Dr Melanie Verstege

Melanie Verstege has many years of experience drafting and negotiating contracts. Working across industries, she has a wealth of experience in the fields of construction, IT, renewable energy sources, including plant construction, and traffic. She specialises in dealing with complex commercial law issues in this context and advises private and public sector enterprises on national and international matters and on dispute resolution, in and out of court.

Melanie Verstege further concentrates her practice on assisting clients with national and EU-wide procurement procedures. During tender procedures, she advises contracting authorities and bidders on a wide range of issues at the interface between public procurement and contract law and helps clients enforce or defend claims following the award of the contract.

Complex Disputes
Public Procurement Law

Melanie Verstege studied law in Münster (Germany) with an emphasis on private international law. She simultaneously took a supplementary course in Anglo-American law and completed part of her education in a law firm in England and at the University of Salzburg (Austria). After graduating from university, Melanie Verstege did her doctorate at the Institute of International Business Law, Chair of Civil, Civil Procedural and Corporate Law in Münster under the guidance of Prof. Dr Ingo Saenger. Melanie Verstege was admitted to the German Bar in 2005. Before joining Luther in 2022, she was a Salary Partner in a top 50 commercial law firm, where she was responsible for commercial and contract law, international legal transactions and procedural law.

• Stahl-Holding-Saar – advice on a major investment project with a project volume of around EUR 3.5 billion regarding the decarbonisation of the Saarland steel industry using public funding (drafting and negotiation of large-scale purchase agreements, plant construction contracts, other contracts for work and services, and service agreements with national/international bidders/consortia)
• International chemicals group – comprehensive contract and public procurement law advice on the bidder side in connection with invitations to tender for the import of green hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives (H2Global funding programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action)
• State of North Rhine-Westphalia – advice on complex contractual relations
• Police of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia – ongoing advice to the central procurement office of the North Rhine-Westphalian police on complex procurement processes (for example, drones, helicopters, patrol cars of the future, etc.)
• Ongoing advice to DSW21, DEW21 and DONETZ on various EU-wide invitations to tender (work management systems, security services, trams and buses)
• Various municipal utility companies in North Rhine-Westphalia – advice on contract law issues in connection with the restructuring of bus route services
• General Electric – representation in civil proceedings in connection with an action for damages following an EU-wide tender procedure
• Wholesale company and importer of medical cannabis – contract law advice and negotiation of international supply contracts
• Wholesale companies for medical devices – representation in matters pertaining to contract law and comprehensive settlement negotiations on behalf of two importers with the Federal Ministry of Health in connection with the large-scale supply of surgical, KN95 and FFP2 masks
• Municipal cultural organisations – drafting of contracts for artists and sponsorship agreements for various large cultural events in the Ruhr area (Germany)