Prof. Dr. Karl Pilny
Name
Prof. Dr. Karl Pilny, Zurich, Switzerland, German citizen; married; three children
Education
Doctoral Thesis, Ludwig Maximilian’s University of Munich (1989)
Admission to the Bar (second stat examination) (1988)
First State Examination, Ludwig Maximilian’s University of Munich (1979 – 1985)
Professional Experience
Managing Partner of the consulting company asia21 Ltd., Zurich
Professor of International Technology Transfer Management at the bbw Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences Berlin (2018 -)
Of Counsel, Dentons (formerly Salans), Berlin (2007 - 2018)
Managing Partner, Travers Smith, Head of German Legal Practice (2001 – 2006)
Managing Partner, Coudert Brothers, Head of German Legal Practice (1997 - 2001)
Coudert Brothers Tokyo/Brussels (1991 - 1995)
Aoyama & Partners Osaka (1989 - 1991)
Assistant Professor of German Law at the Kyoto University and Osaka University (1989 - 1991)
Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law, Japan Department (1985 - 1989)
German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Tokyo (1986 – 1987)
Languages
German, English, French and Japanese
Professional Memberships
German-Chinese Association of Jurists
German-Japanese Association of Jurists
Practice Areas
Prof. Dr. Karl Pilny is managing partner of the consulting company asia21 Ltd. in Zurich, a global consultancy.
As a business angel and managing director of an investment company in Berlin, he has been involved in various start-ups over the past 15 years in an advisory capacity and has also participated in them and acted as a supervisory and advisory board member.
He speaks regularly at financial and family office conferences and has good access to VC and PE investors. For several years he also managed an Asian equity fund.
As a partner in an international law firm in New York, Tokyo, London, Paris and Brussels, Prof. Dr. Pilny has advised on numerous transactions of various sizes and industries in Asia, Africa and the Americas. He has also advised on a variety of real estate investments.
Prof. Dr. Pilny is the author of numerous books, such as the trilogy "The Asian Century" (Campus Frankfurt am Main), "Investment Guide Asia" (Finanzbuchverlag München), "Asia 2030 – What is flourishing in the global economy" and is considered one of the leading German experts on Asia.
He regularly lectures at investor and family office conferences, among others also at the WEF in Davos.