WIFU Departments


FAMILY BUSINESS LAW


The chair of Family Business Law represents the juristic pillar of the WIFU’s transdisciplinary research concept. Family business law is a relatively new legal field. The existence of family business law as a legal discipline in its own right is disputed in traditional jurisprudence because the law itself does not recognise the term ‘family business’. Thus, there are no express legal consequences to the existence of a family business at any point. Despite this, a family business is distinct from a legal viewpoint. From the point of view of civil law, the linkage between family and business interests impacts how a company is treated legally for three reasons. First, family business law cuts across different legal fields, which is unique in itself. Second, it is a subject that entails legal questions that only arise in this form of business. Finally, the general instruments of civil law can be influenced by the particularities of family businesses.

Apart from that, the inclusion of family members in a business has far-reaching tax law consequences that constantly occupy these businesses beyond the matter of succession. All of the developments in legislation, judicature and financial administration have to be monitored and legally tested. This is why the WIFU’s Department of Law for Family Businesses aims to not only fully research the doctrines of family business law but also make a continued contribution to the legal practice of family businesses in light of the ever-changing legal landscape.

 

TEACHING EVENTS


  • Family and Inheritance Law
  • Commercial and Company Law
  • Moot Court on Business Law
  • Succession in Family Businesses
  • Legal Principles of Family Business
  • Tax Law in Family Businesses
  • Private Economic Law

TEAM


Prof. Dr. Christoph Schreiber
Chairholder Department of Family Business Law
Prof. Rainer Kirchdörfer
Honorary Professor at the Chair of Family Business Law
Prof. Dr. Rainer Kögel
Honorary Professor at the Chair of Family Business Law
Dominik Spannekrebs
Researcher at the Endowed Chair of Family Business Law
Benjamin Ziegs
Researcher at the Endowed Chair of Family Business Law
Selin Güngören
Researcher at the Endowed Chair of Family Business Law
Nicola Mehringer
Secretary at the Chair of Management of Family Businesses, Corporate Entrepreneurship and Digitisation, Family Business Law, Leadership and Dynamics in Family Businesses

STAFF OF RESEARCH AND TEACHING AREAS


CONTACT

Prof. Dr. Christoph Schreiber

Phone: +49 2302 926 515
Email: christoph.schreiber@uni-wh.de

Since 1 June 2019, Prof. Dr Christoph Schreiber has been the holder of the WIFU-endowed chair of Family Business Law. From 2000 to 2005, he studied law at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel. After the first state examination in law, he worked as a research assistant at the local institute for economic and tax law and received his doctorate in 2007 from the law faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster. The second state examination in law was completed by Dr Schreiber in Hamburg in 2009, and he continued his research at the Institute for Business and Tax Law in Kiel. From 2014 to 2019, he was the academic advisor to the chair of Tax Law at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. His habilitation took place in February 2017 (venia legendi: civil law, tax law, commercial and company law and civil procedural law). In the winter semester of 2017/2018, he took over representation of the chair of Law for Family Businesses at Witten/Herdecke University.

Main areas of work, research and interest

  • Corporate law
  • Tax law, especially corporate tax law
  • Civil law
  • Civil procedural law

PUBLICATIONS (SELECTION)


  • Schreiber, C. (2018): Die Mitunternehmerstellung des persönlich haftenden Gesellschafters. In: Fischer, M.; Geck, R. & Haarmann, W. (editors): Zivilrechtliches Ordnungsgefüge und Steuerrecht, Festschrift for Georg Crezelius. Otto Schmidt Verlag: Cologne, p. 207-219.
  • Schreiber, C. (2017): Konzernrechtsfreie Kontrolle. Zivilrechtliche Möglichkeiten der Einflussnahme auf die Geschäftsführung der GmbH. Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen (habilitation dissertation).
  • Schreiber, C. (2014): Die Gesellschafterhaftung für existenzvernichtende Eingriffe im Zivil- und Ertragsteuerrecht. In: Der Konzern 2014, p. 435-449.
  • Schreiber, C. (2011): Nichtigkeit und Gestaltungsrechte. Zur Dogmatik der Doppelwirkungen im Recht. In: Archiv für die civilistische Praxis, Vol. 211, No. 1, p. 35-57.
  • Schreiber, C. (2008): Die Haftung des Vollstreckungsgläubigers im internationalen Zivilrechtsverkehr. Duncker & Humblot: Berlin (dissertation).

You will find detailed information at:

Publikationen Christoph Schreiber

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS


  • The latest developments and configurations in tax law
  • Minors as shareholders in family businesses
  • Entrepreneurial partnership in family businesses
  • Securing legacies in the long-term
  • General clauses in civil law for family businesses