Lawyer Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Baumann
Prof. Dr. iur. Wolfgang Baumann studied law and economics at the German Universities of Göttingen, Freiburg and Münster, after he had completed his German Abitur (specialising in classical languages and culture) at the ‘Friedrichs Gymnasium’ in Herford and his military service as an engineer in Höxter. Having passed his first juridical state examination, he worked at the Mexican-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Mexico City, amongst other places. Alongside his legal clerkship within the district of the higher regional court of Hamm, he worked as a scientific assistant at the chair of Prof. Dr. iur. Norbert Horn, and after his second juridical state examination at the chair of Prof. Dr. iur. Gerhard Otte, at the University of Bielefeld. He completed his doctorate with ‘summa cum laude’ on the subject of “acknowledgement of indebtedness” at the University of Bielefeld.
Having practised as a lawyer in Dortmund and Cologne for almost two years, he was then appointed junior Notary of the Rhenish Chamber of Notaries at the office of Axel Rodert and Konrad Adenauer in Cologne in 1980. In February 1984, the Minister of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia elected Wolfgang Baumann as the successor in office of the Notary Dr. iur. Justus Bockmühl in Wuppertal. Baumann practiced the profession of notary until 30 November 2018. Since December 2018 Baumann has been admitted as a lawyer.
Baumann has had a long-standing experience as a lecturer, since he worked as a tutor at the juridical courses of Alpmann & Schmidt in Münster and taught at the Universities of Münster, Bielefeld, Cologne and the Open University of Hagen.
Since 2001, Baumann has been a visiting lecturer, and since 20. 9. 2006 professor (Honorarprofessor) at the Faculty of Economics – Schumpeter School of Business and Economics - University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal).
Baumann’s scientific interests are directed towards legal issues of entrepreneurships, business start-ups, takeovers and corporate succession, the links between the economy and law, company law, contract law, family and inheritance law and international professional law of Notaries.
List of scientific reports (selection)
Baumann has been a member of the board of editors of the journals NOTARIUS INTERNATIONAL (since 1996), Rheinische Notarzeitschrift (RNotZ) (since 1998) and Zeitschrift für die gesamte erbrechtliche Praxis (ErbR) (magazine for the whole practice of inheritance law) (since 2007). Furthermore, he is a mentor of the German Institute of Notaries (Deutsches Notarinstitut) in Würzburg.
From 1989 – 1998, Baumann worked at the Landesjustizprüfungsamt (state law examination board) and as an examiner of the second juridical state examination at the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf, in addition to his official duties. Since 2004, he has regularly been working at the District Court Wuppertal, where he is in charge of study groups for trainee lawyers in preparation for the second juridical state examination.
Since 2002, Baumann has been a permanent councillor of the International Union of the Notaries (U.I.N.L.) and a member of the International Coordination group of the Bundesnotarkammer (National Chamber of Notaries). From 1989 – 1995 he was a delegate and from 1995 – 2008 Vice President of the European Commission of Notaries of U.I.N.L.
From 1992 – 2007, Baumann was an instructor at the advanced training courses of the German Institute of Lawyers (Deutsches Anwaltsinstitut). Since 2008, he has been an instructor at the advanced training courses of the Deutsche AnwaltAkademie (German Academy of Lawyers) in Berlin. He has held many academic lectures in Germany and abroad.
Baumann had been the chairman of the Stadtverband der Bürger- und Bezirksvereine Wuppertal (local committee of the citizens’ and district associations in Wuppertal) from 1987 to 2017, and thus the editor of the Wuppertaler Stadtecho (a local journal). He is a board member of the Schumpeter School – Stiftung (Schumpeter School - Foundation), as well as a founding and advisory board member of Schumpeter School Alumni e.V. (an Alumni association of the Bergische Universität Wuppertal). He is a founding member of the Society of European Contract Law (SECOLA), which was founded in 2001 at the Università della Sapienza in Rome. He has been a member of “Deutscher Juristentag” for over 30 years and a member of “Deutsche Notarrechtliche Vereiningung” since its foundation. Since 2015, Baumann is the chairman of the Bergische Juristengesellschaft.
Baumann was honoured with the “Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande” (Cross of Order of Merit with Ribbon) (1999 awarded by the Federal President Prof. Dr. Roman Herzog) and was awarded among other prizes the dissertation prize of the Westfälisch-Lippische Universitätsgesellschaft and the Prix Ducret of the International Union of Latin Notaries (U.I.N.L.).
