Research on enforcement and judicial law: new research center at the University of Kassel

The research center is nothing less than an academic novelty: while there have long been university institutes for lawyers' law (for example at the University of Cologne) or for lawyers' and notaries' law (at the University of Bielefeld), there is no such research center for the subject area of enforcement and judicial law in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and the German-speaking regions of Switzerland. "In addition, judicial law in particular is still far from being established as a research discipline in its own right at German universities, colleges or research institutions," explains the head of the research unit, Prof. Dr. Nikolaj Fischer.

At the beginning of July, the research center began its work at the Institute of Commercial Law, where it is part of the Department of Civil Law and Civil Procedure Law. It was established as part of a third-party funded project supported by the German Association of Bailiffs (DGVB) and is based on many years of cooperation between the DGVB and the head of the research center. Initial cooperation has already been initiated with a law department at the University of Bielefeld.

The bailiff system in particular has received little attention to date, Fischer explains in more detail: "In many places, legal policy is already finding it difficult to recognize the need for modern bailiff training. With the exception of the state of Baden-Württemberg, which has already implemented such university training since September 2016, and Berlin and Brandenburg, which have now introduced training reforms, many state justice administrations are still taking a wait-and-see approach, not to mention being reluctant to reform. Regardless of this, bailiffs have in fact long since embodied their own professional profile and are no longer just mid-level civil servants by virtue of - equally important - further professional training."

A "Research Center for Enforcement and Judicial Law" at a German university is therefore certainly a pioneer. It is helpful here that the University of Kassel has been successfully training commercial lawyers for many years in the Bachelor's and Master's degree courses in "Commercial Law", right up to the doctorate and habilitation in law. This combines legal and business studies content in a career-oriented way and (as an alternative to the classic "state examination" training) opens up access to many exciting professions with a legal focus, such as company lawyer, tax consultant or auditor. In addition, the research center also offers young academics qualification opportunities at the Department of Civil Law and Civil Procedure Law.

Further information: https://www.uni-kassel.de/forschung/forschungsstelle-fuer-zwangsvollstreckungs-und-justizrecht

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Nikolaj Fischer
Department of Civil Law and Civil Procedure
University of Kassel
Tel.: 0561 804-3636/3644
E-mail: nikolaj.fischer[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
or forschungsstellejustizrecht[at]uni-kassel[dot]de