Patrick Spaeth is a partner of Morrison & Foerster (International) LLP based in our German office in Berlin and member of our Corporate, Compliance, and Investigations team. He advises clients in compliance with law matters, internal investigations, and corporate governance.

The focus of his compliance practice is on German domestic and international anti-bribery laws, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, anti-money laundering regulations, tax, competition law, and economic sanctions. His work covers internal investigations in Germany and abroad, reviews of internal compliance control systems, the due diligence process for sales intermediaries, M&A transactions and joint venture partners, the development of training programs, and pursuing or defending damages claims arising out of compliance failures. In addition, Mr. Spaeth advises clients on German commercial and corporate law.

His practice also includes international commercial arbitration. He has counseled clients from civil law jurisdictions with regard to proceedings conducted under the ICC and VIAC rules and proceedings conducted before a German ad hoc arbitral tribunal.

Mr. Spaeth joined Morrison & Foerster from another international law firm in 2019.

He regularly publishes on topics relating to compliance, international and European civil litigation, and alternative dispute resolution. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and a lecturer at Humboldt Universität Berlin, where he teaches on compliance and internal investigations.

Mr. Spaeth is a member of Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit and Transparency International.

Representative Experience

• Conducting an investigation on behalf of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen regarding equity trades around a dividend date
• Advising Daimler AG regarding diesel emissions
• Completing an internal investigation on behalf of the Supervisory Board of MAN SE with regard to bribery allegations and providing advice regarding the setup of MAN SE's compliance organization
• Representing a German bank in court proceedings to pursue damages arising out of noncompliance with tax obligations
• Investigating tax structured transactions on behalf of a German bank
• Representing a German bank in arbitral proceedings against a former director
• Advising a German bank on pursuing damages claims against several former directors and related D&O insurance topics
• Representing MAN SE in pursuing damages claims against former directors arising out of their responsibility for setting up a compliance organization
• Advising Deutsche Bahn AG with regard to its damages claims arising out of a cartel among its railway track suppliers
• Providing advice to and conducting an investigation on behalf of a German public listed company regarding its listing as SDN by OFAC 
• Advising a U.S.-German multinational company with regard to an internal investigation of its Eastern European, Russian, and Central Asian sales network  
• Conducting an internal investigation on behalf of Hamburg Commercial Bank AG (previously HSB Nordbank AG) concerning the dismissal of managers
• Completing several investigations of kick-back payments and breach of trust in outsourcing projects