Setting up a law firm in Germany: admission, duties and your first clients

Self-employed straight after the exam: is that possible?

Legally, yes. The requirement for admission is the qualification for judicial office (Befähigung zum Richteramt, § 4 BRAO): a law degree, the first exam, two years of practical legal training (Referendariat) and the second state exam. Lawyers from another EU state can alternatively join the German bar via the EuRAG (European Lawyers Act). The law does not require a minimum period as an employed lawyer. Whether starting straight away makes sense depends less on professional law than on your network, your practice area and your financial reserves.

Many choose a middle way: sharing an office with established colleagues, or part-time employment alongside their own firm. Important: an office-sharing arrangement (Bürogemeinschaft) is not joint practice. You may only present it to the outside world in a way that does not create the impression of a partnership (§ 8 para. 1 BORA).

Admission step by step

Professional indemnity: what § 51 BRAO requires

The minimum sum insured for sole practitioners is €250,000 per claim. Payments for all claims in an insurance year may be capped at four times that amount, i.e. €1,000,000, and a deductible of up to 1 % of the minimum sum insured is permitted. For professional practice companies (Berufsausübungsgesellschaften), § 59o BRAO provides for higher sums:

When comparing quotes, check not only the price but also exclusions, for example for work outside Europe or for escrow business, and the territorial scope. You will later have to disclose your insurer and territorial scope under the Dienstleistungs-Informationspflichten-Verordnung (DL-InfoV, Services Information Regulation); most firms do this in their imprint.

Office duty, beA and professional law course

Admission brings duties that you must organise from day one. The office duty requires you to maintain an office in your chamber's district (§ 27 para. 1 BRAO); you notify the chamber of moves and branch offices. In September 2026 the BRAK general assembly recommended a new version of this provision, but the law has not yet been changed.

Legal form: alone, partnership or GmbH

Since the major reform of 1 August 2022, almost all legal forms have been open to lawyers (§ 59b BRAO): GbR, Partnerschaftsgesellschaft and PartG mbB, OHG, KG and GmbH & Co. KG, GmbH, UG and even the Aktiengesellschaft (stock corporation). One-person companies are also allowed. In the start-up phase, two options are usually relevant: the sole practice as the simplest start, and the PartG mbB (partnership with limited professional liability) once you appear together with colleagues and want to limit liability for professional errors to the partnership's assets.

• Interprofessional: you can join forces with tax advisers, auditors, patent attorneys and other liberal professions under the Partnerschaftsgesellschaftsgesetz (Partnership Companies Act, § 59c BRAO).
• Admission of the company: professional practice companies with limited liability or with non-lawyer participants need their own admission by the chamber (§ 59f BRAO).
• No outside profit participation: third parties may not share in the profits (§ 59i para. 3 BRAO).

What starting out costs

Compared with many other liberal professions, the compulsory costs are manageable; the largest items are premises, insurance and the Versorgungswerk. As a guide:

As a business providing services subject to VAT, you can usually deduct the VAT on purchases as input tax. If you use the small business scheme (previous year's turnover up to €25,000, current year up to €100,000, § 19 UStG), you lose input tax deduction and the gross amount is your cost. If you are starting out from unemployment, look into the Gründungszuschuss (start-up grant) from the Agentur für Arbeit; for investment, there are start-up loans from the KfW and the state development banks. A roadmap across all professions is in the post Setting up a firm in Germany.

Specialist lawyer title: plan early, use it later

The FAO (Fachanwaltsordnung, Specialist Lawyers Regulation) currently recognises 24 specialist areas, from employment law to sports law. The title is conferred by the board of your chamber (§ 43c BRAO), for no more than three areas. The requirements are three years of admission and practice within the last six years (§ 3 FAO), a course of at least 120 hours with at least three written exams (§§ 4, 4a FAO) and a minimum number of cases that you have handled personally and without instructions in the five years before applying (§ 5 FAO).

For your start-up this means: settle on one or two focus areas early and document your cases from the outset with file reference, subject matter and type of work. Until the title is conferred, you may not use designations resembling it. „Tätigkeitsschwerpunkt Arbeitsrecht“ (focus area employment law) is allowed if you can prove the knowledge, „Spezialist“ only under strict conditions. The details are in the post Advertising for lawyers in Germany.

Winning your first clients

Especially at the start, the diary rarely fills up through a single channel. Several routes in parallel have proved themselves:

• Criminal legal aid and legal advice aid: you can have your interest in Pflichtverteidigungen (court-appointed defence) noted in the official lawyers' directory (§ 31 para. 3 BRAO). Beratungshilfe (legal advice aid) instructions bring little in fees, but experience and referrals.
• A clear initial consultation: without an agreement, a first consultation with a consumer may cost no more than €190 plus VAT (§ 34 RVG). An openly communicated fixed price lowers the threshold.
• Fee agreement: you agree time-based or flat fees in text form (§ 3a RVG); in court proceedings you may not charge less than the statutory fees (§ 49b para. 1 BRAO).
• Network: tax advisers, notaries, property managers, doctors in medical law or works councils in employment law will refer regularly if they know what you stand for. Commissions for referrals, however, are prohibited (§ 49b para. 3 BRAO).

Getting found online

Clients usually search by practice area and place: „Anwalt Mietrecht Köln“, „Fachanwalt Arbeitsrecht in der Nähe“ or „English-speaking lawyer Berlin“. Your own website is where you can explain your practice areas calmly, disclose costs and process, and receive enquiries in a structured way. Your Google Business Profile and your entry in the official lawyers' directory add to this. Be careful with portals that charge per instruction obtained, because of § 49b para. 3 BRAO.

Mandatory details are more extensive for lawyers than for most businesses: chamber, professional title, professional rules, indemnity insurer and the note on consumer dispute resolution. Which details your website needs is covered in the post Imprint for lawyers in Germany, and you can create it with the imprint generator. Which pages make sense is explained in Website content, and how to become visible locally in Local SEO.