Luisa Schwermer, Germany / March 2016

Luisa Schwermer

Munich, Germany

As part of my legal clerkship overseen by the Higher Regional Court of Munich in Germany, I spent 3 months, from January until March 2016, at Heskia-Hacmun Law Firm in Tel Aviv, Israel. The office of Heskia-Hacmun is located in 6 Kaufman St., Gaon House (Gibor), 17th floor – directly at the beach front of Tel Aviv. The firm consists of several attorneys, including the heads of the firm, Dor Heskia and German-speaking Amos Hacmun. Advocate Adi Zalk, also proficient in German, is responsible for corresponding with the interns.

The firm plays an active role in the spectrum of civil law, especially in corporate, banking and inheritance law, trademark and patent law, tax law and finally, in the field of international transactions. Working languages of the international law firm are English, Hebrew and German.

I was glad to be involved in all of the firms’ fields of activity. In this context, I also had the opportunity to join many court hearings and get unique insights into the Israeli law system and Israeli procedural law. Many court hearings were accompanied by an English-Hebrew simultaneous translator so that I could follow the hearings properly. Retrospectively, I can say that I benefited a lot from them. Every question I asked was answered comprehensively and to my satisfaction, so that I gained a lot of practical insight from the court hearings. My other responsibilities included legal research on German and US Law, international legal issues, as well as translation assignments in German and English. Moreover, I was assisting at the corresponding with German companies, authorities and courts and the German registration court.

I dealt with open asset and inheritance rights and prepared interviews of legal experts and witnesses for the hearings in court. In this context, I was able to capitalize on my German Law education because the majority of these issues dealt with the German Law as well.

Most of all I sincerely enjoyed the truly family-like atmosphere in the firm where I was welcomed with the warmest of hearts. The lawyers told me a lot about Tel Aviv and Israel. I was able to travel in the country Other inters from abroad from France Argentinian and Germany) were in the office as well, and we always spent the lunch breaks together, chatting and exchanging ideas about our internship. I am very grateful for the great experience, and the opportunities that I gained from my time with Heskia-Hacmun Law Firm! I am confident that I will be able to profit from everything that I have learned and experienced here in my future career path.