Jan-Erik Schirmer

Dr. Jan-Erik Schirmer is a Privatdozent (Lecturer) at the Faculty of Law, Humboldt University of Berlin. His academic career includes completing his habilitation with the thesis 'Sustainable Private Law' (2023) and earning his doctorate with the dissertation 'Corporate Crime' (2015), which received the Ernst Reuter Prize and the Best Dissertation Prize from Free University Berlin.

His educational background includes:

• First and Second State Examination (Staatsexamen) in Law
• Doctorate (summa cum laude) in Law
• Habilitation in Law

Dr. Schirmer's research focuses on the intersection of traditional legal frameworks with contemporary societal challenges. His work particularly examines how private law, especially company law, can adapt to address sustainability concerns and the digital transformation. He explores innovative legal concepts for emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, while also investigating how legal structures can better serve environmental protection goals. His approach often incorporates interdisciplinary perspectives, drawing from cognitive linguistics to analyze legal metaphors and their impact on legal reasoning.

His recent publications demonstrate a clear trend toward addressing climate-related legal issues, examining how corporate law can incorporate sustainability principles, and exploring the legal implications of emerging technologies. Schirmer has developed a distinctive approach that connects traditional private law doctrines with contemporary societal challenges, particularly focusing on how legal frameworks can facilitate rather than hinder societal transformation toward more sustainable and technologically advanced futures.

His scientific awards include:

• Ernst Reuter Prize by the Ernst Reuter Society for outstanding dissertations of the 2015 academic year
• Best Dissertation Prize by the Free University Berlin, Department of Law, for the best dissertation of the 2015 academic year
• Scholarship by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung)

Dr. Schirmer has received research funding from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) for his work on company law and the role of private law in societal transformation. He was a member of a publicly funded research project on regional integration in East Africa and joined the Future Faculty at the Institute of Advanced Study Berlin in 2017. His international collaborations include positions as an External Research Associate with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (Global Perspectives on Corporate Climate Legal Tactics) and the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme.

His academic network extends through visiting researcher positions at Yale University, University of Oxford, and University of Dar es Salaam. He has also participated in numerous international conferences and workshops, including the Japanese-French-German DWIH Symposium on Artificial Intelligence in Tokyo and the Sustainable Law Programme workshop at Oxford University.