Dr. Daniel Zapf
Biography
Overview
Dr. Daniel Zapf is a partner in our Global White Collar/Investigations Practice Group and heads the White Collar team in Germany.
Mr. Zapf assists corporates, private equity firms, financial institutions, and senior executives on a broad spectrum of white-collar and anti-financial crime matters. These include anti-bribery and corruption, fraud, embezzlement, anti-money laundering, sanctions, antitrust, capital market laws, tax investigations, environmental law violations, and product compliance matters. He represents and defends clients in governmental investigations, law enforcement proceedings and supervisory audits as well as in court proceedings.
Mr. Zapf conducts high-stake corporate internal investigations, e.g., following sensitive whistleblowing reports or short seller reports as well as in connection with data breaches, alleged ESG compliance violations and/or workplace misconduct, both nationally and internationally.
He has particular experience in preventive risk mitigation counselling, including the design and implementation of compliance programs and anti-money laundering systems as well as respective health checks. Furthermore, he frequently advises clients on compliance-focused due diligence in the context of M&A transactions.
Peers noted that he is 'specialist for cross-border investigations', 'highly competent, collegial', 'strategically strong' (JUVE Handbook 2024/2025).
Mr. Zapf regularly publishes articles in professional journals, commentaries and books on white collar and compliance topics.
Experience
'Compliance in the healthcare sector', (together with Jürgen Taschke), in: Saliger/Tsambikakis (eds.), Criminal law of the medical industry, 2022, p. 736-755'Criminal responsibility', (together with Jürgen Taschke), in: Kubis/Tödtmann (eds.), Operational manual for board members, 3rd edition 2022, p. 541-626
'Dealing with non-specific whistleblower reports', in: CB 2021, p. 467-471
'Defense against GDPR fines (part 1 and 2)', (together with Jan Spittka and Philipp Adelberg), in: CB 2021, p. 96-101, 149-154.
'Fundamentals of Compliance', (together with Jürgen Taschke), in: Parigger, Helm, Stevens-Bartol (eds.), Labor and social criminal law, 1st edition 2021, p. 46-69.
'(Criminal) Compliance in the pharmaceutical sector', (together with Jürgen Taschke), in: Rotsch (ed.), Criminal Compliance – Status quo and Status futurus, 2020, p. 403-430
Commentation on sec. 94 - 101 EnWG (section 5 - sanctions, sanctioning proceedings), in: Rosin/Gentzsch (eds.), Praxiskommentar zum EnWG, status as of December 2019
'On the development of limitation periods in corruption cases in the jurisprudence', in: NZWiSt 2018, p. 54-58
'Sections 299a, 299b German Criminal Code - Draft. Consequences for the cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers with physicians in private practice', (together with Jürgen Taschke), in: medstra 2015, p. 332-337
Administrative fines (Ordnungsstrafen), Contributions to poenology, 2015
'Considerations for an ethics of internal investigations', (together with Jürgen Taschke), in: Kempf/Lüderssen/Volk (eds.), Corporate culture and corporate crime, 2014, p. 181-199
Best Lawyer in Corporate Governance and Compliance, as well as White Collar
Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers 2024
Top Lawyer for Compliance
WirtschaftsWoche 2024
Recommended for compliance, internal investigations and white-collar crime: advice to companies
Legal 500 Germany
