Burkhard Hess

Prof. Burkhard Hess is the founding and executive director of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law (since 2012). He holds Honorary Professorships at Heidelberg University and the University of Luxembourg. His expertise spans civil law, civil procedure law, international private law, comparative law, and European legal frameworks.

Education: Studied law at Universities of Würzburg, Lausanne, and Munich (LL.M. 1990). Venia Legendi in civil law, civil procedure, private international law, European law, and public international law (1996).

Research Interests: Focuses on European civil procedural law, cross-border litigation, and modernization of judicial cooperation. Author of Europäisches Zivilprozessrecht (2nd ed., 2021) and co-editor of IPRax and the Journal of International Procedural Law.

Professional Roles: Advisor to the European Commission, European Parliament, and Council of Europe. Served as part-time judge at the Court of Appeal of Karlsruhe. Active in global legal networks, including Chair of the German Association of International Procedural Law and Vice-President Europe of the International Association of Procedural Law.

Awards: Honorary doctorates from University of Ghent (2015) and University of Thessaloniki (2016). Academician of the Accademia delle Scienze di Bologna (2017) and Associate of the Institut de Droit international (2019).