The founder of Nörr Stiefenhofer Lutz was attorney Dr. Eduard Oehl. He opened a law office in Munich with two partners in 1950. In 1983 the partnership selected the names of senior partners Nörr, Stiefenhofer and Lutz as its new name.

In 1989 the partnership opened an office in Frankfurt am Main. Dresden, Budapest, and Prague followed in 1990, Warsaw in 1992, Berlin in 1993, Moscow in 1994, Bucharest in 1998, Düsseldorf in 1999, Bratislava in 2004, New York in 2005, Kiev in 2007,  London in 2010 and Alicante in 2011.

On 31 December 2009, the name of the law firm was shortened to Noerr. At the same time, its legal form in Germany changed from that of a German partnership to that of the internationally known and established English Limited Liability Partnership.

Increasing internationalisation of our client base is the reason. The law firm needs a name which is short, easily memorised and pronounced while retaining the goodwill established over many decades. Noerr, without the German "ö", was chosen so that the name would not become distorted in electronic communication.