Berlin, 30 September 2026. On September 29, 2026, Humboldt University of Berlin appointed attorney Dr. Ulrich Karpenstein as an honorary professor. A partner at the law firm Redeker Sellner Dahs, he specializes in European law, constitutional law, and international law, and has been a lecturer at Humboldt University since 2022.
In his practice, Ulrich Karpenstein specializes in advising and representing clients in European and constitutional law, as well as in foreign trade and investment law. He has represented constitutional bodies, companies, and associations in more than 150 cases before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG), including cases involving data retention, the accelerated phase‑out of nuclear power, EU‑Russia sanctions, and the proceedings to ban the NPD; In addition, he represents government agencies and companies in numerous proceedings before administrative courts and in state liability cases.
Ulrich Karpenstein was born in Brussels in 1968. He completed his studies in Marburg and served as a research assistant at the universities of Mannheim and Fribourg (Switzerland). In 1998, he earned his doctorate under Prof. Dr. Eibe Riedel (Mannheim). He has been a partner at the law firm Redeker Sellner Dahs since 2000; in 2023, he was elected Vice President of the German Bar Association, where he advocates for the resilience of the third branch of government in Europe, particularly for safeguarding constitutional jurisdiction. Among other roles, he is co‑editor of the Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) and the Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (EuZW), as well as the author of several commentaries and handbooks on European law.
Ulrich Karpenstein has been recognized by the industry publication JUVE since 2013 as a “leading counsel in constitutional and economic administrative law” and has repeatedly been named “Lawyer of the Year for Public Economic Law” by Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers.
