Johannes Riedel

Advisory Council - Germany

 

 

Born in Rosenheim, Germany, on August 11, 1949.

 

1967 - 1971 Studies at Bonn University.

 

1971 First State Exam in Law (Graduation)

 

1972 Research assistant at Bochum University.

 

1972 - 1973 Postgraduate studies at London University; LL.M.

 

1973 - 1976 Practical legal training (Referendar) in Bonn.

 

1976 Second State Exam in Law (Final Examination, qualifying for all legal positions)

 

1976 Judge at the provincial court in Bonn; work in civil cases and in the court administration (disciplinary matters, staff management, court organization).

 

1983 Member of the state Office for Law Exams at the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia

 

1983 – 1986 Work in the Ministry of Justice and the state Office for Law Exams of North Rhine Westphalia (full time examiner, responsibility for legal education, training of court clerks)

 

1986 – 1994 Judge at the higher regional court (court of appeals) in Cologne; work in civil cases and in the court administration (disciplinary matters, staff management of non-judicial and of judicial staff, court organization).

 

1994 Vice-president (deputy chief justice) at the regional court of Cologne; presiding judge in a panel for civil appeals; responsibility for court management, non-judicial staff, chief advisor of the court president

 

1996 – 2000 Deputy Head of the Department for Legal Education and of the Office for Law Exams at the Ministry of Justice, Dusseldorf; responsibility for all aspects of legal education including work on the reform of legal education, discussions with political and non-political stakeholders in the field of federal and state legislation, continuous training, organization of law exam proceedings, supervising the process of creating and marking exam papers, relations with foreign judicial administrations

 

2000 - 2005 Head of the office and department mentioned above

 

2005 – 2014 President (chief judge) of the higher regional court (court of appeals) in Cologne; responsibility for the organization of judicial affairs in the district with 24 lower courts, 850 judges and 3500 non-judicial staff (selection and appointment of junior judges, all career decisions concerning non-judicial staff), supervising organization and reform processes, inter alia, in the fields of IT, court buildings, court budget.

 

2005 – 2014 Vice-president of the constitutional court of North Rhine-Westphalia; seven-member court with jurisdiction over constitutional disputes of parties like the (land) government, the parliament, members of parliament, fractions in parliament, local authorities’ constitutional rights.

 

2011 – 2015 German representative in the Consultative Committee of Judges of the Council of Europe (CCJE) whose main task is elaborating opinions to advise the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe on judicial matters

 

2015 - present: Chairperson, Expert Commission for medical malpractice cases, Medical Association North Rhine, Dusseldorf.

 

 

 

Since 1974 married to a Canadian; three adult daughters, seven grandchildren.