David Hole

Litigation

Germany is a litigious country. The wide-spread availability of legal expenses insurance, coupled with predictable fixed levels of costs, both for court and lawyers' fees, makes litigation not as daunting as it can be in the UK. Court proceedings usually progress at a fairly brisk pace, which is good for most claimants. Costs in smaller value claims are sufficiently low as to make their pursuit attractive.

German legal proceedings are totally different from the UK. There is much greater written preparation for hearing a case, the oral tradition amongst lawyers is not so pronounced and the hearing itself is conducted by the court taking a leading pro-active role, encouraging settlement wherever possible. The reforms of English civil procedure borrowed heavily from some of the concepts and provisions of German civil procedure.

It is the court in Germany which decides, on the strength of the representations made to it by the parties and their representatives

• what issues a case presents for decision and
   
• what evidence will be heard from whom to decide those issues

and then summonses the required witnesses to attend.

There is no prior exchange of written witness statements, indeed it is unusual for a party's representative to have seen or to have spoken to a witness prior to a hearing. There is no stage of Disclosure in the preparation for hearing. Obtaining documents from an opponent requires a specific application to the judge.