Tag: Bundestag

New Justice at the Federal Constitutional Court: Astrid Wallrabenstein

On 15 May 2020, the Bundesrat (literally “Federal Council”, a legislative body that represents the sixteen federal states at the federal level), elected Astrid Wallrabenstein as a justice to serve on the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht).

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What Else Happened in November

Robert BoyleThis month, we had three cases of the week: First, we looked at German Brexit-related cases. The second case dealt with the pitfalls that translations can create under the EU Service Regulation and finally, we reported on the U-turn of the Munich Court of Appeals on the right time for the judicial review of arbitrator appointments. And here’s a recap of other recent developments: Read More

Lawyers, beware lawyers

Browsing through this week’s issue of The Economist, I get the impression that the US Congress is somewhat over-lawyered: “Though fewer than one in 200 Americans has a law licence, the profession can lay claim to a third of the current House of Representatives and to more than half the seats in the Senate.” These 33% and 50%, respectively, in the US compare to 14% in Britain’s House of Commons and its Canadian counterpart. And only one in 15 deputies (7%) in the French Assemblée Nationale is a lawyer. As Germany did just elect a new Bundestag in September 2013, I was curious to see what our figures were: Read More