Holger Baumann urges Leinen to abandon the defense

Holger Baumann’s attempt to remove Caspar Leinen from Fabrizio Collini’s defense turns a quiet conversation at a company party into a test of whether the case can be contained through money and professional pressure. Baumann offers Leinen a way out, a swift end to the trial, and an attractive career prospect; Leinen recognizes the proposal as an attempt to purchase silence and refuses it.

The Approach at the Lakeside Party

Baumann opens by asking how the trial is going. Leinen answers that it is only going so-so and makes clear, by his reluctance to discuss it, that he does not welcome the question. Looking again at the black lake, he is drawn into a different conversation when Baumann says he has a proposition. Baumann claims not to care what sentence Collini receives. Leinen answers dryly that this is the correct attitude, while the narration makes clear he dislikes where the discussion is heading.

Baumann then discloses that he knows Leinen has been to Ludwigsburg and tells him to give up the brief. The reference makes the proposal more than a general concern about the trial: Baumann has noticed Leinen’s investigation and is addressing him at the point where that work might affect the case. Leinen does not answer at once. He waits to hear what else Baumann will say, allowing the offer to unfold before deciding how to respond.

The setting sharpens the difference between Baumann’s manner and the substance of his words. He speaks in a friendly voice at a party beside the lake, but the conversation concerns withdrawing a defense lawyer from a murder trial. A large boat approaches through the mist; passengers can be heard, its navigation lights fall across the landing stage and reflect in Baumann’s glasses. The public gathering continues around them, while the exchange becomes increasingly private and coercive.

A Managed Exit from the Case

Baumann presents withdrawal as easy and even protective. He says he has practiced law and understands a lawyer’s ambition and the intensity of staking everything on a case. Leinen, he argues, is not just any young lawyer: he is connected to the Meyer family and has a future to protect. Baumann’s case for withdrawal is therefore framed as concern for Leinen’s prospects, not as a demand that he change the outcome for Collini.

The practical mechanism is explicit. Meyer Engineering Works would pay for a replacement court-appointed defense lawyer, and Baumann says someone suitable has already been identified. With that lawyer appointed, Leinen would automatically be released from the case. Baumann lays out the arrangement as a clean exit that would free Leinen of his brief, rather than as interference with a defense. His hand on Leinen’s arm and his increasingly childlike manner of address make the appeal personal, even as the proposal comes from the company.

Baumann also identifies the company’s institutional interest. The company wants the trial to end quickly because each day under publicity is damaging to it. He says the company does not want to know what Leinen has been digging up in Ludwigsburg, but that disclaimer sits uneasily beside his knowledge of Leinen’s visit and his insistence on ending the trial. Leinen replies that he cannot help the publicity; Baumann insists that he can, by making no plea in court and letting the proceedings end quietly.

Money, Silence, and Career Prospects

The proposal extends beyond replacing Leinen. Baumann says the company would speak to the court and explain that it would agree to a lenient sentence. He then offers compensation for Collini’s cooperation, followed by the clarification that the company would pay a considerable sum to bring the trial to a swift end. The offer thus joins two forms of pressure: a payment directed at the defendant’s cooperation and a bargain designed to keep the proceedings short. Leinen’s dry mouth and momentary inability to take in the offer register the shock of hearing a man’s past treated as something money can buy.

Baumann also tries to make the bargain attractive to Leinen personally. He points to the modest conditions of the younger lawyer’s practice: chambers at the back of a building, a fifteen-year-old car, and work on small drug cases and bar fights. In contrast, he offers a place representing a defendant in what he describes as a potentially enormous insider-dealing trial in Düsseldorf. The proposed rate is 2,500 euros a day, plus expenses; the main trial would last at least a year and involve at least a hundred days in court. Baumann adds that the company could help Leinen obtain other briefs, presenting acceptance as a choice with consequences for the rest of his career.

The scale and specificity of the offer make its purpose unmistakable. Leinen would leave Collini’s defense, the trial would end quietly, and the company would avoid further days of damaging publicity; in exchange, Collini’s cooperation would be compensated and Leinen would gain access to better-paid work. Baumann continues speaking, but Leinen stops listening. His attention shifts away from the promised career and toward the fact that the company is trying to buy its way out of the case.

Refusal and Its Immediate Consequence

Leinen refuses the offer. Baumann’s astonishment is genuine, and Leinen gets to his feet, tells him that he does not understand, and leaves the landing stage. The refusal is more than rejection of a particular fee or job: it preserves Leinen’s role in defending Collini and rejects the company’s attempt to turn that defense into a negotiable obstacle.

Before leaving, Leinen asks whether Johanna Meyer knows about the arrangement. Baumann says she does not and describes it as a matter between the company and Leinen. That answer confirms that the approach is being made without her knowledge. Leinen concludes that the company is afraid and that his inquiries have led him in the right direction, though the recognition brings him no satisfaction. The offer has therefore supplied him with evidence of the company’s anxiety even as it fails to secure his withdrawal.

The scene closes not with a further argument but with the physical separation created by Leinen’s decision. He walks back toward the marquee as Baumann calls after him. The boat turns on the lake, its lights illuminating the bank; guests in evening dress raise their glasses to its passengers. Diesel and decay linger in the closing image, while the party carries on around an attempt to silence the defense that has just failed.