Central external legal advice center for victims of abuse of power

As part of the joint voluntary commitment by North Rhine-Westphalian universities to address abuse of power in academia, a central external legal advice center for victims of abuse of power and for internal university departments was established.

Lawyer Martina Lörsch was commissioned to implement this initiative. Together with her colleagues, she offers independent and cross-university initial legal advice and supports those affected and internal university bodies in the legal classification of incidents and in questions regarding possible reporting and complaint channels.

The service is aimed at:

• all members of public universities (students and employees) and employees of university hospitals, as well as
• internal university contact and counseling centers (e.g., equal opportunity and anti-discrimination officers, AStA counseling centers, etc.).

The key features of the service are:

• Confidential, independent, and, if desired, anonymous legal advice (no legal representation, no client relationship, no investigation of the facts);
• Information about rights, obligations, possible complaint procedures (e.g., AGG or disciplinary complaints) and their consequences, including through workshops or training courses;
• Guidance on other internal and external contact points;
• Support, especially when internal counseling services are no longer sufficient or there is a lack of trust in them.

The contact point thus sees itself as a supplementary authority that does not replace internal university structures, but rather steps in where these reach their limits.

Phone: +49 221 973 128 53
Email: info@rechtsberatung-machtmissbrauch.nrw
Web: www.rechtsberatung-machtmissbrauch.nrw