Philipp Ceesay

Philipp Ceesay is a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Private Law and currently serves as a substitute professor for private law at Leuphana University Lüneburg. He holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and completed his habilitation in succession law at Bucerius Law School, initiated in October 2024. His research focuses on corporate law, succession law, and comparative legal frameworks, with a historical and procedural lens.

Education: Studied law at Friedrich Schiller University Jena (2007–2013), including an Erasmus exchange at Trinity College Dublin. Earned a doctorate in 2014 on directors’ liability in stock corporation law, funded by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. Completed an LL.M. at Harvard Law School (2016–2017) with scholarships from ERP and DAAD.

Key Roles: Vice Chair of the Society for Young Civil Law Scholars (2019–2021), co-organizer of their 2021 conference, and member of the European Law Institute’s Project Group on Digital Inheritance since 2022. Taught courses in comparative law, bar exam preparation, and corporate law specialization at Bucerius and University of Jena.

Research Interests: Explores formal requirements in succession law, digital inheritance harmonization, and cross-border legal frameworks. His habilitation thesis analyzes the erosion and resilience of formal requirements in succession law from historical-comparative and procedural perspectives.

Awards: Recognized for his doctoral work with prestigious institutional prizes. Actively contributes to legal education and interdisciplinary projects, bridging traditional and modern legal challenges.