The founding partner Dr. Björn Boerger defends and advises national and international companies and their managers in all areas of commercial criminal law and in relation to the criminal law aspects of internal investigations and legal disputes under civil law. He has extensive experience in preventive consulting of financial institutions and corporate groups from a criminal law perspective (corporate compliance) and internal investigations of suspicious incidents – especially those related to corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, competition law infringements, financial sanctions and export violations, as well as fraud and related schemes.

Dr. Björn Boerger works as defence counsel throughout Germany and also advises clients in international cases.

Since joining the law firm then named Ufer Knauer in 2020, he has worked as defence counsel. Previously, Dr. Björn Boerger already focused on providing advice on corporate compliance and internal investigations / commercial criminal law within the framework of his activities for a large international law firm with offices in Munich, Zurich, and Frankfurt.

He is the author of numerous articles on commercial criminal law and compliance. In addition, he has taken on lecturer roles since 2018. He previously also studied at Freiburg University with a focus on foreign and international criminal law and obtained his PhD, writing his doctoral thesis on a topic comparing the legal situation at the interface of criminal law and German/U.S. corporate law in his role of longstanding research assistant of Prof. Dr. Walter Perron. In both the training stations of his postgraduate legal clerkship in Freiburg, Berlin, and Washington, D.C., and during the voluntary service of slightly more than one year that he completed in Timisoara (Romania) prior to his studies, Dr. Boerger gained international experience that goes far beyond legal and language aspects – experience he draws on in his advisory work when needed.

In 2023, he joined forces with Prof. Christoph Knauer and Sören Schomburg to found the law firm Knauer Partner.

• Commercial criminal law

• Compliance/internal Investigation

• Bank criminal law

• Money laundering: prevention and defence

• Corruption: prevention and defence

• Capital market criminal law

• Criminal law aspects of competition law

• Criminal tax law

• Criminal labour law

• Appeals and constitutional complaints

• Exert opinions on criminal law

• Support in parliamentary inquiry committees

• JUVE Ranking 2026/2027: “Rising Star” in commercial and criminal tax law and “expert in complex corporate defense and investigations; extremely collegial and solution-oriented,” “top defense attorney”

• Juve Handbook 2025/2026: “Excellent at coordinating in large-scale proceedings, collegial,” “very smart and a pleasure to work with,” “good strategist”

• WirtschaftsWoche 2023, 2024, and 2026: “Top Compliance Lawyer”

• WirtschaftsWoche 2024 and 2025: “Top Lawyer in White-Collar Crime”

• Handelsblatt’s Best Lawyers Ranking 2024, 2025, and 2026

• Deutsche Börse AG (cum/ex proceedings)

• Hamburg Commercial Bank AG (formerly HSH Nordbank)

• Continental AG in the “Diesel cases”

• Representation of individuals in the investigation of the “Diesel cases”

• Conduct and management of numerous internal investigations prompted by the suspicion that white-collar crimes under German and foreign law had been committed

• Continuous consulting of corporations to protect management and supervisory board decisions against criminal liability risks

• Numerous group-wide compliance risk analyses for corporations (from the finance, healthcare, and retail sectors)

• Continuous consulting of one of Germany’s largest financial institutions in compliance risk management and group-wide compliance with anti-money-laundering policies

Author contribution to Handbuch Compliance-Management, Erich Schmidt Verlag, 4th ed. [2025]

• Practical commentary on Federal Court of Justice (BGH) decision of Oct. 14, 2020 – 5 StR 229/19 (Forfeiture in Cases of Market Manipulation), NStZ 2021, 355

[2021]

• Chapter: “Criminal Law on Money Laundering,” in: Momsen / Grützner (eds.), Economic and Tax Criminal Law – Handbook for Corporate and Legal Practice, C.H. Beck, 2nd edition [2020]

• “Product-Related Deceptions: Risks at the Intersection of Product Compliance and Fraud Prevention,” co-authored with Prof. Dr. Thomas Grützner and Prof. Dr. Carsten Momsen, in Wieland / Steinmeyer / Grüninger (eds.), Handbook of Compliance Management: Conceptual Foundations, Practical Success Factors, Global Challenges, Erich Schmidt Verlag, 3rd edition 2020, pp. 1129 ff. [2020]

• “On the Protective Function of White-Collar Criminal Law—Similarities and Differences in the Application of Asset-Based Criminal Law to Protect Business Enterprises from Breaches of Duty by Their Executives in Germany and the U.S.,” Mohr Siebeck [2018]

• “The ‘Diesel Scandal’ and Its Consequences for Compliance Management Systems—Evolution Through the Integration of Product Compliance into a CMS (e.g., for the Purpose of Preventing Product-Related Deception),” co-authored with Prof. Dr. Thomas Grützner and Prof. Dr. Carsten Momsen, CCZ 2018, pp. 50 ff. [2018]

