News
"Current Developments in the Law of General Standard Contract Terms" - Kick-Off Event for the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic
On Friday, the 15th of December 2017, the kick-off event for the 5th cycle of the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic (HCLC) took place in the Senatssaal of Humboldt University. The event addressed current challenges in the law of general standard contract terms.
After the event was opened by Prof. Dr. Susanne Augenhofer, Prof. Dr. Philipp Hellwege (University Augsburg/Vice-President of the European Society for Comparative Legal History) gave a keynote lecture on the topic "Foundations and Current Challenges in the Review of Terms". In his lecture he focussed on the two different types of review of standard terms and their different justifications. Prof. Hellwege emphasized that, on the one hand, the review of contract terms unilaterally set by one party in consumer contracts (sec. 310 (3) no. 2 GCC) is motivated by the basic idea of protecting the weaker party. But on the other hand, the review of general contract terms outside the B2C context is a reflection of partial market failure. Referring to the different models, Prof. Hellwege looked at different options for the review of terms.
The insight offered by Prof. Hellwege’s remarks served as an impulse for the subsequent discussion on current challenges in the law on general contract terms. Ms. Jutta Gurkmann from the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband) and Mr. Martin Freitag from Federation of the German Construction Industry (Hauptverband der deutschen Bauindustrie e.V.) served on the panel after the lecture. Ms. Gurkmann emphasized in particular the role of implementation and enforcement for the law of general contract terms. Mr. Freitag highlighted the need for scrutiny of general contract terms in business contracts and explained that the current legal situation creates legal certainty for businesses.
A variety of participants at the event posed interesting questions, with the result being a vivid and lively discussion.
We want to thank the keynote speaker and the panel members as well as all event participants.
"Strategic Litigation" - conference of the Humboldt Law Clinics on 24 June 2016
On Friday, the 24th June 2016, the Humboldt Law Clinics organized a joint conference on the topic "Strategic Litigation" in the Auditorium of the Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum. The conference aimed to examine the broad field of strategic litigation from the different perspectives of the Humboldt Law Clinic für Internetrecht (HLCI), the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic (HCLC) and the Humboldt Law Clinic für Grund- und Menschenrechte (HLCMR). Further information on the panel of the HCLC can be found here.
"The reform of consumer privacy" – discussion evening of the Humboldt Law Clinic für Internetrecht and the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic
On Tuesday, 3 May 2016, the Humboldt Law Clinic für Internetrecht (HLCI) and the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic (HCLC) organized a joint discussion evening on the "law on the improvement of the private law enforcement of consumer protecting provisions of data protection law" that came into force on 24 February 2016. The reform was considered from a data protection law and a consumer law perspective.
The speakers were Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Forgó (Leibniz University Hannover), Dr. Carsten Hayungs (BMJV) and Dr. Carlo Piltz (JBB Rechtsanwälte).
"Consumers in the Digital Market" – farewell Celebration of the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic
On Thursday, 21 April 2016, the farewell celebration of the current year of the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic took place under the theme of "Consumers in the Digital Market". In their presentation Professor Christiane Wendehorst (University of Vienna) and Professor Marco Loos (University of Amsterdam) focused on different aspects of the European Commission’s Strategy for the digital Internal Market. Professor Michael Kämper-van den Boogaart (Vice-President for Academic and International Affairs of Humboldt University Berlin) gave a welcome speech. The participants of the 4th year of the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic were honoured and received their certificates from Professor Kämper-van den Boogaart, Vice-President for Academic and International Affairs of Humboldt University Berlin.
Further information about the presentations can be found here.
Documentation of the Workshop „Lernen an echten Fällen: Law Clinics als fachübergreifendes Lehrkonzept“ (Learning with real cases: Law Clinics as an interdisciplinary teaching concept) on 14/15 January 2016
The transition between studies and work is connected with enormous uncertainty for many students. How the theoretically learned skills can be transposed into practice, students often only learn when they arrive in the working world. Moreover, they also learn skills that - although not fully developed - have enormous practical value.
At this point the workshop of the Humboldt Law Clinic, that is divided into three strings, the Humboldt Law Clinic für Grund- und Menschenrechte (HLCMR), the Humboldt Consumer Law Clinic (HCLC) and the Humboldt Law Clinic für Internetrecht (HLCI), tied up on 14/15 January 2016. This workshop was the first of a workshop-series that has been carried out by five universities that are funded by the Qualitätspakt Lehre on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research on the topic „Studium und Berufswelt“ in spring 2016.
The e-Book (in German), that we provide you contains recordings of nearly all workshop contributions, the presented posters, reports and photos of the individual thematic blocks.
We want to thank the Federal Ministry for Education and Research and especially all presenting experts and participants who shared their knowledge and experiences for the successful performance of the workshop.