A new partner in Stuttgart and a senior counsel in Düsseldorf and Berlin:ORTHPARTNERS is steadily expanding its regulatory advisory services in the healthcare sector.

ORTHPARTNERS continues on its growth trajectory and, effective May 1, is expanding its range of consulting services to include a dedicated healthcare law practice group. To this end, Prof. Dr. Heinz-Uwe Dettling, a specialist in healthcare law, is joiningORTHPARTNERS as a partner, and Dr. Ocka Anna Böhnke is joining as a part-time senior counsel. Prof. Dr. Dettling will strengthen the firm’s Stuttgart office, while Dr. Ocka Anna Böhnke will join the Berlin office.

Prof. Dr. Heinz-Uwe Dettling sees many advantages in joiningORTHPARTNERS: “Our many years of sector-specific experience in the healthcare industry, our deep understanding of regulatory frameworks, and our AI expertise are a perfect fit forORTHPARTNERS’ full-service approach to business law.”

“With Prof. Dettling’s team, we are gaining outstanding expertise in the healthcare sector, ranging from traditional regulation to cutting-edge topics such as the use of AI and new reimbursement models. “This wonderful addition sharpens our profile in one of the most dynamic regulatory fields of all. It will enable us to support companies and institutions in the healthcare industry even more comprehensively in their transformation and innovation projects in the future,” notes Dr. Níkolai Weber, partner at the Stuttgart office.

New Practice Group: Healthcare Law

The new practice group addresses the legal needs of companies and institutions in the healthcare industry, ranging from pharmaceutical companies to medtech and digital health firms, as well as hospital operators, hospital networks, medical care centers, pharmacies, and investors. The focus is on issues related to pharmaceutical, medical device, pharmacy, healthcare, hospital, and statutory health insurance law, as well as the structuring of complex cooperation and care models.

ORTHPARTNERS was launched just over a year ago, on April 1, 2025, as a full-service commercial law firm with 20 attorneys and offices in Düsseldorf, Essen, Berlin, and Stuttgart. With more than 35 attorneys now on staff, the firm advises companies, public sector clients, and decision-makers in all relevant areas of business law, including labor law, commercial law, data protection law, corporate law/M&A, IP/IT, real estate law, public business law, and dispute resolution.

The New Arrivals

Prof. Dr. Heinz-Uwe Dettling was a founding partner of OPPENLÄNDER Rechtsanwälte in 1998 and headed the firm’s health law team there until 2018. From 2018 to 2024, he built up the life sciences law team at EY Law and has been providing comprehensive advice to clients on issues related to pharmaceuticals, medical devices, pharmacies, medical practice, and hospital law for over 30 years.

He regularly represents clients in administrative proceedings and court cases, including before the Federal Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice, and has been actively involved in the fields of artificial intelligence law and digital economy law for more than five years. A particular focus of Prof. Dettling’s practice is AI compliance in the hospital sector.

In addition to his legal practice, he teaches health care law as well as AI and digital business law at the University of Hohenheim, publishes regularly, and is the editor of a commentary on the German Medicines Act as well as co-editor of the commentary on hospital law published online by Beck Verlag.

Dr. Ocka Anna Böhnke has joined ORTHPARTNERS on a part-time basis as Senior Counsel in Berlin. A Lawyer with a Ph.D. Lawyer a licensed physician, she has nearly 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical and healthcare law: At OPPENLÄNDER, she advised pharmaceutical companies, physicians, and pharmacists on regulatory, social security, and professional liability issues, and subsequently served as in-house counsel at an international pharmaceutical group in the Value & Market Access division, including benefit assessments and price negotiations. With this dual perspective from medicine and law, she supports clients in a highly dynamic, regulated market environment.