The large law firm in a prestigious old building on Kurfürstendamm looks bright and tidy. Art and books line the walls. On the shelf behind the desk is a first edition of Heinrich Böll’s “Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum”(“The Lost Honor of Katarina Blum”) – as if the core of the story were his perpetual mission: “It’s about a woman who was shamed publicly by a tabloid newspaper.” The author describes the methods of the BILD newspaper in the 1970s, although it has another name in the novel. “That shaped me early on,” Schertz says. “And such cases still exist today.” Born in Berlin, he comes from a family of lawyers. His father, Georg Schertz, was a judge and police president of Berlin, and his brother Matthias is presiding judge at the Berlin Regional Court.
Changed use of media
“I often represent young people who are suddenly dragged into the public due to a stroke of fate or some other event,” Schertz says, describing his everyday life as a lawyer. “I need to know what makes the generation tick. Why do they post private photos and stories on Instagram or TikTok? Media use has changed completely,” the lawyer notes. People under 30 no longer watch linear television, nor do they read printed newspapers. “I still have classic cases with large publishing houses such as Springer or Bauer. I also continue to deal with television stations. But platforms and the internet are taking up more and more room in my work.” This trend complicates the fight for the protection of privacy. “Responsibilities are difficult to grasp,” Schertz explains. “Violations of personal rights can hardly be traced if websites are located abroad or the liability of the platforms is not clearly regulated,” argues the lawyer, who wants to make the platform operators more accountable. “In the past, I had a newspaper with an imprint or a television station with a program manager whom I could then sue. That's no longer the case today!”
When he is not working as a lawyer, Prof. Schertz teaches students. “There isn’t a semester when I'm not standing in a lecture hall” – first as a lecturer at Humboldt University of Berlin, then as an honorary professor at TU Dresden, and for several years now at the Faculty of Law in Potsdam. He also publishes articles in scientific journals and is co-editor of a standard legal work on personality rights. “I've always been interested in the idea behind it,” he says. “Why is there a general personality right? How did it come about, and how can it be classified in terms of jurisprudence?” Ultimately, it’s about self-determination and human dignity. These questions still preoccupy Schertz today. “It was very helpful to have a scientific understanding of what is being heard in court every day,” he sums up. But the transfer works the other way around, too. “Law is real, blazing life, which can be easily conveyed to students from a practical perspective – with an academic focus, of course. Both working environments – practicing law and teaching at the university—complement each other perfectly,” says the Berliner, who grew up in Moabit and Nikolassee.
Always connected to Potsdam
Schertz wanted to “tie in with the spirit of Babelsberg” and, together with his colleagues Prof. Dr. Marcus Schladebach and Prof. Dr. Christoph Wagner, has developed media law at the University of Potsdam into “the largest center of its kind in Germany.” “Firstly, I live in Potsdam, secondly, I love the city, and thirdly, film, television, and entertainment are simply part of Babelsberg,” says the honorary professor, summarizing his motivation. In 2005, he founded the law firm on Kurfürstendamm together with Simon Bergmann. Nowadays, there is hardly a media crisis in Germany in which their expertise is not required. “Due to our specialization, we are certainly leaders in this field. The issue of so-called suspicion reporting is also going through the roof,” he reports. This refers to the question of when it is permissible to report on a suspicion or accusation against people. “The consequences for those affected, who are publicly pilloried, are often permanent stigmatization,” the lawyer has learned and says, “The presumption of innocence is essentially nullified by the media.”
Schertz complains about the outrage in media coverage. “Whereas Hans Joachim Friedrichs’ idea that journalists should not take sides on any issue – not even a good one – used to be the rule, journalism today often wants to make the world a better place. Missionary work is not good for public debate,” Schertz says. “Opinion journalism leads to aggression and heated debates. That has changed over the past 40 years.” Lawyer Schertz has adapted to this. He no longer represents the media or large publishing houses. “I didn’t study law just for the rich and beautiful but, above all, want to help ordinary people who happen to make the headlines. When parents see their own child, whom they have tragically lost, on the front page of a tabloid newspaper, the psychological consequences are devastating,” Schertz explains. Research refers to this as “media victim syndrome.” “This is what motivates me; it’s a basic humanistic attitude. Humans are the measure of all things,” he sums up. “There’s a lobby for everything – cars, insurance companies – only people don’t have one.”
No time for self-adulation
Schertz doesn’t care for labels such as “star lawyer” or “celebrity lawyer.” “Of course, you look back on what you've achieved with a certain pride. I often find that my voice is heard in legal policy debates,” he says. “But I’ve earned that as a lawyer. There are certainly people who think I’m quite arrogant when they see me in court. To be honest, my only concern is to represent my clients’ interests effectively and sustainably. That may be perceived differently. What’s more, my schedule is so full that I don’t have time for self-adulation.” Interviews on socially relevant topics have made the Berlin native more visible in public discourse in recent years; he is recognized on the street or on planes. His goal is to continue as before, pursuing the symbiosis of legal practice and academic teaching. “As freelancers, we can decide for ourselves when to retire. And I still find nothing more exciting than dealing with a case every day,” Schertz says. “It keeps the synapses trained.”
At the university, the honorary professor wants to motivate students to persevere. “Practice free speech, practice conversation,” he repeatedly encourages them in seminars. Because later in their careers – whether as lawyers or judges – 90 per cent of what matters is the spoken word. His role model as a young student was Professor Jutta Limbach, who was president of the Federal Constitutional Court from 1994 to 2002. “Her statement that the anger of the people cannot be a criterion in law has stayed with me to this day. And that’s why I see it as my duty to pass on my knowledge and experience to the next generations.”
Christian Schertz is a lawyer and, since 2022, honorary professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Potsdam.