Germany's highest court ruled this week that Volkswagen must pay compensation to the owner of a secondhand VW van fitted with emissions-cheating software, paving the way for 60,000 related claims. 

The landmark ruling means the carmaker is now required to take back the claimant's vehicle and pay him more than €28,000 ($30,700).

In 2015, Volkswagen admitted to having intentionally programmed diesel engines installed in millions of cars globally to skirt U.S. emissions standards.

The ruling, issued Monday, brings some finality to a scandal that has dogged the German carmaker for five years and has involved as many as 26 law firms. As the matter reaches a conclusion, some of the law firms involved in the case, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Pinsent Masons and Taylor Wessing, are expected to see their local earnings drop off, people close to the situation have said. 

"The diesel complex has not fundamentally changed the legal market but it has brought an extraordinary volume of work for everyone," said Rupprecht Graf von Pfeil, a partner at Venturis Consulting Group, a law-firm strategy consulting company in Munich. 

Law firms benefited from the large number of cases the German carmaker has racked up globally since Dieslegate broke in 2015. The company has spent roughly €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) on Dieselgate-related legal representation and advice, according to a company representative.

VW owners in Germany were given the choice of joining the newly created Musterfeststellungsklage, a declaratory, or civil law collective action similar to a class action, or bringing individual suits against VW. The declaratory action allows qualified institutions, such as consumer organizations, to bring actions against companies to determine the validity of consumer claims against the company.

Last month, VW settled the German action, guaranteeing VW owners between €1,350 and €6,250 ($1,480-$6,860). Roughly 240,000 owners opted to accept the payment, costing the company approximately €750 million ($824 million).

Because not all owners joined the action, the company is left with roughly 60,000 claims to settle in Germany. Freshfields was hired by Volkswagen to handle the cases, while several other firms are helping settle cases as they arrive in Germany's lower and midlevel courts. These firms include Luther, a German firm based in Berlin, as well as U.K.-based Pinsent Masons and Taylor Wessing, and KPMG Law. Throughout the scandal, about 26 firms have been part of the German carmaker's legal team, a source close to the matter said. 

Taylor Wessing said in a statement: "We employed the additional personnel required on the basis of fixed-term employment contracts that expire when the Diesel mandate is terminated. In the meantime, we have been able to recruit a large number of these colleagues for other areas. In this respect, too, we have benefited from the Diesel mandate."

Freshfields partners Patrick Schöder, Martina de Lind van Wijngaarden and Moritz Becker were tasked with coordinating the Volkswagen work, according to a person at the firm. 

While a number of issues still have to be settled in court, including whether Volkwagen has to pay interest on the settlement amounts, Monday's ruling signals the beginning of the end of the Dieselgate proceedings. 

"While it may take some time to settle all cases, an end is in sight," Venturis' Graf von Pfeil said. 

But the carmaker's legal troubles do not end there. In June, the high court will resume hearing arguments over whether Volkswagen breached its duty to inform investors by withholding information about the Dieselgate scandal in the months before it became public in 2015. The case, which is slated to run through the end of the year, will deal with billions of euros in damages that investors say they suffered as a result of Volkswagen's delay in reporting its diesel troubles. 

Volkswagen is being represented by Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz in that case.

Freshfields and Pinsent Masons did not respond to requests for comment.

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