COMINDIS is an independent boutique law firm specialising in contract and project consulting, dispute resolution, corporate & compliance and insurance with a particular focus on plant engineering, energy and infrastructure projects.
To the law firm
We advise and represent you in disputes before arbitration tribunals, state courts as well as in all out-of-court proceedings.
To the Services
Our experience and our strengths are based on many years of practice in leading international law firms and legal departments of well-known plant engineering companies and industrial groups.
To the Experience
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Compliance

Your company builds trust.
Choose COMINDIS as your competent partner.

Insurance

Your risks are our expertise.
Trust our experience in financial lines.

Dispute Resolution

Your challenges are our specialty.
Benefit from our know-how in complex legal disputes.

The Law firm

COMINDIS is a boutique law firm. We are specialised in contract and project consulting, dispute resolution, corporate & compliance and insurance. With a focus on plant engineering, energy and infrastructure, we advise and represent industrial and service companies, banks and insurance companies, as well as private equity firms – nationally and internationally.

COMINDIS offers you many advantages and outstanding quality.

  • We are independent and can represent your interests free of conflict and with commitment right from the start.
  • Short channels of communication means higher communication speed and efficiency for you.
  • We value a sustainable, good relationship with our clients and have a high
    standard for continuous service and availability.
  • With our international network, we can guide your legal matters to their destination, even across international borders.
  • We are a streamlined organisation and can provide you with both transparency and a convincing price –performance ratio.

We founded COMINDIS because we believe that independent and personalized legal advice is an important factor for a company‘s success.

We know the types of situations that can be legally unsettling for companies. Whether acute or anticipatory –
if it becomes relevant for your company‘s share price or results, or if your good reputation is at risk, we have your back.

COMINDIS – dispute resolution & project consultancy, corporate & compliance as well as insurance are our passion as lawyers in the industry. Many years of experience and a considerable expertise help us to advise and represent our clients professionally and successfully in fundamental strategic and tactical matters. In doing so, we are solution-oriented and proceed with great care.

Services

We will advise and represent you in disputes before arbitration courts, state courts as well as in all out-of-court proceedings.

Experience

Our experience and our strengths are based on many years of practice in leading international law firms and legal departments of well-known plant engineering companies and industrial concerns.

Team

Dr. Eric Decker
Dr. Ingo Kühl

Dr. Eric Decker

Partner | Lawyer

Professional Career

Admitted to practice law in 1999; worked from 1999 to 2000 in the law firm Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz, worked from 2000 to 2007 in the global law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP in the areas of corporate M&A and dispute resolution, worked from 2007 to 2020 as the Legal Director & Head of Global Insurance at Bilfinger SE; January 2021 to present (Founding)Partner of COMINDIS.

Education

Legal education at the Technischen Universität Dresden (TU Dresden) and the Universität Regensburg; Doctorate from TU Dresden (Dr. iur. 1998) dissertation topic: “European Antitrust and IP Law“; clerk at the Appeals Court Dresden with internships in leading business law firms including in the Middle East (Dubai).

Areas of Focus

International arbitration and litigation with a focus on plant engineering and infrastructure; representation and advice in international and domestic commercial law; advice in the area of compliance and directors‘ and officers‘ liability; Advice in the area of insurance, especially on financial lines (D&O, cyber etc.).

Experience
Various national and international arbitration and court proceedings in the areas of plant engineering, infrastructure and post M&A; complex directors‘ and officers‘ liability cases including settlement negotiations; legal and strategic advice on various complex commercial law issues; advice on international and domestic contracts under FIDIC, NEC and other contract models.

Working Languages
German and English

Memberships
German Arbitration Institute (DIS)
German Bar Association (DAV)
Working Group Construction and Real Estate Law
DICO – German Institute for Compliance

Personal
Born in 1971; Leisure activities include international travel, hiking, skiing, cycling and fly fishing.

Dr. Ingo Kühl

Partner | Lawyer

Professional Career
Admitted to practice law in 2010; worked from 2010 to 2020 at the international business law firm Hogan Lovells International LLP in the area of dispute resolution, the last several years as of Counsel; worked from 2014 to 2015 on secondment in the legal department of Bayer AG; January 2021 to present (Founding) Partner of COMINDIS.

Education
Legal education at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena und the University of Bonn; Doctorate from the University of Göttingen (Dr. iur. 2013); Clerk (Referendariat) in Bielefeld with internships in leading business law firms in Frankfurt a.M.

