Passing the Baton: Prof. Holger Fleischer assumes the mantle from Prof. Klaus J. Hopt
17.09.2009
The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg celebrated a changing of the guard on the 9 September 2009, as Prof. Holger Fleischer assumed the mantle of directorship from Prof. Klaus Hopt.
A ceremony conducted by Max Planck Society Vice President Wolfgang Schön farewelled Klaus J. Hopt, a director of the Institute since 1995, and inducted Holger Fleischer as his successor to the shared Directorial chair. The ceremony began with an address delivered by Bernd Reinert, State Secretary of the Hamburg Ministry for Education and Research, and member of the institute Board of Trustees, concluding with a review of the past and a look to the future of Stock Corporation and Capital Market law.Jürgen Basedow – who continues in the post of Director together with Reinhard Zimmermann, spoke of the benefits of the new appointment “… according to the zipper principle” - longer term members of staff serving to ensure continuity in the face of change, while the new members of staff, now numbering eleven, provide opportunities for change and development in the running of the organisation and innovation in its intellectual pursuits. On behalf of the Institute, its Directors, staff and guests from all over the world, Basedow thanked the departing Klaus J. Hopt for his contributions to the institute which extend far above and beyond his academic achievements. He also expressed his happiness at welcoming Holger Fleischerto the fold and his anticipation of further developments in the field of European private law - as already demonstrated by the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law recently released by the Institute.
State Councillor Bernd Reinert, whose attendance showed the special value given to independent research institutions in Hamburg, ran with the sporting motif of ‘passing the baton’ - in a relay race it is often the excellent efforts of individuals which prove decisive. He praised one of these - Klaus J. Hopt, “… who is not only widely regarded as the founder of German Stock Corporation Law, but also is responsible for introducing the pivotal term ‘Corporate Governance’ into general discussion in Germany.” Klaus J. Hopt’s sphere of activity has included serving as a Professor at the University of Hamburg, international guest professor positions, advising Ministries and parliamentarians and providing reports for the Federal Constitutional Court. He has also been engaged in academic institutions, academies and committees, including serving as the Chair of the Scientific Council of the Max Planck Society. These positions have brought him countless honours and awards, including the Claussen Simon Foundation Mentorship Prize in 2008 for his outstanding supervision of nine post-doctoral students completing their ‘habilitation’ and 107 PhD students. Reinert thanked him personally and on behalf of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg for all his services. Further thanks were extended to the Max Planck Society itself for providing the best possible conditions for excellent researchers to conduct excellent research. Max Planck quality – as embodied by the Hamburg Institute for Comparative International Private Law with its world-leading library and the Research School for Maritime Affairs, serves as a magnet for researchers across the world and is a significant aspect of the world-class reputation of German academic research. Continuing the analogy and following the baton in its relay course, Reinert went on to praise Fleischer’s impressive ‘solo efforts’, particularly winning the German Research Foundation Leibniz Prize in 2008, which served as a logical consequence of a ‘ground breaking post-doctoral thesis’ and authorship of countless textbooks, commentaries and magazine articles on company and capital market law.
Reinert pledged ongoing support for research in Hamburg, pointing to current State Excellence initiatives running with the financial support of the City of Hamburg in the form of a 5% increase in funding and highlighted further projects and organizations such as the ‘Hamburg Academic Foundation’, the foundation established by Hannelore and Helmut Greve, the Kühne Foundation, the newly founded Joachim Herz Foundation and the Hamburg Innovation Alliance.
