We welcome Edward Stoye as a new colleague in our team. He advises clients on all issues relating to commercial and corporate law. His focus is both on shareholder disputes and complex litigation. In the area of medical law, Mr. Stoye primarily represents established doctors and hospitals. We were able to ask Mr. Stoye a few questions — about his job and beyond.
What do you enjoy about everyday working life?
In commercial and corporate law, I have contact with many different industries: These can be pharmacies, large corporations or even small craft businesses. The applied law is always the same — but in order to understand and correctly classify the various economic issues, I first have to fill my cases with life and clarify industry-specific questions. This work is never monotonous!
I find the entire healthcare sector interesting because the interplay between the various players in Germany is not that easy to understand. What actually happens in the background when I give a medical professional my insurance card? Which service providers come together as part of medical treatment? Medical law often involves different areas of law because the sector is so diverse.
Why did you become a lawyer?
On my father's side, I come from a family of teachers. Teaching degree was therefore my obvious plan B. But like many students (provided they do not come from legal families), I was simply interested in law as a science at the beginning of my studies. In the course of my studies, it became clear to me that I would like to actively shape law and work with people — i.e. my clients.
Is there a tip that you regularly give your clients?
My clients are mostly entrepreneurs, managing directors or board members who want streamlined solutions for their complex problems with employees, customers, suppliers or co-shareholders. There are also entrepreneurs who want legal advice and protection on their business ideas.
The questions in company law are often very similar to questions in family law. However, with the disadvantage that family law, with several hundred paragraphs in the German Civil Code, already provides a lot of guidance as to what should work and how — and in corporate law, we often feel that we are “on the high seas” with only a handful of norms. It's often very emotional there. From a human point of view, this is completely normal and understandable. But I like to advise my clients: When it comes to making concrete decisions, emotional distance and economic reason are the best advisors.
I'm sure you know various prejudices about lawyers. Which prejudice is true — and which isn't?
There is a Latin saying: “Judex non calculat” — judges or lawyers cannot calculate. In my experience, this applies to many of us lawyers... including me — fortunately, there are calculation programs. I have deliberately decided to study in which you learn how to use language and not with numbers.
On the other hand, I find the saying “Three lawyers, four opinions” incorrect. You shouldn't forget that when we work as lawyers, we always represent the interests of our clients. Even if we first look objectively at a matter of fact, what we later say in writing or orally in court is, of course, subjectively influenced by the interests of our clients. It is in the nature of things that two lawyers take different positions on the same problem — otherwise we wouldn't have to fight in court. There are, of course, lawyers who earn their money by creating more problems than they can ever solve — but that is definitely not my approach. My recommendations to clients are always aimed at making economic sense — and I try to communicate this as clearly and comprehensibly as possible.
How did you get to Hanover?
I was born in Dresden. I went to Halle an der Saale to study and have lived in Hanover since 2016. I am married and our daughter goes to school here — so I currently have no ambition to move again so quickly.
Do you have a favorite book?
Hmm... I really like “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. When I read the book during my school days, I had no idea that I would also work as a lawyer one day. But the protagonist, Atticus Finch, was always very likeable to me as an upstanding, unprejudiced and therefore ideal lawyer.
What do you want for the future?
In the medium term, I would like to travel through South Africa and stay there for a few weeks in the various reserves. I imagine that very well. And when I retire, I don't want to spend the winter in Hanover anymore — I'd rather spend the winter in a house in Italy, somewhere between the vineyards.
