Part-Time Faculty
Ingeborg Schwenzer
Biography
Ingeborg Schwenzer is a tenured Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Basle, Switzerland since 1989. Her work in comparative law covers a broad range of research areas including general law of obligations including tort law and unjust enrichment, sales law both domestic and international, commercial arbitration as well as family law. Aside from teaching and publishing extensively in these subjects Professor Schwenzer assumes numerous other functions and memberships. These inter alia include her membership the International Academy of Comparative Law (since 2000), of the Expert Group of the Commission on European Family Law (since 2001), of the CISG Advisory Council (since 2003) and of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (since 2008). Since 2004 she also serves as Deputy Chairwoman of the Permanent Deputation of the Association of German Jurists.
Professor Schwenzer has studied at the Universities of Tübingen and Freiburg im Breisgau. She graduated with the 1st German state exam in law in the state of Baden Württemberg in 1975 and the second state exam in 1980. She holds a doctorate in law (Dr. iur., 1978, summa cum laude) from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and an LL.M. degree from the University of California, Berkeley (1976, summa cum laude). She also holds a habilitation (qualifying degree for a professorship) for private law, commercial law, private international law (conflicts of law) and comparative law from the University of Freiburg (1987).
Professor Schwenzer has published extensively in all of her areas of research. In particular, she is the editor and main contributor of the Commentary on the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) (3rd edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press: forthcoming 2010), a standard work of extensive annotations on the provisions of the CISG, incorporating the available jurisprudence in contracting states and international scholarship, and of its German language counterpart, Kommentar zum Einheitlichen UN-Kaufrecht (5th edition, Munich: Beck, 2008). She is furthermore the author of ten books and various other monographs, including a standard textbook on the general part of the Swiss Code of Obligations, now in its fifth edition (2009), a textbook on comparative law, second edition forthcoming, and a comparative study on German and American law of the sale of goods. In 2007 Professor Schwenzer has started the Global Sales Law Project at the University of Basle with researchers from all over the world.
Professor Schwenzer is also active in all areas of legal practice. In particular, she acts as arbitrator in international disputes. Since 1991 she is a member of the Examination Board for the cantonal Bar Exam of Basel-Land, Switzerland. Furthermore, she has served as expert for legislative bodies, courts and international arbitral tribunals. In 1994 she has counselled the Government of the Russian Federation in the course of the drafting of the new Russian Civil Code. Several times she has been called as expert to the Legal Committee of the German Federal Parliament. She has acted as expert witness for the German Federal Government before the German Constitutional Court and as party appointed expert for German and Swiss law before American (e.g. Supreme Court of the State of New York in 2006), German, Swiss, French, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian courts and numerous international arbitration tribunals.
| Education: | 1st State Exam, Baden-Württemberg, 1975 LL.M., University of California - Berkeley, 1976 Dr. iur, University of Freiburg im Breisgau, 1978 2nd State Exam (Bar Exam), Baden-Württemberg, 1980 Habilitation, University of Freiburg im Breisgau, 1987 |
| Present Position: | Tenured Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Basle, Switzerland |
| Course taught: | Contracts for International Sales of Goods |
| Contact: | Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Schwenzer, LL.M. Faculty of Law, University of Basle Peter Merian-Weg 8 P.O. Box 4002 Basel ++41-61-267-2540 Ingeborg.Schwenzer@unibas.ch |
