Dr Werner Born studied law at Heidelberg University. After completing his doctorate in Heidelberg, he began working as a lawyer with a focus on family businesses. In 2010 he made partner at RITTERSHAUS where he heads the Practice Group dedicated to Entrepreneurial Families & Private Clients consisting of sixteen lawyers and three notaries. In 2017, they took second place for “Exzellenz in Mediation und Konfliktmanagement” (Excellence in Mediation and Conflict Management), an award that was presented for the first time that year by the Round Table of the same name, and first place in 2021. One reason for these awards is the firm’s continuous development of new fields of business that use mediation-based elements. Due to its innovative approach to mediation-based succession advice, RITTERSHAUS has achieved a leading, high-profile position in family business consultancy. This approach to consultancy is about more “than purely focussing on the legal and fiscal aspects” explained the representative of JUVE (German legal industry publishing house) in the eulogy delivered during the award ceremony honouring the firm with the 2020 prize for law firm of the year for succession, assets and foundations. Another element that makes RITTERSHAUS stand out in Germany is the fact that the firm employs ten lawyers who have received additional training as mediators. Werner Born himself acted as a trailblazer when, in 2012, he completed his mediation training at Heidelberg University. He is also a member of BAFM (Federal Association of Family Mediators) based in Berlin and has, since 2022, been acting as a supervisor (Steinbeis University Berlin). He publishes articles on inheritance tax, mediation for family businesses and has co-authored the chapter on “Gestaltungen der lebzeitigen Unternehmensnachfolge” (Lifetime Company Succession Planning) in the “Handbuch Familienunternehmen” (Family Business Handbook) as well as the chapter on “Mediation für Familienunternehmen – Innovative Anwendungen und Einsatzgebiete in den Systemen Familie, Unternehmen und Gesellschafter” (Mediation for Family Businesses – Innovative Applications and Areas of Use in Family, Company and Shareholder Systems) in the “Handbuch Unternehmensnachfolge” (Company Succession Handbook).
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