This page provides current information and resources to help you and your practice responding to Covid-19
Please find below further information about the following topics:
The DAV wants to promote the exchange between lawyers in this crisis situation and has therefore set up a digital exchange and information platform. In this forum, questions of colleagues can be answered or simply read along. There is also a private chat option to contact other users. The digital information platform is aimed exclusively at lawyers. Registration and use are free of charge. To access the resources on this portal, click on corona.anwaltverein.de (in German)
The DAV has published constantly updated FAQs (in German) with information, tips and recommendations to help law firms and lawyers get through the crisis.
The FAQ addresses the following topics:
The DAV has also made political demands that the legal profession be classified as a systemically important profession and that access to lawyers be guaranteed by the authorities. In several letters to the 16 State governments, as well as parts of the Federal Government – in particular the German Chancellor Merkel and German Ministers of Justice and the Interior – as well as in several press releases, DAV President Kindermann emphasised the central contribution that lawyers make to a functioning constitutional state and the rule of law as it is the legal profession which ensures that citizens have access to justice. It is therefore indispensable that the legal profession may continue to be in a position to fulfil its duties even during lockdown restrictions, without violating the professional secrecy obligations with their clients. In a letter to the Ministers of Justice of Bavaria and Lower Saxony on 25 March 2020, the DAV asked for a supplement to the general ruling of lockdown restrictions, which explicitly would classify meeting with a lawyer as a valid reason to leave the house.
In its letters, the DAV also argued for generous application of the Civil Procedure regulations in the event of failure to meet deadlines set by the courts, for example as regards the application of restitutio in integrum and also in the event of technical difficulties in correspondence with courts. The DAV has made the appeal to apply the provisions in the Code of Civil Procedure generously and has also pointed out possible liquidity problems of law firms in the course of the Corona crisis. In its letter and also in direct exchanges with representatives of the German Parliament, the DAV called for financial relief and support for the legal profession as well. This concerns liquidity assistance and tax deferrals for lawyers, as many small and medium-sized law firms have only limited liquidity reserves for a short period of time. It should also be possible to apply for the short-time work allowance without complications.
The DAV also commented in position papers on the numerous legislative proposals in the course of the Corona crisis, most of which were adopted in a fast-track procedure. This includes, for example, amendments to statements on the suspension of the obligation to file for insolvency and on the state financing programs to strengthen the liquidity of affected companies, changes in labor law during the Covid-19 pandemic, immediate tax measures, changes in the Code of Criminal Procedure, and an amendment to the Infection Protection Act – in this context, the DAV demanded that comprehensive parliamentary control and access to lawyers be guaranteed even in times of crisis.
