Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. Thomas Koller

Curriculum

Professor em. Dr. Dr. h.c. Thomas Koller, born in Lucerne on August 22, 1953; citizen of Lucerne (Canton of Lucerne); married to Marlis Koller-Tumler; two children

• 1972 Graduation Lucerne High School
• 1972 - 1977 Studies of jurisprudence (University of Bern)
• June 30, 1977 Graduation as licentiatus iuris, University of Bern (summa cum laude)
• 1977 - 1980 Assistant of Professor Dr. Horst Albert Kaufmann, Director of the Roman Law Institute, University of Bern
• 1980 - 1981 Practical training as a lawyer at - the District Court of Lucerne-County - Mr. Bodo von Düring's lawyer's office
• December 16, 1981 Bar examination (Canton of Lucerne)
• 1982 - 1983 Assistant of Management, Union Bank of Switzerland, Bern (Section: commercial credits)
• February 3, 1983 Doctor of jurisprudence (summa cum laude). Thesis: "Die eidgenössische Alters- und Hinterlassenenversicherung im Verhältnis zum schweizerischen Eherecht" ("The Federal Old Age and Survivors' Insurance in relation to Swiss Matrimonial Law")
• Oct. 1983 - June 1987 Legal official at the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne (II. Division of public law). Main field of activitiy: Tax Law.
• 1987 - 1990 Research project financed by the Swiss National Fund for the Advancement of Science and leaded by Professor Dr. Wolfgang Wiegand ("Die Interdependenz zwischen Privatrecht und Steuerrecht"; "The interdependence between Private Law and Tax Law").
• 1990 - 1994 Assistant at the Institute for Civil Law, University of Bern (Director: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Wiegand)
• January 8, 1993 Nomination as University lecturer (habilitation). Venia docendi: Private Law and Social Security Law, in consideration of Tax Law
• 1993 Publication of the habilitation thesis "Privatrecht und Steuerrecht - Eine Grundlagenstudie zur Interdependenz zweier Rechtsgebiete" ("Private Law and Tax Law - A study on fundamental principles of the interdependence between two parts of law")
• 1993 - 1994 Teaching Assignment (Law of Obligations), University of Bern
• 1994 - 2006 Juge of the (former) Swiss Federal Alcohol Appeal Commission (elected by the Swiss Federal Government)
• Since April 1, 1994 Professor for Private Law and Social Security Law, in consideration of Tax Law, at the University of Bern and Co-Director of the Institute for Civil Law
• January 1995 - December 2014 member of the editorial office Private Law of the professional journal "Aktuelle Juristische Praxis"
• Sept. 1, 1998 - September 1, 2000, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law and Economics, University of Bern
• 1999 - 2008 Co-organizer of the Conference "Information Technologies and Law"
• Since September 1, 2001 Director of the newly created Competence Centre for Information Technologies and Law (CCITL) of the Faculty of Law at the University of Bern (new name "CICL Center for the Law of Innovation and Competition")
• 2004 - 2012 Member of the Jury of the Swiss Moot Court
• 2004-2023 editorial collaborator of the "Zeitschrift des Bernischen Juristenvereins"
• March 2005 - January 2010 Head of the Department for Civil Law at the University of Bern
• 2006/2007 - 2018/2019 Coach of the Vienna Moot Court Teams of the Law Faculty of the University of Bern
• 2008 - 2018 Member of the advisory council of the Institute for Foundation Law and the Law of Non-Profit-Organizations of the Bucerius Law School, Hamburg
• Since February 1, 2019 Emeritus
• Since 2021 President of the Appeal Committee of the University of Bern
• Since August 2022 Co-Editor of "IHR – Internationales Handelsrecht (Zeitschrift für das Recht des internationalen Warenkaufs und Warenvertriebs)"

Distinctions awarded

• Autumn 1983 Prix d’Excellence, awarded by the «Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Haftpflicht- und Versicherungsrecht», for my doctoral thesis
• May, 1984 Walther Hug-Preis (small part), awarded by the Professor Walther Hug-Foundation for the Encouragement of legal science research, for my doctoral thesis
• December, 1993 Eduard-Adolf-Stein-Preis, awarded by the University of Bern, for my habilitation thesis
• January, 1998 Walther Hug-Preis (great part), awarded by the Professor Walther Hug-Foundation for the Encouragement of legal science research
• November 7, 2019: awarded the degree of Dr. h.c., Law Faculty of the University of Lucerne

Secondary occupations

• January 1995 - December 2014 Editorial member for Civil Law of the periodical "Aktuelle Juristische Praxis"
• Since January 2004 Editorial member of the periodical "Zeitschrift des Bernischen Juristenvereins"

Science

Numerous publications on various subjects of Private Law, Social Security Law and Tax Law, mainly on questions of the interdependence between these parts of law. Different public lectures on the same subjects as well as many book reviews and articles on judgments of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.