: 
Born in Weitensfeld/Austria on 31 January 1953 |
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| 1969-1977 | Law studies at the Universities of Bielefeld and Freiburg and at Harvard Law School (LL.M.); post-graduate practical legal training in Freiburg |
| 1980 | Dr. jur. (Freiburg) |
| 1979-1987 | Senior research assistant/junior lecturer at the University of Bielefeld |
| 1987 | Habilitation at the University of Bielefeld, venia legendi for Public Law, Modern Constitutional History and Philosophy of Law |
| 1988-1992 | Director of municipal administration, local government of Bielefeld |
| since 1992 | Professor of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Bielefeld |
| 1996-2000 | Deputy Judge at the Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof) of North Rhine-Westphalia |
| 1996-March 2002 | Executive Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung), University of Bielefeld |
| 2000 | Leibniz Award by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft |
| 2000-March 2002 | Chair of the German Council of Environmental Advisors (Rat von Sachverständigen für Umweltfragen) |
| since April 2002 | Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Second Senate) |