DLA Piper strengthens its practice with former BASF General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer Dr Wolfgang Haas

DLA Piper has strengthened its team with Dr Wolfgang Haas joining as Of Counsel as of 1 October 2021. Dr Wolfgang Haas is the former General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of BASF SE (BASF), where he most recently headed the Legal, Compliance, Tax and Insurance departments. His future focus at DLA Piper will be on Corporate/M&A advice and, in particular, on board advisory advice in connection with ESG issues. In addition he will contribute his many years of expertise in tax law. Dr Wolfgang Haas will be initially based in the firm’s Frankfurt office.

Dr Wolfgang Haas started his career in the financial administration of Baden-Württemberg; and, in 1992, joined Wintershall AG (now Wintershall Dea), a leading independent natural gas and oil company. In 1994, he moved to BASF in Ludwigshafen and has worked in various BASF Group companies in Germany and abroad. From 2007 to 2011, he headed the global tax department. From 2011 until his departure in May of this year, Dr Wolfgang Haas then acted as global General Counsel and most recently also as Chief Compliance Officer for BASF. Dr Wolfgang Haas was also head of the Tax Committee of the Federation of German Industries and of the Legal Committee of the German Chemical Industry Association for many years.

"With Dr Wolfgang Haas, we are gaining a highly respected legal expert who, with his many years of experience at the top level of German industry, will be an excellent reinforcement for DLA Piper’s industrial sector and boardroom expertise. With Wolfgang, we will also be able to further expand our strong expertise in the area of ESG in particular. We warmly welcome Dr Wolfgang Haas to DLA Piper," said Dr Benjamin Parameswaran, Managing Partner of DLA Piper in Germany.

“I am very pleased to be part of DLA Piper's outstanding global team and, in particular, to be able to contribute my industry expertise to DLA Piper´s highly regarded practice", adds Dr Wolfgang Haas.