Professional career after the DFM

After the DFM, I did a "Master in Public Administration" at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Boston for two years. In parallel, I prepared the bar exam in Paris and the general selection competition ("concours") for the European Institutions. I passed the concours in the course of the second year, and then started my career at the European Commission immediately after completing my two years in the United States. First, I worked for six years in the Directorate General "Energy and Transport", in State aid control and as the Directorate General's "chief lobbyist" to the European Parliament and the Council. After that, I joined the Legal Service of the European Commission. The Legal Service represents the European Commission in all court proceedings before the General Court of the European Union (EGC) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ), but also before international courts (such as the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, ...) and arbitration courts, as well as before national courts of the Member States and of third countries. I worked here first in the State Aid and Trade Defence Instruments team, then in the Eurozone and Economic Issues team. In the latter team, I particularly designed the "Next Generation EU" program during the Covid-19 period, i.e. the EU debt to rebuild the economy after Covid-19. For a little over a year now, I have been working as an assistant to the Director General, responsible for the legal coordination of the Legal Service.

Besides my work, I have been preparing a Franco-German double dissertation (with Prof. Dauner-Lieb and Prof. Capitant"), on a topic of EU energy and regulatory law. Since 2016, I am also a lecturer at the University of Cologne.

Personal connection to the DFM study program

The degree program opened up great opportunities for me that I would never have had otherwise: in particular, two very intense and beautiful years in Paris, during which I also gained great insight into French politics through involvement in an association, the Conférence Olivaint. This contact came about through a German association that I became a member of back in my Cologne days, the "Tönissteiner Kreis". The memory of unforgettable evenings at the Seine, in cafés and clubs, learning together (by heart), and an unbelievable helpfulness and cooperation of the "promo", which made the survival in studies in Cologne and Paris possible; the organization of great celebrations during the studies, and then the celebrations of the 20th, 25th and 30th anniversary.

Influence of the study program on the career development

The experience of learning and living in a truly integrated Franco-German group for four years, and studying and living in another country for two years at a time, is something almost no one else has - and is a unique characteristic that makes every possible Master's program and every possible employer curious. The combination of German case method and French dissertation, structure and memorization, as well as the successful overcoming of all administrative obstacles and the necessity to orient oneself independently in two big universities, prepares one for any further study and work challenge.

In addition, the program has the great advantage that after four years one has a degree that opens the door to many master's programs, to the German and French foreign service, to the French bar and judicial school, but also to, say, Sciences Po. This requires a lot of self-organization, but it also creates a lot of opportunities if you don't want to do law stricto senso.