Personal Background
Frank Ingenrieth, LL.M.
Frank Ingenrieth is in favour of effective but lean, long-lasting and therefore scalable solutions. Accordingly, he votes for transparent and active involvement of relevant stakeholders in the development of self-regulatory and co-regulatory instruments; this promotes socially valuable and commercially viable solutions.
In addition to publications and presentations, Frank Ingenrieth is regularly involved in specialist working groups, particularly on the topics of trusted and fair governance, self- and coregulation, and data and consumer protection.
He gained valuable hands-on practical experience as Managing Director of the Selbstregulierung Informationswirtschaft (SRIW). He constantly aims to provide the best possible support for the European transformation process in the realms of ‘digitalisation’. The experience and outstanding successes of recent years, and ultimately the solutions developed by initiatives such as SRIW and its ecosystem, can be extended to new areas and utilised across the board.
Frank Ingenrieth was responsible for the content and strategic work of SRIW for almost ten years. On the ecosystem side, for example, he was responsible for the development of the EU Cloud CoC and strategically for the development of SCOPE Europe, a subsidiary of SRIW, which appears currently Europe's leading monitoring procedure and has been accredited several times under GDPR.
DSGVO/BDSG/TTDSG, 4th Edition, 2023
Legal Commentary
Co-Author regarding Art. 40 to 42 GDPR, Wittmann/Ingenrieth
StichwortKommentar Digitale Sicherheit, 1st Edition, to be published (2026)
Legal Commentary
Author for several key terms.
Our Determination and Concept
A Partnership for Your Success
Preparing and Preventing
Protecting the interests of the client exceeds a simple “enforcing the law at all costs”. It also includes an economic and personal-emotional assessment in addition to the legal assessment. Both court and out-of-court proceedings require and bind resources. The law firm is convinced that it is more conducive to legal peace and closer to clients' interests if, in the course of the consultation, its own clients are also informed in a friendly but firm manner of their legal position. The use of lawyers and their position as an organ of the administration of justice stems in particular from the basic idea that lawyers ensure an objective approach to each proceeding.
Yet, most importantly: The best case is a case that never existed. Prepare and integrate your legal strategy assessments into your business development and risk analysis. Different legal provisions result in various obligations in respect of documentation, due diligence, balancing of interests, reporting and transparency. While at first sight such obligations may appear overwhelming, one may figure a certain degree of redundancy. This degree may be significantly increased, if activities are designed accordingly. The law firm stands ready to accompany your actions and journey, figuring out best-for-value approaches that remain legally compliant.
Defending and Enforcing
The ability to defend and enforce your individual rights is a valuable asset! Everyone involved must comply with the established regulations and standards in order to live together peacefully and socially. It is due course that real life activities occasionally affect areas in which there is a temporal discrepancy between the factual development and established rules and norms with regard to the related matters. In these cases, (legal) disputes are to be expected. In order for new or adapted rules and norms, or even the simple continued application of these norms to supposedly new and completely different circumstances, to be recognized, a broad discourse is required. This takes place in the context of the law, both in the legal literature and, in particular, in the context of binding decisions by the state authorities appointed for this purpose.
The enforcement of the law and its social value is way more than the so-called amount in dispute (Streitwert). Rather, fundamental decisions with a small amount in dispute can provide at least as much impetus as large-scale proceedings with dizzying amounts in dispute. The principle of our legal system demands that legal conformity is practised and ensured on both a small and large scale. In this respect, the law firm is also very happy to assist with such fundamental decisions. If the end result of the equation is positive, let us support your legal enforcement!
Standard Services and Areas of Consulting
In a perfect world, legal disputes were unnecessary. Yet, nothing is perfect. Consequently, any activity becomes a matter of strategy and (legal) preparation. General Strategic Consulting may include a variety of elements, individually or combined, such as:
- identifying (legal) risks, including determining probabilities, consequences, options to address and resolve in case of need
- identifying short, mid and long term goals while establishing (legal) strategies to reach them, such as determining communication and escalation strategies as well as back-ups
- optimizing up your tack-records, ensuring your records will be as supportive as possible.
