1988, Law degree (Hons), University of Freiburg; 1989, LLM (Hons), University of London; 1992, Assessor (Hons), State of Hamburg, Germany; 1994, MPA, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; 1998, JD (Hons), University of Munich, Faculty of Law. 1993-95, Senior Research Fellow, Central European University Privatization Project; 1995-98, Research Associate, Harvard Institute for International Development; 1994-95 and 1998-99, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School; 1998-99, Research Associate, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg; 2000-01, Assistant Professor for Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. With Columbia Law School: 2001-04, Associate Professor of Law; since 2005, Professor of Law; 2008-2017, Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law; since 2017 Edwin B. Parker Prof of Comparative Law.