Venice Commission of the Council of Europe

• International Judge at the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Professor at Cologne University / Chair of Constitutional Law, Public International Law and Comparative Law/ Director of the Institute for Eastern European Law and Comparative Law
• Founding Director of the Academy of European Human Rights Protection, Cologne
• Member of the Venice Commission;

2020-2021: 

• Chairwoman of a fact-finding Commission on extremism in the Police of Hessen (appointed by the Government of Hessen for a period of ten months)
• Member of an Expert Commission on the reform of the French Court of Cassation;

2017-2019 - Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights

2015-2017 - President of Section V of the ECtHR

2012-2015 -  Vice-President of Section V of the ECtHR

2011-2019 - Judge at the European Court of Human Rights (elected on behalf of Germany)

2010 - Vice Rector for Academic Career, Diversity and International Affairs at the University of Cologne

2009 - Member of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia (IIFFMCG) led by Heidi Tagliavini

2006-2010 - Substitute Member of the Venice Commission 

2003-2010 - Member of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations of the International Labour Organisation

Starting from 2002 -

• Full Professor of Law at the University of Cologne; Chair of Constitutional Law, Public International Law and Comparative Law; 
• Director of the Institute for Eastern European Law and Comparative Law;

2001-2002 - Legal Advisor (Council of Europe), General Directorate III (Social Cohesion)

STUDIES

• 1982-1985 - Studies in Slavic Languages and Literature (complementary subjects: French Literature, Modern German Literature), University of Munich
• 1984-1989 - Studies in law, University of Munich; Short-term studies in Russian language and literature, Pushkin-Institute Moscow
• 1987/1988 - Courses in comparative law, Strasbourg and Coimbra
• 1994-1995 - Visiting Researcher, Harvard University

ACADEMIC DEGREES

• 1987 - Magister Artium, University of Munich
• 1988 - Diplôme en droit comparé, Strasbourg University
• 1989 - First State Exam in Law, Munich
• 1993 - PhD, University of Würzburg
• 1993 - Second State Exam, Heidelberg 
• 2002 - Habilitation, University of Munich

HONOURS AND AWARDS

• Honorary Bencher at Lincoln’s Inn (2020)
• Election to the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (2019)
• Honorary Certificate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (2019)
• Officier de la Légion d’honneur, France (2019)
• Doctor honoris causa of the Lucian-Blagu University of Sibiu, Romania (2019)
• Arthur-Burkhardt Prize (2019)
• Doctor honoris causa of the Higher School of Advocacy of the Ukrainian Bar Association (2018)
• Prize of the Schader-Foundation (2015)
• Doctor honoris causa, University of Tbilissi (2010)
• Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (1982-1987)

MEMBERSHIPS

• Member of the Brexit Arbitration Panel
• Member of the Consultative Council of the German Foreign Office
• Member of the Commission on the reform of the French Court of Cassation
• Chairwoman of the Advisory Board of the Stiftung Forum Recht
• Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law
• Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law
• Member of the permanent deputation of the German Jurists‘ Conference
• Member of the Association of German Constitutional Law Professors
• Member of the Presidium of the Gesellschaft für Rechtspolitik
• Member of the Scientific Directorate of the Institute for European Politics
• Member of the Senate of the Schader Foundation
• Member of the Foundation Council of the Centre for East European and International Studies