Overview
Kerstin is a highly accomplished Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations practitioner, specialising in internal and government investigations, both domestic and cross-border, with extensive experience in dawn raids. During a secondment to the investigations in-house team of a large international U.S.-based technology company, she gained additional experience in conducting internal investigations into sensitive matters in a number of jurisdictions.
Kerstin has in-depth experience advising clients on white collar crime, as well as in compliance matters, including advice on corporate criminal liability and public procurement law implications.
In addition, Kerstin has extensive experience in German corporate and commercial litigation with a focus on banking and capital markets litigation, often involving cases that are high-value, reputation-threatening and multijurisdictional.
Kerstin is a core member of the Linklaters team advising on crisis management, counselling clients on governance and compliance, as well on ethics and business sustainability.
Work highlights
Kerstin has counselled clients in a wide range of disputes. These include representing or advising:
- Barclays Bank in defence against numerous claims by investors in hedge fund-linked notes before German courts, including a model case proceeding under the Capital Markets Model Case Act (Kapitalanleger-Musterverfahrensgesetz) decided by the German Federal Supreme Court
- an international IT company in an internal and government investigation in relation to alleged corruption, embezzlement and tax evasion in Russia, the U.S. and various European jurisdictions
- a leading operator of trading platforms in an extensive internal investigation in the context of allegations of insider trading
- a global IT company in an internal investigation into alleged manipulations of internal budgeting and reporting systems
- a major international bank on all legal questions as part of the Cum/Ex tax evasion investigation in Germany
- a financial institution in an internal investigation of corporate governance issues and allegations of market manipulation
- a Canadian pensions funds in relation to liability under German criminal and administrative law for white collar crimes
Professional experience
Kerstin is a regular speaker at external compliance-focused conferences both in Germany and abroad, including the Frankfurt Compliance Symposium, the largest annual compliance conference for in-house lawyers in Germany, and the Business Ethics, Anti-Corruption Compliance & Fraud Prevention Strategies in CEE. She also spoke at EUROFORUM Brennpunkt 2018.
Kerstin also contributes to publications and client alerts mainly on topics in the field of Crisis Management. These include the chapter on Germany in the International Comparative Legal Guide to Litigation & Dispute Resolution 2019.
Education and qualifications
Kerstin studied law at the University of Trier and also obtained a degree in French law as part of a two-year International legal studies programme.
She speaks German, English and French.
