The German LAW FIRM MERENYI was founded in 2006 by Stefanie Merenyi. Already equipped with an apprenticeship as Chemical Laboratory Assistant and a diploma in Chemical Information Sciences from the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt, she studied law at Frankfurt/Main University (1999-2003). Parallel to these studies she worked as a research associate at the policy research group sofia. Here, she got involved in the drafting of several legal opinions on various federal and European legislation and legislative proposals (eg. REACH, regulation of nanoscaled substances, etc.). After completing both state examinations, she was admitted to the Frankfurt Bar and became an independent Rechtsanwaeltin (attorney-at-law).
Right from the beginning she pursued a special boutique concept, the provision of legal advice which, in her opinion, is needed for a fruitful interaction of law and natural sciences. Very soon, however, it became apparent, that this interaction obviously still missed a sound theoretical foundation, not only in practicing the law but also in legal science. After a short period of trying to overcome this deficiency, Stefanie Merenyi eventually decided to work on this foundation herself in a legal PhD. Here, she analysed the development and significance of the legal term substance in consideration of the substance specific patent system. This work started in 2010, again at the law faculty of Frankfurt/Main University (Prof. Dr. Eckard Rehbinder, first advisor) and subsequently joined into an intriguing collaboration with the Department of Legal and Constitutional History at the University Vienna (Prof. Dr. Thomas Simon, second adviser).
The outcome was a systematic approach to several aspects: the establishment of the different natural sciences themselves, their manifold effects on society and vice versa, and finally their equally manifold effects on the law. As a result from the latter, the work presented a first survey of specific needs for new developments in both, legal theory and practice. Eventually in 2018, it was completed summa cum laude in both, the written part as well as the defence, and awarded the Baker McKenzie Award for one of the two best business law dissertations (see also Publications).