Areas of Focus
State court litigation and international arbitration with a focus on plant engineering; representation and counseling in international and domestic commercial law (including product liability)

Experience
Handling of various national and international court and arbitration proceedings as well as arbitration expert opinion proceedings, providing legal and strategic advice on various complex commercial law issues; advising on international and national contracts.

Working Languages
German and English

Membership
German Arbitration Institute (DIS)
German Bar Association (DAV) 
Working Group Construction and Real Estate Law
DICO – German Institute for Compliance

Personal
Born in 1979; Leisure activities include climbing, mountaineering, running and hiking.

Jens Bürkle
Dr. Pedro Frölich Pereira

Jens Bürkle

Partner | Lawyer

Professional Career
Admitted to practice law in 2001; admitted to the Barreau de Paris in 2017; worked from 1997 to 2002 in the law firms Herzfeld & Rubin and Thacher Proffitt & Wood; from 2003 to 2016 AREVA Group in Germany and France: General Counsel in the areas of large-scale nuclear projects, renewables, contract and claim management, supply agreements, cooperation agreements, complex arbitration proceedings, compliance and corporate governance. Founding partner of the Paris-based law firm GOTEM. 2020 – 2022 Of Counsel at COMINDIS; Partner at COMINDIS S.a.r.l. since January 2023.

Education
Legal education at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg with internships in US commercial law firms. Accredited mediator.

Areas of Focus
Advice on contractual matters in the energy, construction, infrastructure, nuclear and oil and gas industries; national and international arbitration, adjudication and mediation in the plant construction sector;

Experience
More than 20 years consultancy on international contract law, energy plant construction and related subcontracts, as well as cooperation and consortium agreements. Extensive experience with EPC, FIDIC, NEC-based and bespoke contracts. Various international contentious proceedings in the field of plant construction and infrastructure projects. Many years of experience with standing dispute boards as well as complex claim and adjudication proceedings in plant construction.

Working Languages
German, English, French, Swedish

Memberships
Lecturer at the Université II Paris, Panthéon-Assas, DU Contract Management (Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution)

Commission of the international Chapter of the AFDCI (Association Française Pour le Droit de la Construction et de l’Immobilier)

Founding member of the Association Française du Contract Management (AFCM)

Personal
Born in 1971; Leisure activities include racing bike, futsal, rock band

Dr. Pedro Frölich Pereira

Of Counsel | Lawyer

Professional Career
Admitted to the bar 1994; experience as an external lawyer 1994 to 1996 (Frankfurt based Law Firm Leibnitz & Partner); from 1996 to 2021 inhouse experience with large and mid-size stock listed companies; holding lead functions as well as senior advisor functions; since February 2021 Founding Partner of PFP-Law. Of Counsel at COMINDIS since November 2022.

Education
Legal education at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University (Frankfurt am Main) including Ph.D Thesis about product liability in accordance with Portuguese Law. Clerk at the commercial court of Darmstadt with internship at a Canadian Law Firm named Polten & Hodder in Toronto, Ontario.
Executive MBA at the Ashridge Management College / UK; Consortium Members: Deutsche Bank AG, Merck KGaA, Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

Areas of focus
Full scale corporate law advisor; supervision of M&A transactions (from Engagement Letter to Transition Agreement); Shareholder disputes and shareholder alteration; Cooperation-, Consortium- and Joint-Venture Agreements; set up of Compliance Management Systems

Experience
Execution of various M&A transactions in Germany and abroad (especially UK, Belgium and France) incl. merger; Restructuring corporate structures within Germany and cross-border incl. establishing and closing affiliates and subsidiaries in Germany and abroad; education of managing directors and shareholders of German Corporation with respect to overall liability issues (civil, criminal, administrative); drafting and examining license-, know-how and R&D-Agreements

Working Languages
German, English, Portuguese

Memberships
German Bar Association
DICO German Institute of Compliance

Personal
Born in Lisbon 1964, married, one child

Services

COMINDIS – Our Name is our program. We are Partners for corporate & compliance, insurance and dispute resolution, with a focus on plant engineering, energy and infrastructure.

At a glance

  • Shaping Companies Legally
  • Identifying risks
  • Reacting and mitigating
  • Checking, setting up and optimising Companies and Systems

COMINDIS includes corporate & compliance. We help you to shape your business. Our advice is focused on legal admissibility and economic optimisation keeping in mind ESG and compliance requirements. We support companies to reach their objectives in a rule-compliant and ethical manner. Corporate & Compliance form a unit and contribute significantly to securing the company‘s existence. We advise our clients nationally and internationally on their corporate & compliance projects.
Also, technical compliance and ESG risks – such as product liability, supply chain issues or environmental cases – are increasingly coming into focus.