Wolfgang Schön delivered the greetings of the Max Planck Society Executive Committee, particularly on behalf of President Peter Gruss, thanking Klaus J. Hopt for his significant and far-reaching contributions during15 years of service in the Max Planck Society and extending his greetings and best wishes to Holger Fleischer for the commencement of his tenure. He also offered his personal praise to both academics, “with pride as my friends and with awe as my role models”, identifying four common traits shared by the two men: firstly, their prodigious literary output, which “… impresses others in the field, if not oppresses them”; secondly, their curiosity, openness and willingness to learn. Thirdly, he spoke of the authority of their judgment based on an ability to identify the salient questions and an intuitive sense of the appropriateness, correctness, balance and acceptability of solution proposed. As a fourth and final point, Hopt and Fleischer share an overarching commitment to culture, shown in Hopt’s well-known appreciation for music and art, and Fleischer’s elegant self-expression. In closing, Schön praised Hopt, and thanked him for his enormous personal commitment and involvement over his 15 years of service for the Max Planck Society. He cited as an example, the ‘academically diverse and diplomatically demanding’ position of Chairperson of the Max Planck Scientific Council, the meeting of all academic members and directors. As the Vice President of the German Research Association (DFG) Hopt skilfully encouraged discourse between the two biggest institutions, MPG and DFG.
Hopt thanked the two speakers for their warm accolades and also thanked his two co-Directors for their collaboration over the years which was ‘nothing less than honestly friendly’. In recalling his entry into the Directorship on the 1 May 1995, he stated it was the “… best decision for my academic career that I could have made”. His happiness with his successor depended on a number of factors, which were also personally important over the last 13 years, including: “… firstly, international research; secondly, interdisciplinary research, thirdly, keeping an eye on the ‘living law’ and fourthly, guaranteeing academic quality at home.” As part of the passing of the baton, the continuity of research remains assured: the Search Symposium carried out in November 2006, and the subsequent perspective commission indentified that corporation and capital market law as areas expected to require significant research and to provide the best opportunity for academic breakthroughs in national and international competition. It was a rare and unique opportunity for the Institute to have Holger Fleischer and Reinhard Zimmermann in its employ, both winners of the Leibniz Prize, the highest honour awarded in Germany, - and bestowed on only a small handful of legal academics. He wished his successor every success and emphasized how much he was looking forward to the opportunity of working further with the Institute and the scientific and personal contact with his post-doctoral students.
Fleischer applied an English phrase to the celebrations - “… Changing of the Guard” and its associations with the London Palace Guard – likening the unique Institute Library to the ‘Buckingham Palace’ of private law. His own position emphasized maintaining the office of guardian, that is, undertaking a personal responsibility for the academic development of international and foreign private law. He pledged to give his best, so that together with his two co-Directors and Institute staff, the banner of the Hamburg Max Planck Institute could be hoisted high. He then continued with a much anticipated preview of his future plans, in the form of a parade of research topics and intentions. In the first instance, Fleischer listed the project “Defective Resolutions Law in Stock Corporations”: to remedy the growing abuse of claims for nullity or compensation under share market law which is still not being adequately managed by legislation. In the future, the “an increase in comparative law experience” must be increased. For his personal ‘hobby horse’- the law as applies to company directors, Fleischer directed special attention to the subject of ‘executive remuneration’, particularly the new interrelationship between Supervisory Board and Annual General Meetings following the enactment of the VorstAG (Remuneration Governance). In the context of the financial crisis, the elements of ‘overly concentrated risks’ (also called ‘cluster risks’) and short selling - similar to that seen since the cases of Porsche/ VW and Schaeffler/ Continental, who controversially “snuck up” on publically listed companies (focussing attention on elements such as ‘hidden ownership’ and ‘empty voting’). A further range of studies are bound up in close corporations (such as the German model structure - the GmbH) – globally the most numerous and by far the most financially significant corporate form, although until now, scarcely examined or exploited in the cross-border context. Further areas of research include ‘supranational company forms’ (including the SE and the soon to be introduced “European GmbH” the SPE), the problems associated with erroneous analysis of the legal situation in times of a threatened groundswell in standardization (‘excusable judicial error’), new forms of clauses in corporate contracts (‘Private Legal Transplants’) and international corporate evaluation.
He concluded his proposed list of research topics with an examination of some research methods, such as the classical methodology for dealing with new sources of law, rational choice and behavioural economics and the research into legal facts which is indispensible to economic activities. In closing, Fleischer explained his most cherished ideal, broad patterns revealing themselves from amongst colours and nuance as explanation of the enormous satisfaction derived from the study of comparative law in a highly stimulating environment.
Brochure (in German)
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