Corporate governance
Structures that support decisions.
Rules of procedure and allocation of responsibilities, reporting lines, conflicts of interest and outside activities of board members, cooperation between management and supervisory bodies.
Sven Kurzawe, LL.M. (Edinburgh) · Rechtsanwalt · Mediator
Legal strategy for companies and individuals.
Corporate governance, directors' liability and damages – with particular focus on the interface between civil liability and criminal responsibility. For companies, board members, institutions and individuals.
- Experience from
- Public prosecution
- International law firm
- Bank
- Bar association board
Approach
Responsibility has more than one side.
Important corporate decisions are rarely purely legal questions. They have economic consequences, shift responsibilities and may later be assessed by others: supervisory bodies, authorities or courts. The firm advises precisely at this interface.
- Law
- A robust legal assessment – with an eye to how others will later review the question.
- Economics
- Consequences, room for manoeuvre and trade-offs that go beyond the legal question.
- Organisation
- Responsibilities, processes and documentation that make a decision sustainable.
Areas
Key areas of advice
Four core areas set the direction. In practice they overlap – a matter often begins in one area and leads into another.
Directors' liability and damages
Prevent, enforce, defend.
Preparing and documenting business decisions, the business judgement rule and liability prevention. Asserting and defending damages claims – for companies as well as for individuals who are held personally liable or have suffered a loss themselves, including D&O insurance issues.
Compliance, investigations and crises
When questions come from outside.
Internal investigations, dealing with authorities and criminal investigations, criminal and regulatory risks for companies and those responsible for them.
AI governance
New technology, familiar responsibility.
Implementing the EU AI Act, responsibilities and oversight at management level, assessing legal risks in the use of AI systems.
In addition
Corporate and capital markets lawWhite-collar, tax and insolvency criminal lawLiability litigationProfessional law for lawyersMediation
Interface
Civil liability and criminal responsibility.
Breaches of duty within companies rarely have just one legal consequence. The same facts can give rise to damages claims and at the same time lead to criminal investigations. Treating the two proceedings separately risks a step in one weakening the position in the other. This affects companies and individuals alike – board members under investigation who also face claims, as well as injured parties seeking to enforce their claims.
Civil law
Liability
- Damages claims by the company, shareholders or third parties
- Liability of management board members, managing directors and supervisory board members
- D&O insurance and recourse
Criminal law
Responsibility
- Criminal investigations against board members and employees
- Allegations such as breach of trust, fraud or failure of supervision
- Fines imposed on the company
Interplay
Civil law, liability law, corporate law, criminal law and the law on administrative offences each follow their own rules, yet they affect one another. The advice coordinates these areas of law, aligns the individual steps and takes their interplay into account – including with regard to economic considerations.
Submissions and documents
What is put forward in one proceeding may become relevant in the other.
Access to files
Findings from investigation files can be decisive for asserting or defending claims.
Insurance cover
The course of criminal proceedings can affect D&O insurance cover.
Timing
Settlement talks and the state of the investigation need to be planned together; this includes reviewing limitation issues.
The advice brings both sides together into one coordinated strategy – drawing on experience as a public prosecutor and as an adviser to corporate bodies.
Working method
Assess first, then act.
Discreet
Sensitive matters need a protected setting – from the very first conversation.
Integrated
Legal, economic and organisational aspects are considered together, in coordination with the client's other advisers where needed.
Clear
The result is a well-reasoned recommendation, not just a list of risks.
Profile
Sven Kurzawe
Rechtsanwalt (German lawyer) with an independent practice in Frankfurt am Main. Previously at an international law firm and a public prosecutor; today also in-house counsel and a member of the board of the Frankfurt Bar Association.
Professional experience
| since 02/2018 | Rechtsanwalt, Kanzlei Kurzawe, Frankfurt am MainCorporate governance, directors' liability and damages, white-collar criminal law, AI governance |
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| since 11/2017 | In-house counsel (Syndikusrechtsanwalt), KfW, Frankfurt am MainCorporate governance, board matters and board liability, support of governing bodies and communication with legal committees, legal supervisory authorities and ministries |
| 12/2021 – 06/2025 | Of Counsel, Corestone LegalWhite-collar criminal law, directors' liability, internal investigations |
| 02/2015 – 10/2017 | Public prosecutor, Darmstadt Public Prosecutor's OfficeWhite-collar crime, tax and insolvency criminal law, breach of trust |
| 09/2012 – 01/2015 | Rechtsanwalt, Clifford Chance, Frankfurt am MainIPOs, M&A, private equity, debt issuance programmes |
| 03/2010 – 09/2011 | Research assistant, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main |
Honorary office
| since 10/2023 | Board member, Frankfurt Bar Association (Rechtsanwaltskammer Frankfurt am Main)Professional law, member of a complaints chamber; professional supervisory and complaints proceedings in which questions from different legal disciplines come together and have to be assessed as a whole |
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Education
| 09/2011 – 08/2012 | Master of Laws (LL.M.), University of EdinburghFocus on Commercial Law; T.B. Smith Prize for the best LL.M./MSc class of 2012 |
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| 01/2008 – 01/2010 | Legal traineeship, Frankfurt am Main Regional Court district |
| 09/2002 – 02/2007 | Law studies, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main |
Contact
Let's discuss your matter.
An initial conversation serves to assess the situation: what is at stake, what is urgent, which course makes sense. Enquiries are treated confidentially.
- Office
- Zeil 24
60313 Frankfurt am Main
Germany - Phone
- +49 69 8700707-0
- Fax
- +49 69 90012867