3rd Christian Wilde Rememberance Lecture

The advisory, supervisory and adminstrative board of family companies

In rememberance of Dr. Christian Wilde – member of the founding committee of Bucerius Law School, longstanding partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and an exceptional attorney for company law – the Third Christian Wilde-Rememberance Lecture took place on 14 February 2019.

Professor Dr. Christoph H. Seibt, LL.M., partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and honorary professor at Bucerius Law School, opened the lecture by calling Christian Wilde as a person as well as his merits and achievements to the audience’s mind.

Afterwards, Dr. Andreas Rittstieg, Legal and Compliance Director of the internationally operating media firm Hubert Burda Media Holding KG, adressed the evening’s topic: „The advisory, supervisory and adminstrative board of family companies“.
First of all, Dr. Rittstieg pointed out the relevance of family businesses in Germany and set forth what characterizes them. Following a side note on family constitutions and governance codes Dr. Rittstieg turned to (voluntary) advisory boards and corresponding design options. After that he shed light on supervisory boards in stock companies and partnerships limited by shares as well as the supervisory and administrative board of a Societas Europaea (SE). Finally, Dr. Rittstieg gave a brief overview on hybrid company types and ways to combine disparate business entities.

At the end of the presentation the audience consisting of numerous practitioners as well as representatives from academia had the opportunity to ask questions.