Birke Häcker (born 1977) is a German

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the a ...

. Since January 2023 she has been Professor for Civil Law, Common Law and Comparative Law at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

and Director of the Institute for International Private Law and Comparative Law at the

. From 2016 to 2022, she was the Professor of Comparative Law at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and a

Professorial Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...

Early life and education

Häcker was born in 1977.'HÄCKER, Prof. Birke',

Who's Who 2017 ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 19 June 2017
/ref> She studied law at

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in 2001. She then studied at the

, where she completed a Diplom-Jurist (Dipl-Jur) degree in 2004. That year, she also sat and passed the 1st German State Examination in Law. Having returned to Oxford, she completed her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(DPhil) degree in 2007. Her

doctoral thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

was titled "Consequences of Impaired Consent Transfers: A Structural Comparison of English and German Law". She sat and passed the 2nd German State Examination in Law in 2011.

Academic career

From 2001 to 2008, Häcker held an elected

Examination Fellow All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

ship of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

. From 2008 to 2016, she was a

research associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

and then

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

in law at

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

in Germany. She was also a

Senior Research Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

at the

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance The Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance is an interdisciplinary research center in Munich. The Institute is part of the Max Planck Society, Germany’s foremost provider of basic research in science and humanities, funded largely ...

in Munich, and a Fifty-Pound Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, between 2011 and 2016. In December 2015, it was announced that Häcker would be the next

Linklaters Professor of Comparative Law The Professorship of Comparative Law is a chair in law at the University of Oxford. The current holder of the chair is Lionel Smith. The chair was founded as the Professorship of Comparative Law in 1948 and was the first chair of comparative law ...

at the

in succession to

Stefan Vogenauer Stefan Vogenauer (born 1968 in Eutin) is a German legal scholar who is the director of the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History. He was previously Linklaters Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Oxford. References

...

. She took up the appointment on 1 September 2016. She was additionally so elected a

in law at

in 2016. The Linklaters Professorship of Comparative Law reverted to the name Professor of Comparative Law at the start of 2018 because

Linklaters Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London. Founded in 1838, it is one of the four ' Magic Circle' law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise. It currently employs about 3,100 lawyers in 31 of ...

' funding of the chair had come to an end. In 2023, she moved to the

, where she holds a Schlegel "Excellence" Chair.

Personal life

Häcker is married to Tobias Reker. Together they have one daughter.

Selected works

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Häcker, Birke 1977 births Living people German legal scholars Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford Linklaters Professors of Comparative Law Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford University of Bonn alumni Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Scholars of comparative law Women jurists Women legal scholars