Philip Bafteh

Rechtsanwalt at BSvH Rechtsanwälte. Employment-law and litigation, trained at CMS Hasche Sigle, Allen & Overy, and the German Embassy in Tokyo.

Rechtsanwalt Philip Bafteh

Rechtsanwalt · Employment & Litigation

Employment Law
Litigation
FAZ Top Lawyer 2026
Fachanwaltslehrgang Arbeitsrecht

Philip is the founding member of BSvH Rechtsanwälte. He combines large-firm employment-law experience with a litigation-focused approach honed in criminal defence work, and brings both to bear on dismissal and severance negotiations.

Career

Philip studied law at the universities of Marburg and Bonn. After the first state examination he worked at a federal regulatory authority (the German Federal Network Agency, Bundesnetzagentur) and at a mid-sized real-estate-law practice in Bonn.

During his German legal traineeship (Referendariat) he completed stations at the German Embassy in Tokyo, at Allen & Overy LLP in Frankfurt, and at N26 Bank in Berlin.

His professional career began as an associate at CMS Hasche Sigle in Cologne. Since 2021 he has served as in-house counsel (Syndikusrechtsanwalt) in a media-sector corporate group while running his own employment-law and criminal-defence practice. He completed the German specialist course for employment law (Fachanwaltslehrgang Arbeitsrecht) in 2021.

Vita

2011–2017
Law studies, Universities of Marburg and Bonn
2014–2016
Student research assistant, mid-sized practice in Bonn
2017
Research associate at Lenz & Johlen Rechtsanwälte, Cologne
2017
Research associate at Bundesnetzagentur (telecommunications regulation)
2018–2020
Referendariat with stations at the German Embassy Tokyo, Allen & Overy Frankfurt, and N26 Berlin
2020–2021
Associate, CMS Hasche Sigle, Cologne
2020→
Independent practice (Rechtsanwalt)
2021
Fachanwaltslehrgang Arbeitsrecht (specialist course in employment law)
2021→
Syndikusrechtsanwalt (in-house counsel) in a media-sector group
2021–2024
Lecturer, IU International University of Applied Sciences (Special Commercial Law)
2024→
Lecturer, ADG Business School at Steinbeis University (Commercial and Corporate Law)

Recognition

Publications (selection)

Journal articles

  • Current legislative initiatives on the digitalisation of the German judiciary, MMR 2023, 100.
  • The concept of “gender” in the AGG over time, Betriebs-Berater (BB) 2021, 2424–2428.
  • Infection protection as a weapon in employment law — blocking works-council elections during the pandemic, BB 2021, 183–187.
  • Regulation of telecommunications markets — the example of vectoring, Bonner Rechtsjournal (BRJ) 2017, 34–38.

Case notes

  • BGH, 28.09.2022 — VIII ZR 319/20 (eBay negative review removal), MMR 2023, 138.
  • LAG Köln, 02.11.2021 — 4 Sa 290/21 (data-protection breach in employment), BB 2022, 2111.
  • OLG Schleswig, 23.02.2022 — 9 Wx 23/21 (TTDSG disclosure claims), ZD 2022, 464.
  • LAG Köln, 10.09.2021 — 10 Sa 1264/20 (age discrimination in job adverts), BB 2022, 1727.
  • BGH, 27.01.2022 — III ZR 3/21 (Facebook real-name obligation), ZD 2022, 276.
  • BAG, 25.11.2021 — 6 AZR 94/19 (vacation pay from the insolvency estate), ArbRB 2022, 69–70.
  • BGH, 29.07.2021 — III ZR 179/20 (Facebook account suspensions and hate speech), MMR 2021, 903–914.

Languages

German (native) · English (fluent, working language)