German Lawyer Margarete von Galen is the new leader of the Council of Bars and Law societies of Europe (CCBE)

Since 1 January 2021, the Council of Bars and Law societies of Europe (CCBE) has been chaired by Margarete von Galen (Germany) following her election by the CCBE Plenary Session on 27 November 2020. Margarete von Galen has been practising as a lawyer in Berlin since 1983 and as a specialist lawyer in criminal law since 1998.

Alongside activities as criminal defence lawyer, she advises on compliance issues and acts as External Ombudsperson for several companies. From 2004 to 2009, she was the President of the Berlin Bar. She has been a judge at the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin since 2014. In 2008, she joined the CCBE Criminal Law Committee and, from 2015 to 2017, she was a member of the German CCBE Delegation.

Her presidency will be supported by James MacGuill (Ireland) as 1st Vice-President, Panagiotis Perakis (Greece) as 2nd Vice-President, and Pierre-Dominique Schupp (Switzerland) as 3rd Vice-President.

Margarete von Galen declared: “Among all the current challenges of the legal profession, particular attention will be given to the issue of the rule of law under my presidency. Because of their essential role in the administration of justice and the protection of fundamental rights, lawyers are one of the pillars of the rule of law and must be recognised as such in their daily practice as well as when new law is drafted like e.g. antimoney-laundering provisions.”

For more information on the new CCBE President and her priorities, read the President’s interview here.

About the CCBE: The CCBE represents the bars and law societies of 45 countries, and through them more than 1 million European lawyers. Founded in 1960, the CCBE is recognised as the voice of the European legal profession by the EU institutions, and acts as the liaison between the EU and Europe's national bars and law societies. The CCBE is an international non-profit-making association incorporated in Belgium. (source: ccbe.eu / photo: galen.de)

 

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