Navigation: Home Back to Introduction Page
Dear Visitor
The Quality Circle of Insolvency Courts BW (hereinafter referred to as Quality Circle) is an association of insolvency judges working at seven different major insolvency courts in Baden-Württemberg (Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Karlsruhe, Ludwigsburg, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Ulm). Baden-Württemberg is a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Quality Circle was created upon the suggestion of Baden-Württemberg's former Minister of Justice, Professor Ulrich Goll, and the former chief presiding judge of the Landgericht (District Court) in Karlsruhe, Justice Alexander Riedel. The suggestion was made as a consequence of the case law by the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) regarding the structure and objectivity of the process of preselecting insolvency representatives. The quality circle was assigned the project of developing best practices for that preselection process in accordance with the case law requirements. It became apparent, however, that there were other insolvency related matters requiring attention by the quality circle as well. Therefore, the quality circle continued its work for several years.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the quality circle could no longer organize any meetings for insolvency judges since 2019. Its activities are currently dormant.
The Quality Circle's working objectives are
- to develop uniform standards for handling and organizing insolvency proceedings where practical;
- to create proprietary quality standards for the work performed by the insolvency courts and the insolvency representatives;
- to prepare helpful recommendations for the work of the insolvency courts "by the courts for the courts";
- to assist the Ministry of Justice in planning judicial education programs for the insolvency courts and by active contributions of its members as speakers during such programs.
So far, the Quality Circle has published the "Heidelberger Musterfragebogen" ("Heidelberg Model Questionnaire" - a questionnaire used for preselecting insolvency representatives) and the "Heidelberger Leitlinien" ("Heidelberg Guidelines" - guidelines for the improvement of the cooperation between insolvency representatives and insolvency courts). These documents can be downloaded here (left). To date, these documents are only available in German.
If you have any questions relating to this internet presence or to the Quality Circle, please use the email link in the left section of this page.