Who is who in the Center

Prof. Dr. Karsten Thorn, LL.M., holds a chair for Civil Law, International Private and Trade Law and Comparative Law at Bucerius Law School. He is a co-author of several leading commentaries in the field of private international law, including the Palandt commentary on the German BGB and ancillary laws. In addition, Prof. Thorn is a co-editor of the IPRax, the leading journal on international private law in German language.

In his research and teaching, Prof. Thorn focusses inter alia on international private law and international dispute resolution paying specific attention to arbitration and international civil procedural law. He is a well-known expert in international law matters and a frequent speaker at conferences, including the prestigious Hague Academy of International Law.

Chair of Karsten Thorn

Prof. Dr. Stefan Kröll is one of Germany’s leading experts on international arbitration and a full professor at Bucerius Law School. He has acted as arbitrator in over 100 arbitral proceedings covering all areas of international commercial law and involving private as well as state parties. Prof. Kröll has published and edited several internationally renowned treatises and commentaries and numerous journal articles on arbitration, international procedural law and international contract law. In his teaching at Bucerius, Prof. Kröll holds inter alia lectures and seminars on arbitration topics and thereby gives students insights into the praxis of international dispute resolution. Further, Prof. Kröll is a director of the Willem C. Vis Arbitration Moot in Vienna and Germany’s national correspondent to UNCITRAL.

Website of Stefan Kröll

Prof. Clifford Larsen is the Dean of the Bucerius Master of Law and Business (LLM/MLB) Program. He received his B.A. from Tulane University, a B.A. and M.A. from Oxford University (where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar) and his J.D. from the University of Virginia. In 1993, after practice of law at White & Case in New York City and S.G. Archibald in Paris, Larsen received an offer of a professorship from Washington & Lee University. In his 13 years there, he published a number of articles, in German and English, primarily in the areas of arbitration and comparative law, became a full professor, and was named Director of International Legal Studies Programs. As well as teaching in Mexico and frequently in Cologne for the University of California, he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar and Commerzbank Visiting Professor of Law at the Bucerius Law School, during which time he taught in English in the International Program and in German in the LL.B. curriculum. He is a member of the New York and Louisiana Bars and is avocat à la cour de Paris.

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Prof. Dr. Mehrdad Payandeh holds the Chair for International Law, European Law and Public Law at Bucerius Law School. Born in Tehran in 1978 he studied law at Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf. After passing the First State Exam he worked as a research assistant at the Chair for International Law, European Law and German and Foreign Public Law at Heinrich-Heine-University. In 2008, he finished his doctoral thesis in international law, and in 2009 passed the Second State Exam, after a legal clerkship that took him to the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations in New York, Hengeler Mueller, as well as the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. After obtaining an LL.M. at Yale Law School he returned to Heinrich-Heine-University as a research assistant and from 2012 until 2016 he worked there as a Junior Professor for International Law and Public Law. In 2016 he finished his habilitation with a thesis in constitutional law, before joining Bucerius Law School.

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Dr. Friedrich Rosenfeld is partner at the arbitration boutique Hanefeld Rechtsanwälte in Hamburg, Germany. The Bucerius alumnus acts as counsel, expert and arbitrator. In addition, Dr. Rosenfeld is Global Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law in Paris, lecturer for investment arbitration at Bucerius Law School as well as Visiting Professor for arbitration at the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki. In 2014, he was appointed Global Hauser Fellow from Practice & Government at NYU School of Law. Before joining Hanefeld Rechtsanwälte, he worked as a consultant for the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials in Cambodia. The focus of his professional practice and academic work is international arbitration and public international law.

Research Assistant at Bucerius Center for International Dispute Resolution.