Be it preparation of your future activities, be it in preparation of upcoming new or modified legal frameworks, be in conjunction or in parallel to your General Strategic evaluations: sometimes it comes in handy to draw an extensive picture of the legal situation at hand. Reach out if you are need of aspects such as
- (extensive) written legal assessments or statements, representing a neutral perspective
- legal company in research projects
- publishing different media alongside pressing legal matters
Compliance is a complex matter. It influences your products, activities and companies at all levels. Compliance can bind valuable resources. Likewise, Compliance shall not distract your focus from doing business or realising your projects and activities as best as possible. We are happy to support on elements such as
- clustering your requirements by hard and soft laws
- designing suitable processes to ensure your company / activity remains compliant in day-to-day business
- figuring out efficient means of implementation, keeping an optimal use of resources in mind
GDPR, AI Act, Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, or you name it. Europe's legal frameworks are intensively shifting and updating recently. You should prepare and implement them accordingly. However, do not fall trapped by statements sich as “this is not possible, because it is prohibited" either data protection or generally European laws. Own you products and activities and make them fit to comply. We are happy to support in any such activities, such as:
- evaluation of applicability of Digital Acts
- analysing legal and technical possibilities to make your product / activity fit for compliance
- optimizing your resource-per-value stream by duly implementing digital and compliance first approaches
- legal document management and drafting, such as (processor) agreements, transparency statements, or terms of service
Landlords
Being a landlord is demanding and becomes growingly complex. Different leeways apply whether it a residential or commercial rent. This affects elements such
- taxing,
- legitimate terms and conditions,
- determination of legitimate initial rents and modifications
- legitimate operating costs
- Consumer Protection.
As everyone's life becomes smarter, rents start including digital (and smart) devices. Some as a consequence of legal obligations, some to simply increase comfort. Alongside, the high ratio of “Community of Apartment Owners” (Wohnungseigentümergemeinschaft), limits individual control, which may lead to conflicts. As a reflex, related legal frameworks apply and may become challenging if they hit unprepared. Legal matters relate aspects such as,
- management and implementation of necessary agreements
- allocation of responsibilities
- Data Protection Law and related Digital Acts
- transparency obligations
- Carbon-Dioxide-Management
- debt management
- due services of the Community of Apartment Owners' Administration Agent
Renters
Renters face a diverse landscape of landlords, of which one extreme is private, non-professional landlords, who solely rent as one element in managing their private household funds and retirement preparations, and the other extreme is commercial landlords, who primarily focus on optimizing dividends. Along that range any variety exists, resulting in as variant causes of conflict. Conflicts may refer to aspects such as
- transparent and due invoicing of operating costs
- installation of smart / digital devices
- increase of rent
- limited to no-maintenance and repair of the facility
- legitimacy of (general) renting terms and conditions
Organisations, projects, cooperations require good governance, yet remain legally compliant and effective. There is a fine-line between overly burdensome bureaucracy and necessary en-pointe procedures. Reach out to figure out suitable approaches for your organisation or project, that fit your individual needs and integrates (international) good practices reaching your goals efficiently and compliantly. Elements to be considered relate to, e.g.,
- due participatory rights (inclusiveness towards relevant stakeholders; (public) consultations, etc.)
- transparent and traceable procedures (respecting Antitrust and Competition Law requirements)
- appeals and mediation
- due announcement, quora, majorities
- safeguards against hostile takeovers stalled processes
- protection of intellectual property; safeguards against abusive infusion of third-party rights
Sector-driven initiatives, collaborative associations as well as successful, scaling products and services have to respect Antitrust and Competition Law. Relevant elements are, e.g.,
- general national, transnational and international rules
- sector specific regulations, e.g., to address “gatekeepers”
- fair licensing and access
- completeness, accuracy and honesty in product and service descriptions
You are about to designing and launch new initiatives, products or services? Make sure to respect relevant legal requirements at an early stage as part of your preparation strategy. You own an initiative, product or service and either face legal claims by third-parties or recognized potentially infringing behaviour by third-parties? Assess the situation and react according your defence and enforcement strategy. In any case, we stand ready for your support.
Digital entered everyone's life on a daily basis. Consequently, various conflicts and legal questions arise frequently. Those may affect
- general enforcement of Consumer Protection Rights or defence against undue Consumer Protection claims
- general enforcement of terms and agreements or defence against undue claims of malservice
- enforcement of data protection regulations as data subjects
- defence against undue and excessive data subject rights requests
- addressing hate speech and misrepresentation in media
- duly protect intellectual property, by means of copyrights, patents, registrations
- enforce intellectual property, by means such as cease and decist or claims for damages
General Terms and Agreements
Individual Services
You have specific needs, which may not fit into any of the General Standard Services? Do not hesitate to reach out. In most cases individual agreements and solutions can be negotiated.