In 2016, on its third anniversary — after three wonderful years of subtenancy with our friends at WEGNERPARTNER— we moved WAGNER Arbitration to its own offices at Hegelplatz. Evidence attached.
From the outset, it was important to me that we created a space that didn’t look or feel like your typical business law firm. No steel. No glass. No cold synthetic surfaces.
Instead: color on the walls, different in every room. Antique furniture from various branches of my family. Self-designed wooden pieces, including our reception desk built from three old Berlin doors. Those who have seen it know what I mean.
My thinking was simple: our legal work has become aseptic enough — no books, no paper files, everything digital, nothing tangible but a keyboard and a mouse. At least the furniture had to be. Real wood. Real fabric. Real colors.
One evening, long after hours, Florian Dupuy took his dishes to the kitchen and said:
🗣️ “𝘼𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚.”
That sentence summed up everything we had set out to build.
Two years later, we added another floor, the so-called Werkstatt, designed entirely to our wishes, an even more open, creative space.
Since then, this office has more than kept its promise:
🌎 It has been home to more than 120 temporary team members, from interns to trainees and from more permanent to visiting lawyers from all continents.
🍝 It became the home of the arbitrattoria where easily over 200 lunches have been served. Many have been documented on our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/wagnerarbitration?igsh=MWhqc3A4NDdjMzU5dQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
🥂 More than 100 apéros with team members and alumni have taken place at the bar on Wednesdays.
🎨 Way over 100 lectures, talks, fireside chats, round-tables, coachings, art exhibitions, concerts, as well as anniversary, carneval and other parties have filled its rooms with conversation, music, color, dance and laughter.
🌟It holds a “wall of fame”, a piano, and a sofa that, once upon a time, seated the late German president Richard von Weizsäcker. And there is always wine in the fridge.
It has hosted hearings and mediations, and witnessed many happy and some sad moments. It is a place that holds it all together, that connects what matters — people, ideas, memories — while leaving enough space for what comes next.
🙏 I am grateful for this environment, for everyone who made it come alive, and for all those who keep it vibrant every day.
Next year, we will celebrate 10 years at Hegelplatz. It shall be grand 🥳
🔜 Next stop: Reflection #14 – My American Guitar
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