Dr. Gerd Kathstede

The 2019-2020 MD Anderson Foreign Judge Fellow is Dr. Gerd Kathstede, a criminal judge at the Local Court in Bonn. He started his legal career in 2009 as a civil judge before he took over the position of a criminal judge one year later. He has worked in criminal law to this day, except from 2013 to 2016, when he acted as lecturer in civil law at the North Rhine Westphalia Law School for Judicial Officers. At the Local Court in Bonn, Dr. Kathstede oversees a panel of one professional judge and two lay judges. The panel presides over cases dealing with fiscal offenses and minor criminal cases. In addition, Dr. Kathstede acts as examiner in the State Examination in Law and in the Federal Examination for notaries.

After having worked in the German legal system for nine years, Dr. Kathstede explained "It is my wish to think outside the box and shift again my focus to Common Law, which was already part of my university education." He continued "A very important part of the LL.M. Program at The University of Texas at Austin is the opportunity to meet lawyers from all over the world. That meets my deep interest in foreign legal systems."