Professor Benedikt Pirker
Institute for European and International Economic Law
EU law (internal market law, external relations law including EEA law and Swiss-EU relations, constitutional law); international economic law (WTO law, international investment law)
Benedikt Pirker holds degrees from the College of Europe (Bruges) and the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva).
His career spans academia, research, and government service. He worked as a Titular Professor at the University of Fribourg and served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Liechtenstein-Institute. As a Legal Advisor at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, he focused on public international law (ius ad bellum, Security Council, Swiss neutrality, export controls) and was part of the Swiss negotiating delegation’s free movement of persons team during the 2024 negotiations between Switzerland and the European Union. He has taught at the Universities of St. Gallen and Ottawa and conducted research at the European University Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, MPIL Heidelberg, and the University of Michigan.
Benedikt co-chaired the International Language & Law Association (2021–2023) and sits on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Language and Law and European Papers, while serving as an associate editor of the European Law Blog. His scholarship appears in leading journals, including the European Journal of International Law, Leiden Journal of International Law, European Law Review, Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, and Yearbook of European Law.
He teaches and publishes in English, German and French and advises public authorities and private entities on international economic law and EU law.