Prof. Dr. iur. Wolfgang Wohlers

About the person

Born in Hamburg in 1962

Training

• WS 1983 - WS 1987 Studies of law at the University of Hamburg, subject area Law I
• August 1987 Scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation
• 14. September 1988 1st state examination, Hamburg
• October 1991 - November 1994 Trainee lawyer at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg
• 28. October 1992 Doctorate (Dr. iur.)
• 28. October 1994 2nd state examination, Hamburg
• 20. December 1994 Admission to the bar
• July 1999 Authorized to teach criminal law and criminal procedure law by the University of Basel

Professional activities

• October 1988 - October 1992 Academic co-worker at the Seminar for Criminal Law and Criminology in the subject area of Law I at the University of Hamburg (Chair of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fezer)
• October 1992 - December 1993 and April 1994 - April 1995 Substitute university assistant at the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology in the subject area of Law I at the University of Hamburg
• December 1994 - December 2000 Lawyer in Hamburg
• since April 1995 research associate at the subject area of law at the University of Bremen
• 1998 - 2001 Lecturer at the DeutscheAnwaltAkademie (specialist course in criminal law)
• Summer semester 1999 Substitute for the Chair of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the Bavarian Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg
• July 1999 Appointment as private lecturer at the University of Basel
• Winter semester 1999/2000 and summer semester 2000 Substitute professorship for Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the Technical University of Dresden
• 1. August 2000 Appointment as Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the Technical University of Dresden
• Winter semester 2000/2001 Lectureship at the Faculty of Law at the University of Rostock
• February 2001 Appointment as Full Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zurich
• 2010 - 2012 Dean of the Faculty of Law, Zurich
• Since 1.2.2015 Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the University of Basel
• Since 1.8.2019 Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Basel

Prof. Dr. iur. Wolfgang Wohlers

• since 2001 Co-editor of the series "Zürcher Studien zum Strafrecht"
• since 2002 Permanent co-worker of the journal Goltdammer's Archiv für Strafrecht
• since 2002 Advisory board member of the journal Strafverteidiger
• since 2004 Permanent co-worker of the online journal for criminal law HRRS
• 2006 to 2023 Co-editor of the series "Studien zum Strafrecht", Nomos Verlag
• 2006 to 2023 Co-editor of the series "Neue Schriften zum Strafrecht", Nomos Verlag
• 2007 to 2011 Co-editor of the "Yearbook on Road Traffic Law"
• since 2008 Founder and co-editor of the journal forumpoenale
• since 2009 Co-editor of the Swiss Journal of Criminal Law (2009-2019 co-editor)
• 2015 to 2022 Member of the board of the Swiss Criminal Society
• since 2023 Co-editor of IMPULSE Impulse zur praxisorientierten Rechtswissenschaft (founded by Thomas Sutter-Somm), together with Cordula Lötscher and Daniela Thurnherr

Prof. Dr. iur. Wolfgang Wohlers

Teaching areas

• Criminal law, general part / special part
• Ancillary criminal law (focal areas: Road traffic law, narcotics law, criminal offenses against foreigners)
• Criminal procedure law (focal areas: Defense rights of the accused; criminal defense as an institution; prohibitions on the use of evidence)
• Financial market criminal law

Research projects

• General and special sections of criminal law (Handkommentar zum schweizerischen Strafgesetzbuch, 4th edition published in 2020, 5th edition in progress; essay projects on Swiss and German law)
• Challenges to criminal law posed by autonomous vehicles (SNSF project)
• The dissolution of the anthropocentric orientation of criminal law: criminal liability of associations and/or intelligent agents
• Road traffic criminal law (article projects)
• Financial market offenses (handbook article to be published in 2021; various commentaries, partly completed and partly in preparation)
• Prohibitions on the use of evidence in Swiss and German law (commentaries on the German and Swiss Code of Criminal Procedure [completed; new editions in preparation]; article projects)
• The law of criminal defense (commentary on the German Code of Criminal Procedure [completed; new edition in preparation]; essay projects on Swiss and German law)
• The Institute of the Public Prosecutor's Office (commentary on German law [completed; new edition in preparation]; essay projects)