Dr. Dirk Classen

The focus of Dirk Classen's legal activities lies on advising midsized and major companies, family offices and private equity investors in all corporate matters, especially with regard to national and international Mergers & Acquisitions transactions. He has extensive experience in complex projects for many clients over a number of years and in a variety of businesses.

Dirk Classen studied law at the University of Bonn and gained work experience at the German Embassy in Buenos Aires/Argentina. After finishing his law degree, he worked as Assistant Attaché at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York and as a freelancer for a major law firm. Thereafter, he worked as a lawyer for reputable law firms in Cologne and Berlin. Before founding Classen Fuhrmanns & Partner in 2010, Dirk Classen was managing partner of a renowned law firm specialized on M&A.

In addition to his profession as a lawyer, Dirk Classen worked from 2005 to 2009 as assistant professor and lecturer at the European Business School International University Schloss Reichartshausen (EBS) where he also helped to set up the EBS's Chair of Business Law and the Center for Mergers and Acquisitions (Prof. Dr. Gerhard Picot).

Dirk Classen is mentioned as a "frequently recommended lawyer" in the field of M&A by the JUVE Handbook on Commercial Law Firms, including:

- 2022/2023 ("Competent and sympathetic colleague, plain speaker (competitor)"),

- 2019/2020 ("very pleasant negotiator", "fast and precise (competitor)"),

- 2017/18 ("Competitors praise name partner Dirk Classen as 'fast and precise'"),

- 2013/2014 ("Quick and precise (competitor M&A/corporate law)"),

- 2012/2013 ("Highly professional , flexible and experienced in negotiations (client)"; "Fast and precise (competitor)"),

- 2010/2011 ("Works quickly and with perfect precision (competitor)"; "Strong at conducting negotiations, finds creative and practical solutions, even under pressure (client)"),

- 2009/2010 ("Unpretentious in manner, works quickly and accurately (client)").

He is a member of the German Association for Corporate Law (Gesellschaftsrechtliche Vereinigung) and the Cologne Legal Association (Kölner Juristische Gesellschaft).

Dirk Classen speaks German, Spanish, English and French.