WIRE – Institute for Applied Business Law
The competence centre for legal research
WIRE: the competence centre for legal research
The focus of the Institute for Applied Business Law is on the topics of corporate law and ESG, their applicability and design.
The Institute's work includes the analysis of the current legal situation and current legislative proposals, a regular exchange of knowledge and experience with companies, law firms and associations, and the elaboration of possibilities for improvement at all levels. In addition to the research work, the institute serves as a network platform for the mutual professional, but also personal exchange of all partners involved, such as the directorate, the scientific advisory board, the associated scientists, lecturers and students of HSBA, Hamburg business representatives and practitioners from legal practice.
WIRE is a legally independent institution, but closely intertwined with HSBA. The cooperation promotes an intensive exchange on the topic of business law, the expansion of teaching and research in law and the cooperation between industry and university.
Focus Areas of Research
The Institute is active in research in the field of applied business law.
This research is based on three pillars: Firstly, an analysis of problems in the current legal situation, planned legislative proposals and literature views. Secondly, a continuous survey and evaluation of the problems described by companies as primary users of business law in the daily application of the law. Thirdly, an elaboration of possibilities for improvement at all levels, starting with internal best practice guidelines of the users of the law, through the interpretation of the current legal situation, to the elaboration of proposals for amendments to the law.
The focus is always on the clear application-relatedness of the solution approaches.
Focus Areas
The Institute has three main areas of focus: Corporate Law, ESG and Compliance.
The Department of Corporate Law represents the cross-sectional subject of corporate law in teaching and research. It deals with all sub-areas of German, European and international corporate law. Due to the ever-increasing complexity of this legal matter, there is a high demand for interdisciplinary and international expertise, which the Institute provides. Particular importance is attached to the regular exchange of knowledge and experience with companies, law firms, associations and the judiciary. It also contributes to the development of corporate law through lectures, conferences, expert opinions and other activities. The aim is to continuously develop practice-oriented research and teaching.
The ESG department is primarily concerned with the question of how law relevant to business can and should be shaped politically in the areas of environment, social & governance. To this end, it examines the existing law, subjects it to a critical appraisal and makes proposals for legal policy improvements where there are gaps, a need for change or overregulation. At the same time, it is an important sparring partner for implementation in the company. The department also scientifically accompanies legislative processes for the relevant economically relevant legal matters from a legal and economic point of view. In addition to interdisciplinarity, the approach combines a practical basic orientation with a strong theoretical basis. Furthermore, WIRE promotes dialogue between politics, business and legal science in order to achieve the best possible results of legislative processes.
An essential task of the "Compliance" department is research in the area of compliance with legal provisions and internal guidelines in companies and working towards their - if necessary group-wide - observance.
Empirical findings from practice are collected and analysed on the basis of already existing legal and economic theoretical knowledge in order to both advance scientific development in this area and to gain new knowledge in an application-oriented manner and transfer it to daily corporate practice.
HSBA's excellent contacts to several hundred cooperating companies form the basis for being able to produce practice-oriented assessments on the one hand and to test the implementation of new findings in corporate reality quickly on the other.
Event Series
The Institute regularly invites to interesting events.
An essential cornerstone is the annual working conference in autumn in Hamburg. Top speakers from business, administration, legal and management consultancy as well as the judiciary lecture there on current topics of business law that are really relevant for companies. In addition, there are numerous other events, such as panel discussions and colloquia.
In addition to the professional exchange at a high level - which is expressed, for example, in the recognition of the annual conference as an advanced training course for specialist lawyers by the Hamburg Bar Association - there is always room for the participants and members of the Institute to get to know each other and network in a relaxed atmosphere.
