Sandra Scherbarth
lawyer
criminal defense attorney
Specialist lawyer for criminal law
Sandra Scherbarth advises and defends clients in all areas of criminal law. A certified specialist in criminal law, she possesses extensive litigation experience, particularly in white-collar crime cases. This includes defending against charges of (billing) fraud, corruption, delaying insolvency proceedings, breach of trust, and money laundering, as well as violations of the German Medicines Act and the Foreign Trade and Payments Act, and tax evasion proceedings. She also handles complex narcotics cases and appeals before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). Furthermore, she represents clients in matters of international legal assistance, especially 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.
„Lawyers of the Future – Ones to Watch 2027“
In the category of white-collar crime
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
Review of Gramlich/Lütke, „GeschGehG HinSchG – Tension between the protection of trade secrets and whistleblowing“, WiJ 02/2026.
Commentary on the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 23 January 2025 (2 BvR 5/25): Disproportionality of an extradition detention order, StV-Spezial 2025, pp. 145-147.
Comment on the decision of the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court of 14 February 2024 – 18 Qs 51/23: Anonymous tips as a basis for suspicion for a search warrant? NZWiSt 2025, pp. 120-122.
Law enforcement and whistleblowing – gathering information from insiders as an investigative method? HRRS 9/2024, pp. 273-282.
Commentary on the ECtHR judgment Gawlik v. Liechtenstein: Duty of whistleblowers to conduct a reasonable review 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).
Trade secret protection under the German Trade Secrets Act (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 the risk to whistleblowers, ZRFC 2019, pp. 157-163 (together with Prof. Dr. Stefan Behringer).
Overview of competition law case law 2017/2018, CB 2018, pp. 460-464 (together with Dr. Malte Passarge).
Online contributions
Continued attacks against the legal profession in Turkey. In: Lawyers' Journal 28.01.2026.
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 YaÅŸar Ohle).
lectures
„"Defending effectively – trial behavior and consequences for sentencing"“ – JUST Forum of the Criminal Law Working Group of the German Bar Association, July 10, 2026, Erfurt.
„Report on trial observation in Turkey / Commitment to protecting the legal profession“ – Event organized by the German Bar Association (DAV) in cooperation with Amnesty International eV on the state of the rule of law in Turkey, December 8, 2025, Berlin.