The post-war period

​

With the reopening of the Hamburg courts after war, Dr. Hans Radischat and Dr. Alfred Heynen resumed their legal practice and reopened the law firm.

​

Dr. Radischat continued building on his international relationships and was internationally active for many years, advising German and foreign companies in Japan, Brazil, North Africa and the Near and Middle East among other places.

​

In addition to his work as a lawyer, Dr. Radischat pursued numerous and significant volunteer activities. He was a member of the board of the Hanseatic Bar Association for many years and a member of the Hamburg Synod, the parliament of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He was also a keen promoter of Hamburg trotting sport and held the office of President of the Hamburg Trotting Society for over a decade. Im commemoration of his achievements to the trotting society, a race was named after him, the Dr. Hans Radischat Races.

​

Dr. Heynen also continued his civil law activities after the war. However, with the foundation of the East German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949 and stricter border controls, inland waterway traffic on the Elbe became increasingly difficult. This in turn led to the City of Duisburg, which was situated on the Rhine River and close to the Dutch border, becoming the leading German inland-waterway hub. Subsequently, Dr. Alfred Heynen shifted the focus of his legal practice away from water-way trafic to freight and company law in the following years.

​

Beyond his legal work, Dr. Heynen too had been recognized for his numerous honorary posts. He had actively played actively as an amateur for ETV Eimsbüttel and gained notoriety beyond Northern Germany as a talented football player. His popularity in football circles led to Dr. Heynen being appointed to the board of the German Football Association (DFB), where he managed its legal affairs. In particular, Dr. Heynen played a key role in the drafting of the DFB Statutes on Professional Football and primarily managed the foundation of the contemporary Bundesliga, which was established  in 1963. Unfortunately, Dr. Heynen did not live to see the completion of his work for the DFB, as he died in 1961.

​

A few years before Dr. Heynen passed away, his son Dr. Peter Heynen had joined the law office in July 1958, shortly after passing his bar exams. Sadly though, Dr. Peter Heynen, who had become an outspoken specialist in transport freight law during the course of his career, took ill in 1967 and passed away in February 1968.

​

Shortly before Dr. Peter Heynen`s passing, Wulf Berend Petersson joined the law firm in January 1968. Wulf Berend Petersson was familiar with the law firm, as he had previously been associated with the office on freelance-terms after completing his university degree in law. Also, during his clerkship at the courts, Wulf Berend Petersson had completed his practical vocational training at the law firm. After joining the law firm as a fully qualified solicitor upon passing his bar examinations, Wulf Berend Petersson had been assigned to Dr. Peter Heynen, from whom he gained in-depth knowledge of transport and freight law as well as freight insurance-law early on in his career.

​

In the years that followed, Wulf Berend Petersson succeeded in further expanding the law firm, which primarily focused on commercial law disputes and activities. Thus, owing to the nature of Hamburg`s commerical industry, corporate and insurance law became cornerstones of the law firm`s success. Over the years, owing to to a corresponding clientele, Wulf Berend Peterssons`s specialist fields expanded to include construction law.

​

Dr. Hans Radischat died in 1994, a few years after retiring in 1991. Wulf Berend Petersson retired in 2008. Thanks to his many years of membership in the church council of his parish in Hamburg-Alsterdorf, Wulf Berend Petersson became the chairman of a Protestant Church Association and has actively been involved in pastoral care on ships since.