Dr. Marcus P Lerch LL.M. (Cambridge)

Counsel
Marcus Lerch has built an impressive reputation as a commercial litigator, representing German and international companies in a wide array of sectors. Market sources single him out for his "ability to distil complex issues into clear, strategic advice which is matched by his pragmatism, sound judgment, and sharp commercial awareness".
— Lexology Index, 2025
Hamburg
About

Marcus P. Lerch advises and represents national and international companies in commercial and business law disputes in state courts, before arbitral tribunals, and in mediations. His main areas of expertise include insolvency disputes, conflicts within supply chains, contractual disputes and conflict management.

He also has particular experience in defending clients in mass proceedings. In May 2023, the Committee on legal affairs of the German Bundestag invited Marcus to present his expert opinion on how mass claims should be regulated. He regularly writes and contributes to articles on current trends in dispute resolution as well as German and European business and financial markets law.

Areas of FocusLitigation, Arbitration and InvestigationsCorporateFinancial ServicesIndustrialsReal EstateRestructuring
Professional QualificationsRechtsanwalt admitted with Hanseatische Rechtsanwaltskammer Hamburg

EXPERIENCE

  • Advising international corporations on liability reduction and risk mitigation following cyber attacks.
  • Defending an international asset manager in a contractual dispute with a sub-administrator.
  • Representing a property development company in a dispute with creditors after an international insolvency related restructuring.
  • Advising a real estate agent on conflict management in the context of a corporate law dispute.
  • Advising an international medical service provider in a legal dispute with a security service provider following a cyberattack.
  • Defending a crowd investment broker against investor claims.
  • Representing a property development company in a mediation with its partners.*
  • Representing an international fund manager in a dispute resulting from the insolvency of an international bank and contractual counterparty.*
  • Advising and representing a global OEM in its worldwide defence against compliance- related customer claims brought against the OEM and its dealers (with a special focus on the law of legal services).*
  • Advising a global manufacturer of home appliances in a multijurisdictional dispute airing out of the insolvency of a commercial customer, including developing and implementing the defence against claw-back and tort claims brought forward by an insolvency administrator.*
  • Representing an industry supplier in an international mediation with a trade partner.*
  • Representing the joint representative of a group of bondholders in an insolvency-related dispute with shareholders.*
  • Representing a leading German financial institution in an ad hoc arbitration concerning various corporate law issues.*
  • Advising an international hotel group in a dispute involving claims brought forward by an insolvency administrator resulting from a real estate transaction.*
  • Representing an international industrial corporation in a post-M&A arbitration according to the rules of the German Arbitration Institute (DIS).*

    • *Denotes experience from a previous firm.

Languages
  • German
  • English

AWARDs

  • Future Leader (international), Commercial Litigation, Lexology 2025
  • Top Lawyer, Dispute Resolution (commercial and corporate law), F.A.Z. Institute 2026
  • National Leader, Germany, Commercial Litigation, Lexology 2024-2026
  • One to Watch, Litigation, Best Lawyers Magazine / Handelsblatt 2022-2024
  • One to Watch, Corporate Law, Best Lawyers Magazine / Handelsblatt 2022-2024
  • One to Watch, Arbitration and Mediation, Best Lawyers Magazine / Handelsblatt 2023 and 2024
Education

  • University of Cambridge, Peterhouse, Commercial Law Designation, Master of Law, LL.M., 2017

  • Hanseatic Higher Regional Court, Oberlandesgericht, Second State Examination, 2016

  • Bucerius Law School, Dr. iur., 2015

Publications

  • Die steigende Bedeutung von ADR in der wirtschaftsrechtlichen Beratung, Auf dem Weg zum interessenbasierten Konfliktmanagement, Zeitschrift für Konfliktmanagement (ZKM) 2025, 80 ff. (with Christina Valdini)
  • Bundled debt collection for cartel damages: With the round timber cartel "out of the woods"?, 03 September 2024
  • Interessengerechtes anwaltliches Konfliktmanagement für Unternehmen, Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (ZIP) 2024,1428 et seq. (with Patrick Schroeder)
  • Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (§ 21), in: Wachter/Heckschen (ed.), Praxis des Handels und Gesellschaftsrechts, 6th edition, Bonn 2024 with Patrick Schroeder
  • Zum Antrag der Fraktion der CDU/CSU „Kollaps der Ziviljustiz verhindern“ – Wirksame Reglungen zur Bewältigung von Massenverfahren schaffen (BT-Drs. 20/5560), Rechtsausschuss, Deutscher Bundestag, Öffentliche Anhörung vom 10, Mai 2023 
  • Herausforderungen an den Zivilprozess bei Massenverfahren – Ein Blick aus der anwaltlichen Praxis, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 2023, 420 et seq. with Christina Valdini
  • Drittfinanzierte Sammelinkassokläger vor dem BGH – das nächste Kapitel, Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (ZIP) 2022, 1627 et seq. with Patrick Schroeder

Seminars

  • Moderation of the Knowledge Café on business mediation: ‘Innovative methods – how do hybrid concepts prove themselves?’ at the 6th Bavarian Mediation Day, 2025
  • Moderation of panels on the problem landscape concerning mass claims and the evolution of collective redress at “Massclaim-Masterclass”, 2024 (Bucerius Law School, Massenverfahren Masterclass)

Prior Experience

  • 2017 - 2024: Principal Associate at a Magic Circle law firm in Hamburg with secondments to London and Duesseldorf

  • 2020: Secondment to Dr. Reiner Hall, attorney at the Federal Court of Justice (Karlsruhe)

Additional Qualifications

  • Business Mediator, Münchener Ausbildung – Eidenmüller/Hacke/Fries

My latest insights

Publication

German Shareholder Loan Laws Under Scrutiny Before the ECJ

21 August 2025 .9 minute read

Publication

Bundled debt collection for cartel damages: With the round timber cartel "out of the...

3 September 2024 .6 minute read

News

Growth in Germany: DLA Piper expands significantly at counsel level

1 July 2024 .4 minute read

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Connect

Phone

+49 40 188 88 112
(Work, Hamburg)
+49 160 98 78 43 65
(Mobile, Hamburg)