Scope of services in the area of corporate & compliance:

  • advice on joint ventures, M&A projects and restructurings
  • advice on liability issues of corporate bodies
  • risk analyses and review of the compliance management system
  • compliance due diligence / ESG and compliance in M&A projects (compliance and MAC clauses)
  • advice regarding compliance monitorships (across the board)
  • compliance legal (pursuit of claims)
  • compliance trainings and guidelines

At a glance

  • Risk analysis
  • Thinking ahead
  • Act wisely

Insurance is a part of COMINDIS. We are trustworthy and reliable partners. We advise in particular within the scope of financial lines (D&O, legal protection and cyber) and industrial insurance both preventively and in contentious proceedings. We know the market and the problems from practical experience. We regularly participate in events and give lectures on current developments. Industrial insurance is a world of its own that requires experts.

Scope of services in the area of insurance:

  • advice in D&O cases
  • defend and enforce claims regarding liability and coverage matters in D&O cases
  • cyber cases (e g. ransom cases, CEO fraud) and advice regarding cyber insurance
  • advice in the area of industrial insurance (e.g. major industrial damage claims) under the erection all risk or liability insurance.

At a glance

  • In depth analysis
  • strategic thinking
  • claim enforcement

Dispute Resolution is a part of COMINDIS. Complex disputes are challenging economically, organisationally and and in terms of human resources. We represent you with commitment and strategic foresight.

As both external lawyers and in-house counsel, we have advised and represented clients succesfully in a large number of international arbitration and ordinary legal proceedings. Benefit from our expertise in pre-litigation claims, in project structuring or in settlement negotiations.

Scope of services in the area of dispute resolution:

  • arbitration (arbitration ad hoc or according to DIS, ICC, SIAC, VIAG, LCIA, KLCRA etc.)
  • litigation (proceedings before state courts)
  • contract and claim management
  • assessment of claims or litigation prospects, e.g. as part of due diligence for M&A transactions (including for private equity and other)
  • post M&A conflicts and other corporate disputes
  • alternative dispute resolution (mediation and adjudication)
  • pursuing or defence of liability claims against executive bodies
  • annulment and enforceability proceedings of arbitral awards
  • independent evidence proceedings
  • interim proceedings (e.g., against calling of bonds / guarantees in plant engineering)
  • corporate defense (OWiG und civil law)

At a glance

With our focus on plant engineering, energy and infrastructure, we concentrate in particular on all related legal questions. We advise our clients nationally and internationally in turnkey EPC projects (e.g. based on FIDIC or NEC or other models) and represent them before state courts, arbitration tribunals or in alternaticve dispute resolution (ADR).

Scope of services- focus: We cover the entire life cycle of plant engineering, energy and infrastructure projects

  • contact drafting and negotiations of plant construction projects in all areas
  • representing clients in legal disputes at arbitral and ordinary courts
  • advising on regulatory issues in our focus industries
  • construction support (contract and claim management)
  • advice at the interface of „plant engineering / compliance“
  • coordination of complex disputes for legal departments and corporate housekeeping
  • training courses

Experience

As lawyers, we advise and represent national and international clients since many years with our comprehensive know-how. Our experience is based on legal practice in leading international law firms as well as in legal departments of global industrial and plant engineering companies.

These diverse perspectives enable us to respond perfectly to our client‘s challenges.

With empathy for your company, we support you in an uncomplicated and professional manner. We do not rest on our experience and are always up-to-date on the current legal standards.

Publications

We publish academic articles and hold lectures in our areas of expertise.

