This year, Baker McKenzie is awarding the Baker McKenzie Prize to Dr. Alexander Heger and Dr. Felix-Julius Konow for their outstanding dissertations. Since 1988, the international law firm has been awarding the prize, which is endowed with 6,000 euros and honors outstanding dissertations or habilitations in business law at the Faculty of Law at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. The award-winning theses must be dedicated to a topic of business law and must have been graded 'summa cum laude'. The award ceremony will take place on 8 May 2026 during the department's graduation ceremony at the Casino Building on Westend campus. Dr. Florian Thamm, Partner at Baker McKenzie, will present the award.
Dr. Alexander Heger is being recognized for his dissertation entitled "European Competition Law and Air Transport – A Suitable Legal Framework?". The thesis examines how air transport operates within a market economy, how competitive conditions are shaped, and which legal principles can support a sustainable and competitive aviation sector in the European Union over the long term. The supervisor of the thesis, Prof. Rainer Hofmann, praised the work as an outstanding analysis of a legally and factually complex field, noting that its quality is comparable to that of a habilitation. At the heart of the dissertation is the argument that the EU’s concept of the entrepreneurial state offers an appropriate framework for promoting a competitive and sustainable air transport system.
Dr. Felix-Julius Konow is being honored for his dissertation entitled “Regulating Stablecoins – The Regulatory Treatment of E-Money Tokens under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation in the Context of the Regulation of Bank Money, E-Money, and Money Market Funds.”. In his research, Konow analyzes the economic function and legal design of stablecoins, potential risks to financial stability and public trust, while also exploring regulatory mechanisms to address them. Dissertation advisor Prof. Katja Langenbucher described the work as a major contribution to the legal classification and regulation of stablecoins and praised its interdisciplinary scope. In particular, she highlighted how the dissertation engages with macroeconomic questions relating to monetary policy, deposit insurance, reserve requirements, and competing monetary theories, integrating these perspectives into a coherent legal framework.
"Baker McKenzie is committed to supporting outstanding young legal scholars. The Baker McKenzie Prize makes an important contribution to this," says Dr. Florian Thamm, who represents Baker McKenzie on the selection committee of Goethe University’s research council. In addition, the law firm is continuously developing other funding formats, such as the Scholarship for Equal Opportunity, which assists law students facing cultural, financial, or family-related barriers to entering legal studies.
08 May 2026