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The People vs. Kreuzer, Turnwald-Wacker, Kreuzer
In Germany, prior to 1990, it was considered professionally improper to market your law firm. Because of the opinion that the law was above advertisement,

the use of a logo anywhere was forbidden and something as innocuous as a telephone book listing, was subject to scrutiny.

Prior to 1990, it was forbidden to give any sort of detailed information on your firm’s practice areas or specializations anywhere, not even in yellow page listings. Only the name of the firm, physical address and telephone numbers were allowed.

Not everyone in the legal profession agreed with this; as all other businesses were given rather free rein to market themselves in any way they chose, law firms began to question the fairness of this prohibition in their profession.

In the 1990/1991 annual issue of the yellow pages for Nürnberg-Fürth, “Deutschen Bundespost Telekom”, the listing DR KREUZER & COLL, Nürnberg, Germany, broke with the status quo: the listing was quietly placed and included not only the address, telephone, fax and telex numbers for the firm, but also the names of the founder of the firm, Dr. Günther Kreuzer, his partner Felix Müller, and the names of two of their attorneys as well as all of their specializations or areas of focus; Fachanwalt für Sozialrecht ( Specialist for Civil Law), Fachanwalt für Arbeitsrecht ( Specialist for Employment Law), Rechtsanwältin für Verkehrssachen (Lawyer for Traffic Law) and Rechtsanwalt für Familiensachen( Lawyer for Family Law ).

As soon as that edition was published, there was an objection filed by a fellow member of the Bar. They complained that DR KREUZER & COLL had broken the code of professionalism and asked for a disciplinary hearing, stating a severe breech of professional etiquette.

The disciplinary court, an appellant court and ultimately, the Federal Court-Senate for Law Matters (der Bundesgerichtshof, Senat für Anwaltssachen), returned a decision in favor of the defendants and ruled that no breech of professional etiquette had transpired as the information that was posted was true and that there was no reason that firms should not be able to give such detailed information in their listings.

The final ruling on September 13, 1993, in this landmark case “The People vs. Kreuzer, Turnwald-Wacker, Müller”, opened the door for other German firms’ exploration of the field of marketing. Slowly, more and more firms began taking advantage of the lifting of this restriction to their benefit.

Following the example of law firms in North America and the United Kingdom, firms in Germany began testing the waters of marketing development. Each new step was tried carefully; the name of the firm appeared on a taxi, or the logo appeared on a city tram. The introduction of a newsletter giving clients the chance to learn about topical issues in the law which affected them both personally and professionally was another milestone. With each new effort, the boundaries were stretched and slowly but surely, firms around Germany began to embrace the idea of marketing as a positive concept, without the stigma it had once had.

Today, the use of newsletters, press releases, logos,advertisements, etc., are commonplace. While it is still forbidden to engage in the practice of “ambulance-chasing”, there are virtually no other restrictions on the marketing tools which law firms can use to increase their visibility in a very competitive industry.