Hengeler Mueller partner Hans Jurgen Hellwig has been elected the next president of Europe’s umbrella bar on a platform of tough opposition to plans to liberalise the European Union’s (EU’s) legal services regime.

Hellwig, who takes over as head of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE) next year, is already preparing for a series of regulatory battles with the European Commission (EC) and national governments.