Dr. Andreas Zweig

Dr. Zweig (born in 1965) finished his studies and legal clerkship in Tübingen, Hechingen, Stuttgart / Germany and Virgina Beach (VA) / USA and received a doctorate at the Eberhard-Karl university of Tübingen.

In 1995 Dr. Zweig was admitted to the German bar and started his career as a lawyer for civil and commercial law in a medium sized law firm in Southern Germany.

Since 2001 Dr. Zweig has specialized in the automotive industry, first as a member of the legal department of a one of German’s large and respected automotive suppliers, later as the Head of Legal Affairs of the Group and the Head of M&A of the same company.

In these functions, Dr. Zweig promoted the globalization of the group by the establishment of subsidiaries and joint ventures in Asia, North America and Eastern Europe. Moreover Dr. Zweig developed and implemented group wide policies, standard processes and standard contracts, also in order to account for the increasing importance of compliance.

Contract negotiations with customers, suppliers and development partners as well as solving problems in the supply chain (warranty, product liability, late delivery, etc.) and corporate legal matters have always been part of his daily business.

As a longtime Head of Mergers & Acquisitions, Dr. Zweig can refer to an extensive transaction experience in Germany and abroad. Dr. Zweig was the responsible project leader for numerous divestures and acquisitions which covered almost the whole range in terms of complexity and transaction volumes.

Due to his comprehensive and industry-specific experience, Dr. Zweig was appointed to various supervisory committees in Asia and Europe.

Gerd Class

Gerd Class (born in 1967) studied law in Tuebingen / Germany, Aix-en-Provence (degree: Maître en Droit – mention droit international) and San Franciso (degree: LL.M. Master of Laws in International Studies) at the GGU.

After his legal clerkship and his admittance to the bar in 1996, Mr. Class became a partner to a law firm in Stuttgart specializing in civil law.

Since 2001 Gerd Class has been a member of the legal department of a big automotive supplier in Southern Germany, in 2004 Mr. Class became Head of Legal Affairs Germany and in 2007 Head of Legal Affairs of the Group.

In these functions one main focus was the legal supervision of the relationships with customers and suppliers in Germany and abroad. Mr. Class’ duties included, among others, the drafting and negotiating of contracts, as well as the legal support in case of problems in the supply relationships.

In addition to conducting trainings, Mr. Class was responsible for all other issues and contracts which are part of the daily business of an automotive supplier, e.g. with development partners and external service providers, including outsourcing.

Part of his responsibilities were also the legal supervision of strategic cooperations, the establishment of joint venture companies and the drafting and negotiation of contracts for the acquisition and divesture of companies or business units.

In addition, Mr. Class was responsible for the legal supervision of proceedings before court and authorities in Germany and abroad and in this context for the supervision of foreign legal counsel.