Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft opens in Ukraine

Today they put out a press release on their website.

Luther is a German firm with 450 lawyers on board. They occupy 3-4 bands in Chambers and 2-3 bands in Legal500. The press release says that, first and foremost, they will meet Ukrainians’ demand for their services in the healthcare and defense sectors.

One could have been pleased that another legal star has appeared on our skyline, but not so fast.

The firm handed us Dr. Andreas Knaul, so this launch looks more like a fail.

Old-timers may remember him as the managing partner of “CMS, but not McKenna — the other one” — Reich-Rohrwig Hainz. In 2009 he was removed from that position, but nobody says why. I’ve long heard there was some scandal, but I’m not privy to the details. That’s not very important, though, because there’s something else.

After his dismissal Mr. Knaul moved to Russia, where he headed the Roedl & Partners office (remember, we wrote that those bastards didn’t stop working in Rashka despite still having an office in Ukraine?). He took the Russian invasion calmly and reassured German business:

“I warn against excessive compliance and over-zealousness in applying sanctions requirements. Many claim that one can no longer work with Russia. That’s, of course, nonsense”

— these are his direct quotes from some online conference in March 2022.

Liga.net also dug up in 2025 that Knaul, since the annexation of Crimea, had consistently and ardently fawned over Russia. He said sanctions only do harm, and that “we must not isolate Russia. On the contrary, we should embrace it with open arms.”

And he genuinely loved Nord Stream too:

“Europe needs energy, the key word Nord Stream 2. On the other hand, Russia depends on European technologies. It would be a symbiosis of exchange relations along the Lisbon–Vladivostok axis”

— he wrote in 2019.

In August 2022 Dr. Knaul returned to Berlin and joined Luther as of-counsel. In February 2023 the firm announced the opening of a Ukrainian Desk and appointed Knaul its head. And now a whole Kyiv office.

I wrote to Luther, asked whether the firm shares Knaul’s position. As soon as they respond, I will update the story.