Birke Häcker

Prof. Birke Häcker holds the Schlegel Chair in Civil Law, Common Law, and Comparative Law at the University of Bonn, directing the Institute of International and Comparative Private Law. She previously led the Institute of European and Comparative Law at Oxford (2018–2022) and held the Oxford Chair in Comparative Law (2016–2022). Educated at Oxford and German law schools, she earned a D.Phil. (2007) and later an honorary doctorate from Stockholm (2023). Her research focuses on German/English/European private law structures, comparative legal systems, and legal history.

Education highlights include a Second German State Examination (Munich, 2011), D.Phil. from Oxford (2007), and First German State Examination (Cologne, 2004). She completed legal training at Munich Higher Regional Court (2009–2011).

Research interests span contract law, tort law, unjust enrichment, property law, and succession law. She explores civil vs common law comparisons and common law historical evolution. Recent work examines freedom/liberty concepts in private law and causal links in contractual obligations across systems.

Awards include the Therese von Bayern Prize (2015) and honorary memberships in Lincoln’s Inn and Academia Europaea. She serves on editorial boards for Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht and Studies of the Oxford Institute, and chairs the German Academic Scholarship Foundation’s executive board.

Her career includes research at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law (2011–2016) and teaching at LMU Munich. Current affiliations include Bonn’s Dependency/Slavery Studies Centre and the Stockholm Centre for Commercial Law.