Christof von Dryander
Senior Counsel
Christof von Dryander’s practice focuses on legal advice and corporate governance issues concerning executive and non-executive boards, including management and supervisory boards, as well as other senior management bodies and individuals.
He has extensive experience in counselling senior corporate bodies of German companies (and their individual members) on their duties and obligations towards shareholders, regulators and other stakeholders, with special focus on organizational structures and specific ad-hoc measures to mitigate personal exposure under civil, criminal and regulatory regimes.
Christof also advises corporate bodies and individual members of senior management of German companies on their obligations under corporate and regulatory law to create and maintain adequate compliance systems and to respond to potential breaches thereof, in particular in complex international settings where different national legal requirements are not consistent.
His wide-ranging practical experience includes devising and implementing preventive mechanisms and handling internal or regulatory investigations in the event of potential violations of law or material policy breaches. His broad international work experience in Germany, England, the United States and Asia gives him a special perspective of the global legal issues affecting the leaders of companies in Germany.
Christof served as General Counsel for Germany and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as for the Asset and Wealth Management and Private and Business Clients divisions globally of Deutsche Bank from 2013 to 2015, and he was global Co-General Counsel from 2015 to 2017.
Christof originally joined the firm in 1982 and became a partner in 1990. He returned to Cleary in 2018 as senior counsel. During his more than 30 years with Cleary, he was resident in the firm’s Brussels, London, Frankfurt, and Hong Kong offices. In 1991, he helped establish the firm’s Germany practice in Frankfurt.