  • Law Handbook Plant Engineering, Chapter „Securities“, Herausgeber Bock/Zons, C.H. Beck Verlag,
    2. Aufl. 2020, Dr. Eric Decker
  • Book of Contracts Private Construction Law, Chapter „The International Consortium Agreement“, Herausgeber Roquette/Otto, C.H. Beck Verlag, 3. Aufl. 2020, Dr. Eric Decker
  • The European Prohibition of Abuse in Relation to Intellectual Property Rights, Dissertation, Dresden, 2001, Bd. 1 of the publication series of the Institute for Technical and Environmental Law., Dr. Eric Decker
  • The Efficiency Rule and the Contracting Physician in Criminal Law: An Examination with Special Reference to the Supply of Medicine, Dissertation, Springer Verlag, Göttingen 2013, Dr. Ingo Kuehl
  • Repowering – focus on the modernisation of wind turbines, EnK-Aktuell 2023, 010167, Dr Eric Decker and Niclas Grabowski
  • Expropriation of movable property in the energy sector and access to documents to secure the energy supply – further draft law to amend the EnSiG, EnK-Aktuell 2022, 01105, Dr Ingo Kühl and Marie Wittrock
  • How “green” does “green hydrogen” have to be? – Latest developments in the field of classification, EnK-Aktuell 2022, 01088, Dr. Eric Decker and Arnulf Mallmann
  • The New Expedited Procedures of the German Instition for Arbitration, SchiedsVZ 2019, 75 ff.,
    Dr. Eric Decker
  • Legal Aspects of Trading in Emission certificates, emw 2004, 6 ff., Dr. Eric Decker mit Dr. Meyer-Lindemann
  • Price Abuse Control over Water Supply Companies, in: WuW, Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb 1999, 967 ff., Dr. Eric Decker
  • Legal questions regarding local content – classification, challenges and solutions, Verband Deutscher Maschinen und Anlagenbau (VDMA), 30.11.2023, Dr Eric Decker and Dr Ingo Kühl
  • Successfully handling projects in a consortium or joint venture, VAIS Seminar, 24.11.2023, Dr Eric Decker and Nils Brammer, General Counsel Standardkessel Baumgarte GmbH
  • Securities in times of supply crisis – guarantees, export credit insurance and letters of credit, VAIS Seminar, 26.09.2023, Dr Eric Decker and Dr Ingo Kühl
  • Hydrogen Projects – Managing Contractual Opportunities and Risks, Verband Deutscher Maschinen und Anlagenbau (VDMA), Round Table Contract Management and Plant Construction Law 2022, 08.12.2022, Dr. Eric Decker und Dr. Ingo Kühl 
  • Project success & everyday project life – Often unrecognised potentials in processing, VAIS Practitioners’ Panel, Dr. Eric Decker and Robert Aloys Werth, 09.12.2022
  • Project Success begins before the Project starts, VAIS Practitioner Panel International Project Business, Dr. Eric Decker and Robert Aloys Werth, Oct. 28, 2022.
  • Successfully implementing hydrogen projects, VAIS Verband für Anlagentechnik und Industrie Service e.V., 01.09.2022, Dr Eric Decker and Dr Ingo Kühl
  • Corporate Sanctions Law (Verbandssanktionengesetz) – A Paradigm Shift from a Litigation Perspective?, BuJ Section Dispute Resolution, 2021, Dr Eric Decker
  • Association Sanction Law  – From the Viewpoint of Dispute Resolution a Paradigm Shift?, BuJ Fachgruppe Dispute Resolution 2021, Dr. Eric Decker
  • The Cyber Insurance Process from the Perspective of the Risk Manager and the CIO, EUROFORUM Cyber 2020, Dr. Eric Decker with Helge-Karsten Lauterbach
  • The Cyber Market Situation – A Look into the Future, Panel discussion, EUROFORUM Cyber 2020,
    Dr. Eric Decker
  • D&O Market ́ Advanced, Panel discussion, EUROFORUM Haftpflicht 2020, Dr. Eric Decker
  • The user’s perspective: Enforcement of EA decisions & awards resulting from expedited proceedings of presentation, Panel diskussion, AIJA 2020, Dr. Eric Decker
  • Association Sanction Law – Necessary Paradigm Shift or Error?, German Bar Association (DAV), ARGE Int. Construction Law 2020, Dr. Eric Decker
  • Trends und Risks in Plant Engineering, German Bar Association (DAV) , ARGE Int. Construction Law 2019, Dr. Eric Decker
  • Securities, Module 2 Financial Basics for Commercial Management, Lecturer in Masters Program at Dresden International University Contract & Claims Management, 2017, Dr. Eric Decker
  • Trends und User Problems of new Rules of Arbitration –Practice Insight, Dr. Eric Decker with Jan K. Schäfer, 8. Roundtable Claims und Contract Management VDMA Working Group Large Plant Construction
  • Collateral in International Plant Engineering from a Practitioner‘s Perspective, German Bar Association (DAV), ARGE Int. Construction Law 2016, Dr. Eric Decker