Dr jur Stephan Götze

Dr jur Stephan Götze

Dr jur Stephan Götze

Berlin

T +49 30 52133 28246

Lawyer
Certified Specialist in Building and Architectural Law
Partner

Areas of practice

Dr Stephan Götze primarily advises and represents private companies and contracting authorities in matters pertaining to private building and architectural law, public procurement law and contract law in the defence and security and information technology sectors. He has special expertise in developing strategic concepts for projects, in providing advice and assistance with the negotiation and implementation of contracts in the course of projects and in handling legal disputes. He is a proven expert when it comes to acting as an advisor during the implementation of complex building, infrastructure and plant construction projects.

A focus area of his services is providing advice in connection with (procurement) projects of the public sector, in particular in the infrastructure, defence and security, information technology and health care industries. In this context, he advises his clients at the interface to public procurement law on all aspects of contract and procedural law. This also includes strategically structuring and drafting contractual documents and conducting contract negotiations, as well as representing his clients after the completion of the contract award procedures in the defence and enforcement of additional claims (claim management), including enforcing claims in court (post-tender litigation).

Practices
Vita

Dr Stephan Götze studied law at the University of Bayreuth (Germany) and initially worked there as a university assistant. Following his admission to the German Bar in 2005, he started to specialise in building, general contract and public procurement law. From 2007 to 2013, he worked for HFK Rechtsanwälte, and from 2014 to 2021 for Baker McKenzie in their Berlin office. Stephan Götze joined Luther’s Berlin office as a Partner on 1 April 2021.

Honors and distinctions
  • The Legal 500 Germany 2023: Listed in "Public Law - Public Procurement Law" (recommendation in 2022) and "Construction Law (incl. Dispute Resolution)" (recommendation in 2022)
Clients

  • Several years of extrajudicial advice to and representation in court of an airport operator in connection with the implementation of building contracts, the enforcement and defence of claims against the construction companies and planners, in particular, change order management, drafting of supplementary agreements and clarification of construction schedule issues.
  • Ongoing strategic advice to and legal representation of a globally operating Berlin-based architecture firm regarding diverse residential construction projects in the luxury segment with project volumes in a two- or three-digit million euro amount, as a rule.
  • Comprehensive strategic and contract law advice to a contracting authority (in particular at the interface to public procurement law) regarding the development of a concept and drafting of the contract for the provision of project control, planning and implementation services (general contractor agreement) relating to the redevelopment of a group of buildings with a gross floor area of around 50,000 m² in downtown Berlin.
  • Repeated provision of advice to one of the world’s leading information technology companies on the drafting and implementation of contracts regarding the construction of data centres, in particular on the drafting and enforcement of project management, project control and general planning contracts.
  • Extrajudicial advice to and representation in court of diverse medium-sized main contractors in the field of commercial and residential construction.
  • Construction-related advice to and representation of a globally operating German technology company regarding the construction of new headquarters with a project volume in the upper double-digit million euro range.
  • Drafting and negotiation of diverse large-scale planning and main/general contractor agreements regarding the construction of office and commercial space and logistics facilities.
  • Comprehensive assistance with contract award procedures, in particular, drafting of contracts and support during highly complex contract negotiations in the defence and security sector.
  • Advice to and representation of several of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies in disputes following the implementation of contract award procedures (post-tender litigation), as well as in judicial proceedings regarding defending against claims for contractual penalties and for damages for failure to deliver during the implementation of pharmaceuticals rebate contracts, with amounts in dispute of several million euros.
  • Drafting and assistance with the negotiation of a long-term master agreement regarding the procurement of central telecommunications infrastructure for a German state and several subordinated authorities, with a contract volume in a three-digit million euro amount.
  • Post-tender litigation on behalf of the IT service provider of a German state vis-à-vis the former service provider regarding claims for adjustments to the contract and for additional remuneration, as well as for several million euros in damages due to alleged breaches of public procurement law.
  • Ongoing contract law advice to an employers’ liability insurance association regarding the key areas of information technology and communication to ensure the demand-based provision of diverse IT and other services and hardware at the interface between public procurement and contract law in compliance with security and data protection requirements.
  • Repeated strategic and interdisciplinary project advice, together with commercial consultants, to public housing developers and private property owners regarding the outsourcing of construction, maintenance and redevelopment contracts, partly including energy contracting and subsequent contract management.

Publications

Blog posts
Memberships

  • Deutscher Baugerichtstag e.V.
  • forum Vergabe e.V.
  • Deutsches Vergabenetzwerk DVNW

Lectures