Dr. Martina Ortner
Martina Ortner is member of the global management committee and co-managing partner of the German offices.
She has almost twenty years of experience in advising German and international clients of mainly traditional industries on (cross-border) mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, in particular in the manufacturing and technology sector; on (cross-border) corporate restructurings through carve-outs, mergers, de-mergers, and legal conversions; on the formation and dissolution of joint ventures including suitable corporate governance and deadlock resolution mechanisms; and on general corporate and commercial matters.
Martina also provides advice to various private equity funds, both with respect to their M&A activities and on their portfolio management.
Supplementing the above experience, Martina has a specific focus on German Italian transactions. She is head of the German practice in the firm's Milan office.
Martina is frequently recommended by the leading legal directories. Clients praise her as a “very smart and legally sophisticated negotiator," as well as for her "perfect advice, very fast and pragmatic, yet with outstanding legal depth.” (JUVE-Handbuch 2024/2025). “Martina Ortner and her team are extremely client oriented. They always find a feasible and pragmatic solution. They understand the business and act like in-house lawyers.” (The Legal 500 Germany edition, 2025).
In July 2025, Martina Ortner joined K&L Gates’ global Management Committee and was simultaneously appointed Co-Managing Partner Germany.
She has been part of the Munich office since December 2016, when she moved to K&L Gates after practicing at two other leading international law firms in Munich.
Martina studied law at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and at the Università degli Studi di Bologna. She earned her doctorate (Dr. jur.) from LMU in 2006 and passed her second state examination in 2007.
From 2010 to 2011, she worked in the Milan office of an international law firm.
Martina is consistently ranked as a leading practitioner in Corporate and M&A by top legal directories, including JUVE-Handbuch, The Legal 500, and The Best Lawyers in Germany™.
Martina Ortner regularly holds guest lectures at various universities in Germany on corporate related matters.
Martina has published numerous articles in periodicals with a focus on corporate and capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions.
- Imputed knowledge and conduct in M&A transactions, DStR 31, 2017, p. 1710 f., together with Dr. Franz Schaefer (German article)
- A Tendency Regarding the Confirmation of Resolutions of Annual General Meetings, Börsenzeitung, May 3, 2014, together with Dr. Franz Schaefer (German article)
- The Termination and Establishment of Fiscal Unities in the Course of Corporate Acquisitions, DStR 2013, 2399, together with Dr. Franz Schaefer and Martin Mager (German article)
- Practical Issues of Squeeze-outs, DStR 2011, p. 1668 f., together with Dr. Marcus Klie and Dr. Christoph Rödter (German article)
- Practical Issues of Cross-Border Mergers, Der Konzern 2010, p. 541 f, in combination with Dr. Wolfgang Krauel and Dr. Christian Mense (German article)
- Relations with Majority Shareholders as Conflict of Interests Affecting Independence of Supervisory Board Members?, NZG 2010, 1413, together with Dr. Marcus Klie (German article)
- The Independent Financial Expert According to BilMoG (German Accounting Law Modernization Act) – Legal Consequences in Case of Divergence from § 100 Abs. 5 AktG Regarding Staffing of Supervisory Board Members, DStR 2010, 1339, together with Dr. Marcus Klie (German article)
- Supplier and Manufacturer Recourse in the Context of German-Italian Legal Dealings, Herbert Utz Publishers, Munich 2006 (Dissertation, Munich University)
- Billions for Wellness: White & Case and K&L Gates connect CVC and Therme Group, Juve.de, 26 June 2025
- Wellness deal closed with K&L Gates and KM, Juve.de, 22 December 2024
- Ebner Stolz advises MotorK on the acquisition of WebMobil24, Juve-Steuermarkt.de, 12 August 2022
- Women's Quota on the Executive Board in Germany, Lexology, 15 Febuary 2021
