Thomas Söbbing is a German lawyer who has written fundamental works in the fields of digital law and the legal issues of artificial intelligence. He wrote the first book on AI law in German and has written groundbreaking articles on IT law, e.g. in connection with the Nobel Prize-winning contract theory. He was voted one of the “Most Influential Lawyers in Business” by Legal 500 in 2017.

He has published a total of eight books and over 250 specialist articles, primarily on IT/AI law, and has held several hundred management seminars on digital legal topics, which has earned him the reputation of an “influential tech lawyer.”

Söbbing taught in Oxford, Cambridge, and Liechtenstein, among others, before accepting a position at the University of Kaiserslautern. Today he is a professor of civil law with digital economy law, head of the successful business and law degree programs (Bachelor/Master) and is responsible for the cooperation with a higher regional court, the Palatinate Higher Regional Court, which is unique in Germany.

He has taken part in international conferences in Stanford, Shenzhen, Vancouver, Warsaw, Venice and Geneva, is on the editorial board of the specialist journal Medien und Recht International, was a permanent advisor to Handelsblatt and is a member of the team of authors for IT-Rechtsberater.

Before his professorship, he worked for KPMG (project manager), Siemens (Head of Legal Contract Management), Deutsche Leasing (Chief Legal Specialist), CRIF Group (Head of Legal & Compliance) and Solcom (General Counsel), where he headed, among other things, large legal departments with several teams.

He managed Siemens AG’s highest-revenue contract (approx. €8 billion), conducted negotiations with hundreds of companies (including ¾ of all DAX companies) and was included in the Legal 500 General Counsel Powerlist.

In order not to lose touch with practice, he now works as Of Counsel for the renowned law firm Gabor Partners, works time to time for a well-known defense contractor  and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Telekom spin-off Staex. He previously worked as interim counsel for a multinational banking group, a leading software company and a global fashion label, among others.

Söbbing studied law at universities in Münster, Düsseldorf and Washington (State), worked under Thomas Hoeren at the ITM in Münster and completed programs at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Shanghai and St. Gallen.

He is a member of the Friends of the German United Nations Association and the Friends of the Aspen Institute.