This is how media work: A faulty representation suddenly becomes “truth”.

As we reported last year, Christoph H. Vaagt was awarded “Best Lawyer” in the field of insurance law, although he is not active in this field (he revises partnership agreements with regard to governance and profit distribution). The ranking by the American firm “Best Lawyers”, which is allegedly based only on assessments by colleagues, has been adopted by the Handelsblatt for years (just as the Focus and Wirtschaftswoche have their own rankings, in addition to the Juve contract, to which the field is not to be left). In order to draw attention to this sales-promoting publication, this list is now being raised to the level of the truth commission known from national healing processes, as if the evaluation of lawyers were an act of self-knowledge and satisfaction. Our protest that we do not do insurance law at all is ignored.

Best Lawyers in the Handelsblatt Ticker, Tuesday, June 10, 2014:

Good morning, readers,

Germany is the country of the right-wingers – and thus the country of the lawyers. Their number rose from 12,800 in 1950 to a fabulous 162,000 in 2014. The Handelsblatt and the US specialist publisher “Best Lawyers” asked thousands of lawyers which colleagues outside their own firm they valued most. The method: incorruptible. The result: unsparing. What the Truth Commission is in South Africa, this lawyer ranking is in Germany. …

…and the story continues…
6/15: And again: Christoh H. Vaagt was elected Best Lawyer in Insurance Law in Germany… well, what can you do?

6/16: The Handelsblatt has probably corrected this mistake… envious colleagues can always be relied upon…

6/17: No, not again… we got it again… damn, how do you get rid of that title?

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