• “Group Obligations under Money Laundering Law pursuant to § 9 GwG,” co-authored with Dr. Franz Clemens Leisch, CB 2017, 460 ff. [2017]

• Co-author of the book Compliance and Governance from A-Z, edited by Prof. Dr. Thomas Grützner and Dr. Alexander Jakob, C.H. Beck [2017]

• “The Transmission of Personal Data as Part of Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters in the EU: The German Experience,” in: Colomer Hernández / Oubiña Barbolla (eds.), La transmisión de datos personales en el seno de la cooperación judicial penal y policial en la Unión Europea, Editorial Aranzadi, 2015, pp. 235 ff. [2015]

• “The Protection of EU Citizens in Germany Against Extradition to a Non-EU Country—On the Consequences of the Treaty of Lisbon for (Economic) Criminal Law,” co-authored with Prof. Dr. Robert Esser and Dr. Markus Rübenstahl, NZWiSt 2014, 401 ff. [2014]

• “The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (Part 5),” co-authored with Dr. Markus Rübenstahl, NZWiSt 2013, 367 ff. [2013]

• “The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (Part 4)—Territorial and Personal Scope of Application, Legal Consequences, and Statute of Limitations,” co-authored with Dr. Markus Rübenstahl, NZWiSt 2013, 281 ff. [2013]

• “The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (Part 3),” co-authored with Dr. Markus Rübenstahl, NZWiSt 2013, 124 ff. [2013]

• “Compliance Professional Advanced” – Online lecture for the Center for Continuing Education and Knowledge Transfer (ZWW) at the University of Augsburg, in collaboration with Dr. Franz Clemens Leisch, May 10, 2025

• “Compliance Management Systems (CMS)” – Lecture at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences as part of continuing education and professional development for compliance managers, March 21 and 22, 2025

• “Documentary Evidence in the Trial” – Moderator of the WisteV event in Frankfurt, in collaboration with Ms. Antje Klötzer-Assion, May 15, 2024

• “Compliance Management Systems (CMS)” – Lecture at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences as part of continuing education and training for compliance managers, March 8 and 9, 2024

• “Liability Risks for German Companies Operating in the U.S. from a Civil and Criminal Law Perspective—Repercussions of U.S. Criminal Law on Germany and Europe,” lecture as part of the WisteV-wistra New Year’s Conference in Frankfurt, jointly with Dr. Jürgen Rodegera, January 19, 2024

• “The New Whistleblower Protection Act—Requirements and Practical Implementation”—online lecture for the Center for Continuing Education and Knowledge Transfer (ZWW) at the University of Augsburg, co-presented with Dr. Franz Clemens Leisch, November 17, 2023

• “White-Collar Crime Law at the Intersection with HR Compliance—Contractor Compliance” - Moderator of the Digital Lunch Lecture hosted by the Association for Economic Criminal Law (WisteV), October 16, 2023

• “Economic Criminal Law at the Intersection with HR Compliance – Works Council Compensation” – Moderator of the Digital Lunch Lecture hosted by the Association for Economic Criminal Law (WisteV), October 11, 2023

• “White-Collar Crime Law at the Intersection with HR Compliance – Working Hours Compliance” – Moderator of the Digital Lunch Lecture hosted by the Association for White-Collar Crime Law (WisteV), September 20, 2023

• “The New Whistleblower Protection Act—Requirements and Practical Implementation”—Lecture at the Center for Continuing Education and Knowledge Transfer (ZWW) at the University of Augsburg as part of the certificate program “Compliance Professional Advanced (Univ.),” jointly with Dr. Franz Clemens Leisch, March 31, 2023

• “Compliance Management Systems (CMS)” – Lecture at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences as part of the certificate course “Compliance Manager: Digitalization and Law,” March 17 and 18, 2023

• “Civil and Criminal Liability of Executive Boards and Supervisory Boards,” lecture as part of the JUC “Business Criminal Law Network 2023 Berlin,” together with Prof. Christoph Knauer and Prof. Christoph Grigoleit, January 26, 2023

• “The New Whistleblower Protection Act—Requirements and Practical Implementation”—lecture at the Center for Continuing Education and Knowledge Transfer (ZWW) at the University of Augsburg as part of the certificate course “Compliance Professional Advanced (Univ.),” together with Dr. Franz Clemens Leisch, October 21, 2022

• “Compliance Management Systems (CMS)” – Lecture at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences as part of the certificate course “Compliance Manager: Digitalization and Law,” May 27 and 28, 2022

• Wirtschaftstrafrechtliche Vereinigung e.V. (WisteV)

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