What Graf von Westphalen does

Graf von Westphalen (legal name: GvW Graf von Westphalen Partnerschaft mbB) is a full-service German commercial law firm (Wirtschaftskanzlei) founded circa 1950 and headquartered in Hamburg. It employs approximately 250 lawyers (Anwältinnen und Anwälte) across six German offices — Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Munich, and Stuttgart — and four foreign offices or representations in Brussels, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City, and Istanbul. The firm is organised as a German Partnerschaft mbB (partnership with limited professional liability), independently owned by its partners, with no identified external investor or parent. It is led by Co-Managing Partners Dr. Maximilian Emanuel Elspas and Christian Mayer-Gießen, appointed in 2025.

The firm's service offering is structured around 30+ practice areas (Rechtsgebiete) covering the full spectrum of commercial law — corporate/M&A, banking and capital markets, IT and data protection, IP and patent litigation, antitrust, employment, public procurement, construction, energy, tax, and dispute resolution — alongside 17 industry focus areas including Automotive & Mobility, Aviation, Banking, Defence & Security, Energy, ESG, Healthcare, Real Estate, Hospitality, and Startups. Fourteen country desks provide cross-border coverage. Underlying technology is limited: as a law firm, GvW does not develop a proprietary software platform, but maintains a Legal Operations & Tech practice recognised by JUVE for Legal-Tech tooling in DSGVO/GDPR mass proceedings.

Revenue is generated primarily through billable legal advisory services rendered to corporate and institutional clients on an hourly-rate or fixed-fee basis. The go-to-market is partner-led direct client engagement targeting large and mid-market corporates, financial institutions, public-sector entities, high-net-worth private clients, and startups. Lead generation is supported by thought-leadership content (blog, publications, press releases), a multi-channel events programme (seminars, webinars, sector conferences), and sector-focused practice groups that enable interdisciplinary mandate delivery. Select seminar programmes are publicly priced (EUR 495 for non-clients, EUR 370 for clients, per session). Notable enterprise mandates include advising Amprion on the EUR 2 billion+ Korridor B HGÜ converter station project, 50Hertz on the North Sea Connector 2 offshore grid connection, NEURA Robotics on its Series-C funding round, and Habona Invest on real estate acquisitions.

Name

Graf von Westphalen

Legal name

GvW Graf von Westphalen

Website

https://gvw.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1950

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Graf von Westphalen is a full-service German commercial law firm with 250 lawyers across six German offices and four foreign offices, serving corporates, financial institutions, public-sector clients, private clients, and startups across 30+ practice areas and 17 industry sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Offices of Lawyers (54111), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Legal Practice Management & Case Management (BPAEAPAC)

Keywords

• Commercial legal services
• Corporate law advisory
• M&A legal counsel
• Regulatory legal advisory
• International legal services

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices10 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Advisory Services: GvW generates revenue primarily through billable legal advisory services rendered to corporate and institutional clients across its 30+ practice areas and 17 sector focus groups. Fees are charged on an hourly rate basis or fixed-fee arrangements for defined mandates (e.g., M&A transactions, litigation, regulatory advice). The firm also earns fees from seminar and event programs (e.g., online seminars priced at EUR 495 for non-clients, EUR 370 for clients).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

GvW is a German full-service commercial law firm (Wirtschaftskanzlei) operating as a Partnerschaft mbB with approximately 250 lawyers. It delivers paid legal advisory across 30+ practice areas (corporate/M&A, banking and capital markets, employment, IT and data protection, antitrust, public procurement, energy, real estate, IP, tax, litigation, restructuring, insolvency, sanctions, and others) and 17 industry sectors (automotive, aviation, banking, defence, digital/tech, energy, ESG, healthcare, hospitality, infrastructure, food, real estate, private clients, startups, insurance, procurement/logistics).

