Faculty Management

The Dean, who represents the Faculty within the university, the Vice-Dean for Planning and Finance, the Vice-Dean for International Affairs and Transfer, and the Vice-Dean for Studies and Teaching share the responsiblity for the management of the Faculty.

According to the Higher Education Act (Hochschulgesetz NRW), the Dean and the Vice Deans distribute the posts and funds, decide on the deployment of staff and ensure that the institutions, committees and members of the Faculty fulfil their tasks and duties. They work closely with the Academic Advisory Board and the Faculty council ("Engeren Fakultät"), the faculty council, as well as with other committees and representatives.

The Dean and the Vice-Deans are supported by the staff in the Dean's Office.

Deanery

Professor Dr Christian Rolfs, Dean

Christian Rolfs, born in Düsseldorf in 1966, has been working at the University of Cologne since April 2009.

He passed his first state examination in law in Mainz in 1990 and his second in Düsseldorf in 1993. His dissertation "Die Haftung unter Arbeitskollegen" (Liability among Work Colleagues), supervised by Peter Hanau (Cologne), was published in 1994, and his habilitation thesis "Das Versicherungsprinzip im Sozialversicherungsrecht" (The Insurance Principle in Social Security Law), supervised by Ulrich Preis (at the time FernUni Hagen), was published in 1999.

From 2001 to 2009, Christian Rolfs held the Chair of Civil Law, Labour and Social Law and Insurance Law at Bielefeld University. From 2006 to 2008, he was Dean of the Faculty of Law there. Having turned down an offer from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, he moved to Cologne in the summer term of 2009. There, he initially took over as head of the Institute for Insurance Law, and since 2022 has been head of the Institute for German and European Labour and Social Law.

His research focuses on private law, labor and social law, and private insurance law. Notable areas include occupational pension law, tenancy law, the law governing termination of employment and fixed-term employment contracts, social security and employment promotion law, and life insurance.

Prof. Dr. Jens Koch, Vice-Dean for Planning and Finance

Professor Dr. Jens Koch, born in Bochum in 1971, studied law at Ruhr University Bochum. After completing his doctorate and habilitation under Professor Dr. Uwe Hüffer, he was appointed to the University of Konstanz in 2006, where he held the Chair of Civil Law, German and European Commercial, Corporate, and Economic Law until 2013. From 2013 to 2022, he served as director of the Institute for Commercial and Economic Law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Since October 1, 2022, he has been the executive director of the Institute for Labor and Economic Law.

Professor Koch’s research focuses on corporate, banking, and capital markets law, with a particular emphasis on stock corporation law. In addition to his position as director of the Institute for Labor and Business Law, he is also director of the Institute for Corporate Law and the Institute for Sustainability, Corporate Law, and Reporting (INUR) at the University of Cologne. He is co-editor of the Journal of Corporate and Business Law (ZGR), the journal *Die Aktiengesellschaft* (AG), and the *Journal of Partnership Law* (ZPG); he is also the managing editor of the *Journal of Banking and Capital Markets Law* (BKR) and the *Journal of Business Law* (ZIP); and a member of the advisory board of the Association for Corporate Law (VGR), the German Notary Institute, and the Rhenish Notary Institute.

Professor Dr Johanna Hey, Vice-Dean for International Affairs and Transfer

Johanna Hey studied law at the University of Würzburg. Legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Cologne. Doctorate in 1996, habilitation in 2001. From 2002 to 2006, she held the Chair of Corporate Tax Law at the University of Düsseldorf, since 2006 she has headed the Cologne Institute for Tax Law.

From 2004 to 2012, member of the Executive Committee and 1st Vice President of the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers. Since 2006, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Finance. Since 2008, editor with overall responsibility for Herrmann/Heuer/Raupach. Member of the Permanent Deputation of the Association of German Jurists since 2010. From 2010 to 2021 Scientific Director of the Institute of Finance and Taxation. From 2011 to 2020 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW). 2021 to 2023 Vice Rector for International Affairs at the University of Cologne. Managing editor of Steuer und Wirtschaft since 2015. Winner of the Hans Kelsen Prize 2015 of the University of Cologne (→ Video). Member of the North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts since 2020. Since 2023 Chairwoman of the Berliner Steuergespräche e.V. and Chairwoman of the Deutsche Steuerjuristische Gesellschaft e.V., where she was Chairwoman of the Academic Advisory Board from 2011 to 2016.

Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Martin Paul Waßmer, Vice-Dean for Studies and Teaching

Martin Paul Waßmer studied law, economics and administration in Heidelberg, Lausanne and Speyer. He received his doctorate from the Faculty of law of Heidelberg University in 1996 with a thesis on breach of trust in risky transactions. In 2006, he completed his habilitation at the University of Freiburg with a thesis on the liability of principals under criminal law. After holding professorships in Osnabrück, Bayreuth and Berlin (FU), he was appointed to the University of Cologne in 2009. There, he holds a chair in criminal law and criminal procedure law and is Co-Director of the Institute for Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law. In April 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Georgia (Tbilisi).

Martin Paul Waßmer is active in numerous academic associations and working groups. He is a member of the selection committee of the German National Academic Foundation. His research focuses on economic, corporate, medical and criminal law relating to foreigners, including European and international references. He is married and has four children.

Dean's office

The staff of the Dean´s Office can be reached by telephone and e-mail using the numbers and addresses provided below.

If you wish to contact us regarding a specific matter, it is often advisable not to use personal e-mail addresses, but instead to write to the relevant functional addresses. This ensures that you will always reach a suitable contact person, regardless of staff changes, illness or vacation:

Resonsibility	E-mail
All staff members of the Dean´s office	jura-dekanat@uni-koeln.de
Planning of lectures	jura-vorlesungen@uni-koeln.de
Planning of "Arbeitsgemeinschaften" (tutorials for beginners)	jura-ag@uni-koeln.de
Questions concerning examination law for the "first examination" degree programme	jura-pruefungsamt@uni-koeln.de
Studies and career counselling	jura-studienberatung@uni-koeln.de
International affairs, studies abroad	zib-jura@uni-koeln.de
Inter-Faculty degree programmes	jura-verbundstudium@uni-koeln.de
Doctorate	jura-promotion@uni-koeln.de
Graduate School	jura-graduiertenschule@uni-koeln.de
IT-Management	jura-it@uni-koeln.de
Quality and accreditation management	jura-qm@uni-koeln.de