Klaus Hardraht

Attorney, Of Counsel

Klaus Hardraht was a founding partner of PETERSEN HARDRAHT PRUGGMAYER. After studying Law at the Universities of Würzburg, Lausanne, Strasbourg and Coimbra, he amassed several years of experience as an assistant at the Institute for International Procedural Law in Würzburg and as an officer in the Directorate of Legal Advice of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Klaus Hardraht then joined the Hamburg judicial service as a judge in 1970. He served as a civil law officer with the Hamburg Judicial Authority from 1972 to 1979. During this time, he represented the City of Hamburg in the Legal Affairs Committee and its Subcommittee in the Bundesrat. After serving as a judge in the Administrative Jurisdiction of Hamburg for two and a half years, he took over as Head of General Administration of the Judicial Authority (personnel, budget, construction, organisation and IT). Following the reunification of Germany, Klaus Hardraht assumed the same role in the Saxon State Ministry of Justice, where he was appointed Secretary of State in 1992. After two years as Senator of Justice in Hamburg, he was appointed State Minister of the Interior of the Free State of Saxony in 1995. Since leaving Minister-President Biedenkopf’s cabinet in 2002, Klaus Hardraht has practised law in Dresden. In 2004, he became a partner in the law firm Petersen Gründel, later PETERSEN HARDRAHT PRUGGMAYER. He has been of counsel since 2022. Klaus Hardraht specialises in the fields of general municipal law for public companies and special-purpose associations, and in particular municipal organisations, budget law and budget consolidation. He has a particular interest in advising voluntary municipal associations and inter-municipal cooperations. Klaus Hardraht also specialises in mediation and legal advice on industrial development policy and legal advice in connection with opencast lignite mining and lignite-fired power generation in the Free State of Saxony.