps early.

In practice: first meeting and document review

→

Objective

We clarify what you want to achieve and what risk you can carry. Every recommendation is measured against that.

In practice: a written engagement letter

→

Execution

Contracts, resolutions and pleadings are prepared by a coordinated team, with clear responsibility for each document.

In practice: one contact per work package

→

Follow-up

Once the matter is closed, we record what was agreed and which deadlines follow. That keeps the result usable.

In practice: closing memo with a list of deadlines

The principles build on each other: the facts determine the objective, the objective shapes the execution, and the follow-up secures the result.

How a matter runs

From the first meeting
to completion.

First meeting

You describe the situation, we ask questions. Afterwards you know whether and how we can help and who on the team would be responsible. The meeting usually takes half an hour.

Proposal

We set out the assignment, approach and fees in writing. On that basis you decide whether to instruct us. Open points are settled beforehand. If the scope is clear, a fixed fee is also possible.

Execution

The team works in agreed stages and reports regularly. If your needs change, we adjust the assignment together. At the end you receive an overview of the outcome and the deadlines.

Matter plan
Timeline of a matter with work packages
Overview, screen

From practice