Sebastian Omlor (LL.M. '12) wins international notary law prize

Sebastian OmlorSebastian Omlor (LL.M. ’12) has won the international Helmut-Schippel-Prize for outstanding scholarly accomplishments in notary law. The prize is awarded every two years by the German Association for Notary Law (Deutsche Notarrechtliche Vereinigung). Omlor, an assistant professor of law at Saarland University in Germany and a current NYU Law LL.M. student in corporation law, will receive a €5,000 prize (close to $7,000) for his doctoral thesis "Bona Fide Transactions in Corporation Law." His doctoral supervisor was Professor Michael Martinek (LL.M. ’82) at Saarland University.

Omlor discusses the new bona fide purchase of shares of a German limited liability company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, or GmbH). This protection of a bona fide purchaser was implemented in the German Limited Liability Companies Act (GmbHG) in 2008 as a novelty in the 116-year history of the GmbH. As a result, both extensive transactions in the field of mergers and acquisitions and purchases of small family businesses have become easier. Omlor analyzes how the bona fide protection works in theory and practice, and how it should be improved in the future.

The public prize-giving ceremony includes a symposium on corporation law and will take place in November 2011 at Humboldt University of Berlin. The laudation speech will be given by Professor Walter Bayer of Friedrich-Schiller-University in Germany. Omlor will deliver a speech on some current aspects of his doctoral thesis.

Posted on September 14, 2011