[4][5] After his forced resettlement from Estonia to the province of Posen and his schooling there, Maydell fled to the west with his family in February 1945 and settled in Hesse.
In 1975 von Maydell accepted the chair for social law at the Free University of Berlin, which he held until 1981.
From 1990 to 1992 he was spokesman for the research training group "European and International Business Law".
After his retirement at the end of July 2002, von Maydell continued and expanded his advisory work on an international level.
He also participated in the expert committee of the Bertelsmann Foundation "Zielen in den Altenpolitik".