History
Subsequent to his academic work at the “Max Planck Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte” in Frankfurt am Main directed by Professor Coing, Dr Gerhard Th. Walter was admitted as a lawyer in January 1970. Then, after having worked as a company lawyer, he founded his own law firm in 1972. In 1973 Dr Ingrid Walter-Meinig and Dr Gerhard Walter changed the legal form of their law firm to "Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts" (civil-law partnership). The firm is located in the Cronstettenstraße 22 in the northern part of Frankfurt since 1974. In the course of time locations nearby were added: Cronstettenstraße 30.
The firm’s main practice areas at that time were general legal advice and litigation which were later supplemented by a notary’s office that, until today, is mainly run by Dr Ingrid Walter-Meinig.
After his first major litigation (Rewe Frankfurt e.G.) in 1975, Dr Gerhard Walter specialized in bankruptcy proceedings and focused on business recovery. In the following year, 1976, in connection with the bankruptcy proceedings concerning the property of Spedition Zöller KG he accomplished one of many successful restructurings to come. In 1982 Walter & Walter first implemented the concept of employee participation, that is still used today, in the bankruptcy case of Kaiser Omnia Bauelemente GmbH. Experience in litigations involving international aspects that Walter & Walter had gained early on proved to be of use in 1988, when the firm successfully dealt with the bankruptcy proceedings concerning the property of Deutsche Merona GmbH. In connection with the composition proceedings concerning the property of Naxos-Union AG in 1992, Walter & Walter were able to preserve 650 jobs by reconciling the interests of the parties involved and thus recovering the business.
In 1994 Dr Gerhard Walter was appointed liquidator by the court of Königstein in the case of Dr Jürgen Schneider and his wife Claudia Schneider-Granzow. In the wake of this case Walter & Walter shifted their focus toward the administration of bankruptcy and adapted the structure of the firm accordingly. In addition to that, Walter & Walter concentrated on cross corporation bankruptcy proceedings in the realty sector and was appointed insolvency administrator of the Roland Ernst estate. This assignment included the administration of 140 companies. In the course of this proceeding Walter & Walter opened an office in Heidelberg in 2001.
The German Insolvency Act becoming effective in 1999 and the appointment on the case of Kramp & Comp. Gmbh & Co. KG caused further changes in the structure of Walter & Walter. In 2000 Mrs Ulrike Hoge-Peters joined the team. She was appointed insolvency administrator in 2001 and became a partner in 2002. The initially small practice evolved into a law firm with 75 employees including 18 lawyers and 3 specialists in commercial law. Thus Walter & Walter was able to handle major proceedings like the one of the European Kings Club with 48500 creditors in 1996 or the proceedings of Aero Lloyd Flugreisen GmbH & Co. Luftverkehrs-KG which is in the hands of Walter & Walter since 2003.
The firm extended its activities in Germany and opened offices in Bad Doberan (2002), which is replaced by the office in Rostock today, and Teltow as well as in Gießen (2005). In 2006 the offices in Teltow were relocated to Berlin.
In addition to Dr Gerhard Walter and Mrs Ulrike Hoge-Peters, Mr Markus Walter was appointed insolvency administrator in 2004, Dr Lason Gutsche and Mr Marcel Reinhardt followed in 2005.
In particular caused by fiscal reasons the firm was split up in two autonomous law firms: Walter & Walter and W&W Rechtsanwälte Hoge Gutsche Walter Rechtsanwälte in Partnerschaft. Since this split up Mrs Hoge-Peters, Dr. Gutsche and Mr Markus Walter are working as Insolvency Administrator for W&W Rechtsanwälte Hoge Gutsche Walter Rechtsanwälte in Partnerschaft, having their head office at Hynspergstraße 24, 60322 Frankfurt, Germany. Since 2009 the offices in Rostock, Berlin and Gießen are associated to W&W Rechtsanwälte Hoge Gutsche Walter Rechtsanwälte in Partnerschaft.
