Flick Gocke Schaumburg Mourns the Death of Founding Partner Dr. Hans Flick

Flick Gocke Schaumburg is mourning the death of Dr. Hans Flick, who passed away at the age of 88 on November 30, 2015. The firm’s founding partner was long renowned as one of Germany’s most distinguished lawyers specializing in international tax law and business succession.

Hans Flick and Rudolf Gocke founded a two-person tax partnership in Bonn, Germany, in 1972. Over the next four decades, the partnership, which was later renamed Flick Gocke Schaumburg, grew to become one of the leading interdisciplinary firms of lawyers, auditors and tax advisors in Germany. Hans Flick retired from active service in 2003.

“Hans Flick was an exceptional personality with great charisma and a true gift for empathy,” states Professor Thomas Rödder, Chairman of Flick Gocke Schaumburg. “With his passion for tax law, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his vision of bringing together the fields of law and tax, he made an indelible impression on the firm and laid the foundation for its growth. We deeply mourn his passing and will remember him with great gratitude and indebtedness.”

Hans Flick was born in Wuppertal, Germany, on August 28, 1927. After World War II, during which he was an Air Force Helper and later a prisoner of war, he studied law and political science. Under Professor Armin Spitaler at the University of Cologne, he obtained a doctorate in international tax law, a subject to which he remained devoted throughout his career. Following a stint working in tax administration, in 1961 he joined the finance and tax division of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry. In 1978 he was appointed head of the division, and in 1988 he became the association’s deputy executive director.

As well as being one of the founding editors of the journals “Deutsches Steuerrecht” (German Tax Law Review) and “Internationales Steuerrecht” (International Tax Law Review), Hans Flick published numerous works. His book “Zur Anrechnung ausländischer Steuern auf die deutsche Steuer” was published in 1959 and remained the only reference work in this field for the next 20 years. Other important works include the commentaries “Rau/Dürrwächter/Flick/Geist” (VAT), “Flick/Wassermeyer/Becker” (taxation of international transactions) and “Flick/Wassermeyer/Wingert/Kempermann” (DTT Germany–Switzerland), some of which have since been published under different names.

Hans Flick lived with his wife in Kalenborn, near Bonn. The couple has four children and ten grandchildren.