Michael Heller

Born in Bonn, Germany

1977-1983: Studied Law and political science at the Rheinischen Friedrich-Willhelms-University, Bonn.
1984: First State Examination in Law.
1984-1987: Law clerk with Düsseldorf District Court, including a ten month internship at a Florence (Italy) Law firm, specializing in international business Law.
After passing the Second State Examination in Law (February 1988), Mr. Heller was admitted to practice as an attorney.
In addition to practicing as an attorney, he provided university-level lectures at the Düsseldorf Administrative College in Düsseldorf.
Since 1999: Qualified Specialist in Criminal Law.

PRACTICE AREAS:  
The Law of Tax Offences, Corporate Criminal Law, Internet Law, Environmental Law, The Law of Tortious Fraud

Paralleling the growing importance of the Internet, Mr. Heller has developed a further specialization through combining criminal and commercial law. He has provided counsel on the effect of specific uses of the Internet with respect to Criminal Law, whereby his clients include both service providers and end-users. He is also very active in addressing the problems involved with the security of payment systems, computer fraud, access controls for specific sites, as well as so-called “Domain Grabbing”, among others.

Now these activities over the internet no longer concern just criminal law, but also areas of counseling and representation in issues of internet and domain law. In addition, Mr. Heller is in the middle of the issues regarding the internet’s very structure and organization through his work with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and above all has expertise on questions of data protection, trademark law, and the representation of users of related services.

MEMBERSHIPS:
European Criminal Bar Association; German Criminal Defense Attorneys; Working Group on Criminal Law in the German Lawyers Association; Intellectual Property Constituency of the GNSO [Generic Name Supporting Organization of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)]; Internet Society (ISOC)

FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
English, Italian, Spanish