Jörn Groninger
Partner
Jörn Groninger grew up in Bremen and studied law and economics in Kiel. After having passed the master of law examinations he joined the adjusting office, gained some years of experience and was publicly appointed and sworn in 2002. In the following year he became partner, representing the fifth generation of the family in the firm.
Jörn is the current president of the German Association of Average Adjusters (Verein Deutscher Dispacheure, VDD) and a past president of the Association Mondiale de Dispacheurs (the worldwide average adjusters’ association, AMD). He is also member of the German Maritime Law Association and a subscriber / foreign member of the British and the US & Canadian Association of Average Adjusters. He is chairing a standing committee of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) on general average and used to hold lectures at the nautical branch of the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen.
In a sideline, and to keep up with developments in the legal field, from the beginning of his career Jörn Groninger has worked with the law firm Dr. Mahlstedt & Partner. As a lawyer, he specialises in transport and insurance matters.
Dirk Janssen
Partner
Dirk Janssen is the master mariner in the office. He studied physics and nautical science. After gaining practical experience on product tankers as second and chief officer, he worked for a P & I correspondent as claims handler for some years.
Early in 2007, he joined Groninger & Welke. After passing his exams he was publicly appointed and sworn in by the chamber of commerce. Dirk was granted partnership in 2012.
Karin Luedemann
Karin Luedemann started out as a shipping merchant apprentice and worked many years in this profession with focus on ship management and accounting. Since 2006 she has been employed with Groninger Welke Janssen.
Christina Rügge
Christina Rügge joined the firm in 2021 after having worked for a ship owning company as shipping merchant for several years. She gained special experience in handling major container ship casualties over the past years.
Seval Catalkaya
Seval Catalkaya started supporting the team as a trainee and meanwhile also works full time as an office clerk, also with special experience in major container casualties.
Christian Berger
Christian Berger assists with larger container casualties, leveraging his background in data science. He joined the office in 2025 after completing his master studies in business and data science in Zurich.