Sandra Scherbarth

lawyer
criminal defense attorney

Sandra Scherbarth advises and defends clients in all areas of criminal law. She has extensive litigation experience, particularly in white-collar crime cases. This includes defending clients in criminal court proceedings against charges of (billing) fraud, corruption, delaying insolvency, and money laundering, as well as violations of the German Pharmaceuticals Act and the Foreign Trade Act. Her practice also includes extensive tax and drug-related criminal proceedings and appeal proceedings before the Federal Court of Justice. She also represents clients in appeal proceedings and in the area of international mutual legal assistance, particularly in extradition proceedings.

Raised on Lake Constance, attorney Scherbarth studied in Freiburg, Berlin, and Coimbra (Portugal). After completing her studies and parallel to her legal traineeship, she worked for several years as a research assistant in law firms specializing in commercial law and commercial and tax criminal law. She completed her legal traineeship at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court, including placements at the Federal Ministry of Economics in Berlin and a commercial criminal law boutique in Hamburg.

Sandra Scherbarth is a member of the board of Hamburg Bar Association (HAV) and there, among other things, responsible for the criminal law working group.

Memberships

• Criminal Law Working Group of the German Bar Association (DAV)
• Hamburg Bar Association (HAV)
• Hamburg Working Group for Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Economic Criminal Law Association (WisteV)
• Lawyers in commercial and tax criminal law (JuWiSt)

Publications:

Articles and decision notes in professional journals

Comment on the decision of the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court of February 14, 2024 – 18 Qs 51/23: Are anonymous tips a basis for suspicion for a search warrant? NZWiSt 2025, 120.

Law enforcement and whistleblowing – gathering information from insiders as an investigative method? HRRS 9/2024, pp. 273-282.

Comment on the ECtHR judgment Gawlik v. Liechtenstein: Whistleblowers' obligation to conduct a reasonable investigation of information, CB 2021, pp. 490-492.

Whistleblowing Systems: A systematic literature review on the design specifications and the consideration of the risk for organizational insiders to blow the whistle, Journal of Corporate Ownership & Control, 18(2) 2021, pp. 60-73 (together with Prof. Dr. Stefan Behringer).

Protection of Secrets under the GeschGehG – Current information on the requirements for appropriate protective measures, whistleblowing and NDAs, CB 2019, pp. 49-54 (together with Dr. Malte Passarge).

Design guidelines for whistleblower systems taking into account whistleblower risk, ZRFC 2019, pp. 157-163 (together with Prof. Dr. Stefan Behringer).

Competition Law Case Law Overview 2017/2018, CB 2018, pp. 460-464 (together with Dr. Malte Passarge).

Online contributions

Charges against the entire board of the Istanbul Bar Association. In: Lawyers' Journal 10.06.2025.

False trust. In: Constitutional Blog 01.05.2025 (together with Noah Kistner).

Criminal prosecution of lawyers in Turkey. In: Lawyers' Journal 07.03.2025 (together with Yaşar Ohle).