Dr. Christian Pelz

Christian Pelz acts as defence counsel for German and international corporations, board members, senior management, and private clients in criminal and administrative offence investigations conducted by regulators, tax and customs investigators, prosecutors, and courts.

His work includes national and international investigations, forfeiture and proceeds-of-crime proceedings, trials, and appearances before parliamentary commissions. He has particular experience coordinating corporate and individual defence strategies when one matter creates parallel criminal, civil, tax, and regulatory proceedings.

Alongside defence work, Pelz advises companies on the design and implementation of compliance programmes, internal policies, guidelines, audits, and the management of difficult compliance incidents.

He also conducts internal investigations in Germany and across borders. His practice includes helping corporations identify, investigate, and enforce claims for losses caused by criminal offences or misconduct involving business partners, board members, or employees.

Pelz studied law at the University of Munich and completed part of his legal training at a law firm in Windhoek, Namibia. He has worked at Noerr since 1997 and is admitted to the Munich Chamber of Lawyers.

His professional memberships include the criminal law working group of the German Bar Association, the Association for European Criminal Law, the German white-collar crime association WisteV, and the Center for Criminal Compliance at the University of Gießen.

He lectures on anti-corruption and tax compliance and contributes to major legal commentaries and handbooks covering foreign trade and sanctions law, money laundering, corporate compliance, economic and tax criminal law, internal investigations, and whistleblower protection. His official profile also records repeated recognition in current German and international rankings for business crime defence, tax crime, compliance, and investigations.