Günter Hirsch

Günter Hirsch is a German legal scholar and a former president of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany.

Life

Hirsch was born in Neuburg an der Donau as the second child of his father Erhard Hirsch and his mother Anni Hirsch in January 30, 1943. After the primary school he attended the grammar school in Neuburg, where he got the Abitur in 1964. From 1964 to 1969 he studied law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In 1969 he did his first state exam, followed by the second one in 1973. In this time he also worked as a research assistant at the chair of criminal law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. There he also did his doctoral degree.

In 1973 Hirsch started working in the Bavarian judicial service: First as a public prosecutor between 1975 and 1976 and from 1976 until 1980 as a judge at a municipal court (“"Amtsgericht"”). After he attended a 15-month administrative management course of the state chancellery of Bavaria he became a presiding judge at a regional court (“"Landgericht"”) from 1982 to 1984. Later he worked in the Bavarian state ministry of justice, where he finally became the a assistant director and the head of the division for legislative planning, constitutional law and European law between 1989 and 1992.

Then he became the president of diverse courts: From the 1 September 1992 until the 31 December 1992 he was the president of the district court Dresden (“"Bezirksgericht"”), from 1993 until 6 October 1994 he was the president of the higher regional court of Dresden (“"Oberlandesgericht"”) and finally between 6 June 1993 and 31 March 1995 he was also the president of the constitutional court (“"Verfassungsgerichtshof"”) of the Free State of Saxony. Since 1994 until 2000 he was a appointed judge at the European Court of Justice as well.

For eight years, between 2000 and January 2008, he was the president of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany. He is the vice president of the association of the presidents of the highest courts of justice of the European Union as well as the president of the academy for management and commerce Baden in Karlsruhe. He is a member of the disciplinary commission of the FIFA, a member of academy ethics in medicine, a member of the society for comparative law and a member of the society for public international law. From 1984 until 1994 he was also the secretary-general and vice president of the German society for medical law.

Hirsch is a honorary professor for European law and medical law at the Saarland University. He also published numerous publications in the field of criminal law, medical law, public law and European law. Hirsch is married with Marta Hirsch-Ziembiñska, a jurist and diplomat.

References

* [http://www.bundesgerichtshof.de/bgh/praesidenten/hirsch.php Website of the German Federal Court of Justice]