Christoph H. VaagtManaging Partner
- central change projects in partnerships
- Strategy, organization and culture
- through moderation of partnership meetings, reflection work, coaching and the support of management teams
- Christian Albrecht University of Kiel
- University of Provence
- Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich
- Harvard Business School
- The Tavistock Institute®
- advisory group neuwaldegg
- The college of law
Christoph H. Vaagt has been advising law firms, legal departments and other companies in this industry sector (insurers, software manufacturers, …) in Europe since 1997. He has worked with leading consultants worldwide who are among the pioneers of law firm consulting, including David Andrews, Brad Hildebrandt and Alan Hodgart. He is a management consultant, mediator and lawyer.
His approach to consulting helps law firms to arrive at shared visions, strategies and management systems within the partnership and to implement these in a sustainable manner. Through this “law firm coaching” the law firms achieve a particularly high degree of internal coherence, which leads to qualitatively improved services for the clients of the law firms.
Christoph H. Vaagt is a member of the Strategy Committees of large law and auditing firms in order to provide their work with appropriate methods, reflection and information. He organizes the change processes, taking care to involve all partners in these changes from the very beginning.
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Publications by Christoph H. Vaagt
Christoph H. Vaagt contributed the chapter on the management of law firms to this book of forms, which covers all aspects of running a law firm. With the help of checklists and forms, supplemented by further information, the partner of a law firm is enabled to manage his law firm like a modern business enterprise.
For the first time, a collection of forms is made available to the legal departments, which concerns the management of the entire legal department.
An investigation of the market of commercial law firms in Germany with regard to market segments, success factors and challenges.
In the new book by the IBA Law Firm Management Committee “Making the sale, Clinching the deal”, edited by Stephen Revell, partner at Freshfields in the Singapore office, Thorsten Zulauf has written an article on business development in law firms, both as a function and a process.
Overview of the challenges and opportunities of the next millennium for general counsels in a global economy; with contributions from Kent Walker (CLO Google), Peter Kurer (ex-CLO and CEO of UBS), Paul Lippe (LegalOnRamp) etc.
In a unique edition, this book brings together contributions from globally active practitioners and specialists. Based on the latest research on Professional Service Firms and involving leading scientists, this book for the first time creates a bridge from theory to practice.
Problems of strategic management of commercial law firms have not been dealt with in the literature in Germany or internationally. The study by Christoph Vaagt closes this gap.
In cooperation with the European Business School and the University of Eichstätt, Ingolstadt, Christoph H. Vaagt – Law Firm Change Consultants – started this study, which for the first time in Germany scientifically examines human resource management, the processes / instruments used and their effects.
The aim of this study, which was carried out on behalf of the worldwide lawyers’ organisation AIJA in the period from 1 February to 31 March 2006, was to obtain an overview of the systems used in the law firms of members of the organisation and their advantages and disadvantages, design, effects on internal cooperation and satisfaction.
Selected events with Christoph H. Vaagt
Thursday, 5 October 2017 until Saturday, 7 October 2017
Christoph H. Vaagt, together with David Morley, Senior Partner of Allen & Overy, chaired the event of the Law Firm Management Section of the IBA at the annual meeting in Boston, USA, which took place from 6 – 11 October 2013. They called on the key issues currently occupying the law firms.
November 2014: Christoph H. Vaagt spoke at the annual meeting of the CICERO network in Vienna about marketing options for networks of law firms.
Lecture on the topic: “The change in the business model of law firms due to technological change.
Information of not-yet or just-new-partners of law firms about the basics of financing of law firms.
Chris Vaagt was asked to redesign the meeting of IBA managers.
Invitation of the C.H. Beck publishing house to the book presentation “Der Kanzleimarkt in Deutschland”.
Christoph H. Vaagt moderated events for the Law Firm Management Section of the IBA.
The spring conference was again moderated by Christoph H. Vaagt on the topic of the upcoming changes around the activities of the insolvency administrator.
Short Profile
MEMBERSHIPS AND PRO BONO ACTIVITIES
Besides his consulting activities Christoph Vaagt is involved in pro bono activities.
Christoph H. Vaagt has also been appointed Seminar Officer of the Law Firm Management Section, having previously served on the Advisory Board.
Christoph H. Vaagt is also a member of the Global Managing Partner Mentoring Program of the Law Firm Management Section of the International Bar Association.
Christoph Vaagt is Chairman of the Partnership Issues Subgroup of the Knowledge Sharing Initiative of the IBA Law Firm Management Committee, which deals with global issues of profit sharing, governance, and decision-making in partnership issues.
He is founder of the European Law Moot Court Society (ELMC), which since 1988 has invited lawyers from all over Europe to argue and plead a case in a simulated court case before the European Court of Justice.
Mr. Vaagt was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Working Group Law Firm Management in the German Lawyers’ Association from 2003 to 2012.