Dr. Susanne Rückert

My main areas of practice
I have been working as a lawyer for over 25 years. My practice focuses on providing ongoing legal advice to listed and unlisted companies and their management boards, executive boards, supervisory boards and advisory boards, as well as providing legal support for transactions of national and international clients in the areas of M&A, private equity & venture capital and corporate finance.

These include in particular:

• Public takeovers in the regulated and non-regulated market
• the preparation and conduct of general and shareholders' meetings as well as supervisory and advisory board meetings
• advising on risk issues, in particular with regard to ongoing compliance under company law and capital market law
• the disputes between shareholders
• the conduct and defence of liability proceedings
• Legal representation in proceedings under company law

I also advise large and medium-sized companies on national and cross-border transactions, including mergers, joint ventures and corporate restructurings.

My particular passion, experience and specialisation covers civil and capital market liability issues of management boards, supervisory boards, advisory boards and executive boards, including D&O matters, as well as advising companies and their boards with regard to corporate governance and compliance issues.

Primarily due to my own many years of board activities, including as a supervisory board member in the TecDAX, I advise with the demand for the highest quality and with the necessary sense of proportion in full awareness of the practical requirements of board activities. This includes, among other things, my specialisation in board consulting and legal coaching, which serves the direct liability prevention of the boards.

In addition to Europe and the USA, my international orientation includes Japan in particular, where I worked for an international law firm for two years.

I advise my clients in German, English, French, Italian and Japanese.

Recommendations
I am recommended by various professional magazines and platforms:

JUVE
Recommended for years for advice to supervisory boards, on takeover law and compliance (most recently JUVE Handbook 2022/23).
 

• "Ready for action and committed", Competitor - JUVE Handbook 2021/22
• "Determined, does not let go", Competitor - JUVE Handbook 2020/21
• "Enjoys a good reputation in advising supervisory boards and the increasing international integration of the corporate practice has led to the import and export of interesting mandates" - JUVE Handbook 2020/21
• "... Rückert, who ... has built up an excellent reputation from Düsseldorf as an independent advisor on directors' and officers' liability issues as well as on the side of supervisory boards. Meanwhile, she is also increasingly active for executive boards..." - JUVE Handbook 2019/20

Handelsblatt Best Lawyers in Germany for Corporate Law (incl. 2019, 2020, 2022)

Best Lawyers for Corporate (longstanding mention)

Publications
I have published the following articles and columns, among others:
 

• the criminal sanctioning of corporate disobedience: a contribution to the relationship between criminal and corporate law, in: Gleißner Romeike (ed.), Praxishandbuch Risikomanagement 2014/2015
• Lawyers' compliance duties on their own account: The appointment of a money laundering officer in law firms, in: Deutscher AnwaltSpiegel issue 25/2012, p. 4 f.
• Qualification of supervisory boards, in: Juve Handbook 2010/2011, pp. 224-225
• M&A strategy competence in the supervisory board, M&A Review 2010, p. 197
• Author and co-editor of Compliance Handbuch Kapitalmarktrecht, (2nd ed. 2008)
• Special investigations on suspicion of balance sheet manipulation, Der Aufsichtsrat 2007, pp. 50 - 51
• Entry Standard - The new stock exchange segment for medium-sized companies, BB 2005, p. 2703
• Restructuring services in return for a better-fortune agreement / Financing options in the crisis, special issue "Mittelstandsfinanzierung 2005" of Venture Capital Magazin (2005)
• German court ruling gives hope for facilitation of M&A transactions in Germany, The European Lawyer 39/2004, pp. 68-69
• Draft of an ordinance to concretise the prohibition of price and market price manipulation, BKR 2003, pp. 647-648
• Action Plan of the EU Commission on the Modernisation of European Company Law and its Impact on German Law, jurawelt.com, 15.07.2003
• Legal Guide to Private Equity in Germany for UK Investors, 2002
• Disclosure Obligations in M&A Transactions, in: Mergers & Acquisitions (HHP), 2003, pp. 109-138
• Venture Capital Japan, DJW-News 2001, p. 3, The Bank 1999, p. 845
• Taxation in sponsoring (promotion and contributions in SpuRT 1997, p. 72, SpuRt 5/1998, p. 182-186, DB 1993, p. 503)

 
Personal engagement
I am one of the experts of Directors' Channel and am responsible for an online seminar on the rights and duties of the supervisory board within the framework of the Directors' Academy.

Following my conviction of committed teamwork, I have, among other things, built up the Risk Advisory & Compliance division, which also incorporates my work and experience as a Risk Partner of Fieldfisher. I am also a member of the Steering Committee of the international Fieldfisher Investigations Group, which I founded with colleagues in Europe.