Product overview

GvW Graf von Westphalen operates as a unified full-service law firm, not a platform-plus-modules architecture. The firm offers comprehensive legal advisory services organized into: (1) Practice Areas (Rechtsgebiete) covering 32 specializations such as labor law, M&A, IT and data protection, antitrust law, and banking law; (2) Focus Areas (Fokusbereiche) including Digitalization and Technology, ESG, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Automotive & Mobility, and 14 other industry sectors; (3) International Desks covering 14 countries/regions; and (4) Legal Operations & Tech services. The portfolio represents a single integrated legal service offering rather than discrete software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Full-Service Commercial Legal Advisory (Rechtsgebiete & Fokusbereiche) GvW's core offering: full-service commercial legal advisory spanning 30+ practice areas (Arbeitsrecht, M&A, Bankrecht, IT und Datenschutz, Vergaberecht, IP, Baurecht, Energierecht, Kartellrecht, Steuerrecht, etc.) and 17 industry focus areas (Automotive, Aviation, Banking, ESG, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Startups, etc.) for German and international corporate, financial and public-sector clients, delivered through approximately 250 lawyers across 6 German and 4 foreign offices.
• International Desks — Cross-Border Legal Advisory Dedicated country-desk legal advisory for cross-border mandates, leveraging foreign offices in Brussels, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and Istanbul to provide on-the-ground capability in 14 jurisdictions.
• Legal Operations & Tech Dedicated practice combining legal advisory with legal-technology tooling, including the use of Legal-Tech solutions for large-scale data-protection/GDPR mass proceedings and other process-intensive mandates.
• Private Clients / Wealth & Succession Advisory Legal and tax advisory for wealthy private individuals and entrepreneur families covering estate planning, wealth structuring, succession planning and related tax matters, delivered within GvW's Private Clients focus area.
• Startup & Venture Capital Legal Advisory Comprehensive legal advisory for German startups and VC investors from formation through growth and exit, covering corporate, financing, IP, employment, tax, and commercial lease matters.
• EU Pay Transparency Directive Seminar (Entgelttransparenzrichtlinie) Paid online educational seminar covering the EU Pay Transparency Directive (Entgelttransparenzrichtlinie) and its German implementation, delivered by GvW partners and senior associates.
• CBAM Seminar (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) Educational seminar on the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) co-hosted with IHK Bodensee-Oberschwaben, covering carbon border adjustment compliance for German importers and exporters.
• Import Advanced Seminar (Aufbauseminar Import) with Hamburger Zollakademie Advanced training seminar on German and EU customs/import law co-organised with the Hamburger Zollakademie (Hamburg Customs Academy), covering customs valuation, rules of origin, tariff law, and customs debt.

Quantifiable outcome

• EUR 1 billion+ in aerospace M&A transaction volume advised
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• right°coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGvW partnered with right°, a Climate-Tech company, to develop its own XDC Climate Impact Report (CIR). right° produced the whatif-Report 2024 benchmarking DAX40 companies and created GvW's emissions profile showing the firm is currently on a 3.2°C trajectory, informing its path to climate neutrality by 2045.
• IHK Bodensee-OberschwabenminorOthersGvW co-hosted the CBAM seminar on carbon border adjustment mechanisms with IHK Bodensee-Oberschwaben, a regional Chamber of Industry and Commerce, as part of its export/import training programme.
• HZA Hamburger Zollakademie (Hamburg Customs Academy)minorOthersGvW co-organised the 'Aufbauseminar Import' (advanced import seminar) with the Hamburger Zollakademie, covering topics such as customs valuation, rules of origin, tariff law, and customs debt.
• Space Arbitration AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGvW, represented by Dr. Grace Nacimiento, participated as a panel speaker in an event organised by the Space Arbitration Association, hosted by Space Watch Global and supported by the International Section of the New York State Bar Association and Jus Mundi, addressing private parties in international space law.
• Space Watch GlobalminorOthersSpace Watch Global hosted the Space Arbitration Association panel event featuring GvW, addressing international space law topics and private party participation.
• Deutscher Fachverlag (dfv)minorOthersGvW partnered with Deutscher Fachverlag (dfv) for the Rechtsprechungsreport webinar series, in which GvW lawyers present key court decisions across practice areas.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Hengeler Mueller: Hengeler Mueller is one of Germany's leading independent full-service commercial law firms with a comparable partner-only model, similar headcount scale, and a similar focus on high-end M&A, corporate, and regulatory work for German corporates and financial institutions.
• Gleiss Lutz: Gleiss Lutz is a top-tier independent German commercial law firm with a similar full-service model, comparable partner-only structure, and a closely overlapping client base of large German corporates and financial institutions.
• Noerr: Noerr is a major independent European law firm with a strong German full-service practice across corporate, M&A, regulatory, and IP, directly comparable to GvW in size, structure, and target clients.
• CMS Germany: CMS is a top European full-service law firm with one of its largest practices in Germany, offering comparable corporate, M&A, employment, real estate, and regulatory services to mid-market and large German corporates.

Broad incumbents

• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer: Freshfields is a global Magic Circle firm with a major German practice across all the same corporate, M&A, antitrust, and dispute resolution areas that GvW serves, but with substantially broader international resources.
• Linklaters: Linklaters is a global Magic Circle firm with a strong Frankfurt and Düsseldorf presence, directly competing with GvW for premium German M&A, banking, capital markets, and project finance mandates.
• Clifford Chance: Clifford Chance is a leading global law firm with one of the largest German footprints among international firms, competing head-to-head with GvW in finance, energy, real estate, and M&A.
• Allen & Overy / A&O Shearman: A&O Shearman is a global elite law firm with a substantial German practice, directly competing with GvW in M&A, capital markets, banking, and large-scale cross-border transactions.
• Latham & Watkins: Latham & Watkins is a leading global law firm with a strong Frankfurt office, competing for the same premium German M&A, private equity, and finance mandates that anchor GvW's practice.
• White & Case: White & Case is a global elite law firm with a major German practice, directly competing with GvW in cross-border M&A, project finance (including energy transition), and dispute resolution.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/gvwaktuell
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/gvw
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/graf-von-westphalen

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Graf von Westphalen