Mourning the Loss of Prof. Dr. Walther Gottwald

The professor of civil law, commercial law, and legal methodology joined the faculty of what was then the Northeast Lower Saxony University of Applied Sciences in 1994. Walther Gottwald chaired the committee tasked with establishing the new Business Law degree program. He later became the founding dean of the department. The “Lüneburg Model” prepared students for careers in business and combined a focus on legal studies with business administration in a practice-oriented manner. At its core was the idea of proactive legal professionals who understand economic interrelationships, draft contracts with foresight, and prevent disputes.

With his extensive professional expertise and extraordinary personal commitment, Walther Gottwald played a decisive role in shaping the development and structure of the innovative Business Law program at the Lüneburg academic center. He was among the pioneers of an interdisciplinary education combining law and economics, which today has a firm place at numerous universities.

Walther Gottwald also viewed legal education as a European mission and promoted cross-border exchange in the field of business law through the Erasmus and Socrates programs. He maintained particularly close professional and personal ties with the Southampton Institute in England.

His academic and professional work was shaped by the question of how conflicts can be resolved amicably through negotiation and mediation. As early as the 1970s, he was exploring the topic of mediation. In 1981, his dissertation, “Dispute Resolution Without a Judgment,” was accepted at the European University Institute in San Domenico di Fiesole near Florence. This made Walther Gottwald one of the early pioneers of mediation in the German-speaking world. In 2001, Walther Gottwald was honored with the Socrates Prize for Mediation for his contributions to the promotion of alternative dispute resolution.

Walther Gottwald felt a special connection to the judiciary. At the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court, he served on the 6th Civil Division until 1994. Even alongside his university work, he remained committed to judicial practice and served in a second full-time capacity as a judge at the Higher Regional Court of Celle.
His scholarly work attests to a broad range of expertise. In numerous publications on alternative dispute resolution as well as on issues of legal psychology and legal theory, he combined legal procedural design and negotiation theory with perspectives from the social sciences. A defining feature of his work was his commitment to applying scholarly insights to the practical administration of justice.

For example, Walther Gottwald provided expert guidance for the pilot project “Court-Based Mediation in Lower Saxony.” He played a key role in shaping the concepts for the pilot program. The project examined how mediation can expand the services offered by the judiciary.

Even after his retirement in 2005, he remained active in academic research. Through his publications and lectures, he supported the further development of mediation and its integration into the judicial system.

Walther Gottwald combined outstanding professional expertise, scholarly rigor, and a special talent as a teacher with great helpfulness and a warm, approachable demeanor. This earned him the high esteem and personal affection of staff, students, and colleagues alike.

Leuphana University Lüneburg commemorates him with deep sorrow and great gratitude. The university community will always honor his memory. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family.