Dr. Oliver Tolmein co-founded Menschen und Rechte - Assoziation freier Rechtsanwält*innen. He specialises in medical law, disability law, criminal law (in particular, legal representation of victims and witnesses) and anti-discrimination law. He is permitted to use the title "specialist solicitor for medical law".

Solicitor Dr. Oliver Tolmein is lecturer for medical law at the University of Göttingen. He teaches at the Academy of European Law in Trier and he is commissioned by the German Bar Association to train prospective specialist lawyers for social welfare law in the core area of disability law.

Furthermore, he is a regular author for the Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (New Legal Weekly). He frequently gives lectures/workshops on bio-ethical medical law and criminal law-related topic.

Solicitor Dr. Oliver Tolmein has also published several books and has made documentary films. His dissertation, published in 2004, is entitled "The right to self-determination and the capacity to consent. Stopping artificial alimentation in the case of patients in a vegetative state from a comparative legal perspective."

Solicitor Dr. Oliver Tolmein is spokeman of the section on the legal profession at the German Society for Palliative Medicine. He is also involved in Netzwerk Artikel 3 (Network Article 3).

He co-founded the Christian Geissler Foundation and is an active member of its executive board. Furthermore, he is a member of the Academy for Ethics in Medicine and of the committee on social welfare law and medical law of the German Bar Association (DAV). 

Before qualifying as a solicitor, Dr. Oliver Tolmein worked as assistant director at the Schauspiel Frankfurt and at the national theatre in Mannheim. He was also editor and author for newspapers journals and broadcasting agencies. He received the “Medizin und Gewissen” (medicine and conscience) award of Ärzte für soziale Verantwortung/IPPNW for his reporting on Bioethics.

Today he continues writing for the Feuilleton of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; for the critical journal for medical practicioners Dr med. Mabuse; for WDR (West-German broadcasting Agency), and for Monatsmagazin konkret.

For over 30 years Dr. Oliver Tolmein has kept close contact with persons and initiatives of the disability rights movement. He is married (for the 2nd time) and has three children.