As a young independently operating lawyer in 1969, Prof. Dr. Gerald Rittershaus accepted cases from all areas of law, but mainly civil, commercial and corporate law. He only began specialising in company law in the broadest sense at the beginning of the 1970s. He then focused on providing advice on company acquisitions and disposals, company formations and on providing companies with support in their development and financing, also on banking law and sports law, the latter mainly in international motorcycle racing to which he had a special relationship due to his own active involvement in national motor sports. He regularly went on business trips abroad due to various mandates in North and South America, mostly in connection with exploration activities in the oil and gas sectors and in mining. The same applied to his representation of German companies in Spain. Besides his advisory work, he also sat on numerous supervisory and advisory boards in banking, financing and trade, some of which were abroad. Gerald Rittershaus surrendered his licence to practise law at the age of almost 78 years.
- 1957 - 1961 Law studies at Heidelberg University with study visits to Hamburg and Seville
- 1965 Assessor exams in Baden-Württemberg
- 1967 PhD (Dr. iur. utr.) at Heidelberg University
- 1965 - 1968 Research assistant at Mannheim University (Chair for Civil Law)
- 1969 Admitted to the German bar until 2015
- 1995 Teaching appointment at Heidelberg University as part of lawyer-oriented legal education
- 2000 Honorary professor at Heidelberg University
- 2001 Appointed Deputy Director of the Zentrum für anwaltsorientierte Juristenausbildung (Centre of lawyer-oriented legal education)
- 2015 Surrendered licence to practise law
- 1993-2002 Chairman of the Verein der Freunde der Universität Heidelberg (Friends of Heidelberg University)
- 1996-2006 Examiner for the first and second law board examinations
- 1998-2015 Board member of the Nordbaden and Nordwürttemberg Study Group on Law and Economics at Heidelberg University
- 1986-2002 Seat on the Lawyers´ Disciplinary Board in Karlsruhe, and from 1998 onwards, Presiding Judge
- Honorary member of the Zentrum für anwaltsorientierte Juristenausbildung (Centre of lawyer-oriented legal education) at Heidelberg University
- Honorary member of the Gesellschaft (and previously "Verein") der Freunde der Universität Heidelberg (Friends of Heidelberg University)
- „Basiswissen Recht – Bürgerliches Recht für Wirtschaftswissenschaftler“, (Koautor Dr. Wolfgang Stange), 1982
- „Anwaltliche Vertragsgestaltung – Methodische Anleitung zur Fallbearbeitung im Studium (Koautor Prof. Dr. Christoph Teichmann), 2. Auflage 2003
- „Anwalt und Mandant“ in „Die Praxis der rechtsberatenden Berufe“, 1999
- „Der enthauptete Stamm“ in FS für Walter Sigle, 2000
- „Privatisierung von kommunalen Krankenhäusern“ (Koautorin RAin Verena Eisenlohr) in FS für Reinhard Mußgnug, 2005
- „Anwaltliche und notarielle Vertragsgestaltung – Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede“ (Koautor Prof. Dr. Christoph Teichmann) in FS für Sebastian Spiegelberger, 2009
- „Die deutsche Anwaltschaft – gefährdet von innen und von außen“ in FS für Jobst Wellensiek, 2011
- „Hat die GmbH noch eine Zukunft?“ (Koautorin Dr. Corinna Mickel) in FS für Peter Hommelhoff, 2012
- „Der Rechtsanwalt“ in FS für Paul Kirchhof, 2013