Protection of third parties

A general inclusion of a representative in the scope of protection of the contract between the represented party and the lawyer’s (law firm’s) office does not exist.

Rather, the prerequisites of a so-called contract with protective effect in favour of third parties must be fulfilled.

This means that the representative as a third party must come into contact with the contractually owed performance in the same way as the represented party as the contracting party, the represented party must have its own interest in the involvement of the representative, the involvement must be recognisable to the lawyer as the contracting party and the representative must be worthy of protection.

These requirements are only fulfilled in exceptional cases, for example if the legal advice is also intended to benefit the representative himself.

In particular, the interest of the represented party to be included is often to be rejected, as the latter is already bound by duty from the underlying agency relationship.

This decision is to be welcomed, as it also reflects the interest situation. The lawyer’s contract obliges to represent only the represented party’s interests as a client. Otherwise, there might be collisions that could jeopardise goal-oriented representation due to a confusion of the mandate relationships.

Moreover, the formulation of the lawyer’s contract in this way prevents abusive and inadmissible interference, for example by a managing director, with regard to the property law position of the represented company. Therefore, as a client, a company can be sure that the lawyer will only act in its best interests, without being bound by any instructions to the contrary.

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