- Short Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
- Detailed Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
- List of academic assistants (pdf)
- Overview of supervised dissertations (pdf)
Research topics
- Economic law (e.g. stock corporation and banking law)
- Animal law
- Comparative law
NZZ FOLIO Juli 2021 (pdf, 1.4 MB)
Prof. Dr. Peter V. Kunz, LL.M. - Curriculum Vitae
Professor Peter V. Kunz has held a tenured chair in Economic Law and Comparative Law at the University of Bern since 2005. He is the Executive Director at the Institute for International and National Economic Law (IWR).
Kunz was politically active in his younger years. Among other things, he served as a municipal councilor and thus as an executive member in Dulliken (1989 – 1997) and was also a member of the parliament of the Canton of Solothurn (1993 – 1997). Furthermore, he worked as the justice of peace of Dulliken from 1989 – 1997 and financed his studies by working as a journalist.
Prof. Kunz studied law at the Faculty of Law and Economics in Bern. He subsequently received his doctorate (Dr. iur., 1993), his Master of Laws (LL.M., 1996) from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C., and his habilitation from the University of Bern (Private Lecturer, 2001). Kunz also worked as a practicing attorney in an internationally-oriented law firm in Zurich (1993 – 2005), being promoted to partner in 1998.
Prof. Kunz's research and teaching activities are focused on business law, with an emphasis on corporate law (e.g. law of listed companies), financial markets law, and banking law; for the past several years, he has also been involved in animal law. Kunz's activities have been honored, among others, with the Prof. Dr. Walther Hug Prize and the Pro Wartenfels Prize.
At the University of Bern, he headed the Department of Economic Law (2006 – 2010) and also served as the Vice Dean (2014). Prof. Kunz presided over the Faculty of Law as Dean for five years (2015 – 2020). He was and is a member of various commissions, expert committees, and evaluation committees at university level (examples):
The Federal Council of Switzerland elected Kunz to the Board of the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law (SIR) in Lausanne, of which he was a member from 2006 – 2019. He was a member of the Supervisory Authority for Attorneys at Law of the Canton of Solothurn until the year 2023. Since the year 2024, finally, Kunz is a member of the Executive Board of Swiss Animal Protection SPA.
Prof. Kunz has authored more than 180 legal publications in German or in English, including more than a dozen books. His PhD was honored with a prize for best thesis, and with his habilitation he got the venia docendi for «Private Law and Economic Law». Kunz authored and published in 2019 his opus magnum («Wirtschaftsrecht – Grundlagen und Beobachtungen», «Business Law – Foundations and Observations») with 1'200 pages.
In Switzerland and abroad, he is a co-editor of important collective works, such as Swiss Private Law (SPR); he is member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health (LEOH). In addition, Prof. Kunz regularly contributes as author to popular media (e.g. with op-ed, essays and columns). He has also given more than 180 legal presentations at conferences in Switzerland or abroad, in German or in English.
Kunz regularly acts as an expert for the public sector at all levels of government, for example at hearings or in consultations; he has written top opinions for courts and authorities. Kunz is also often called upon by practitioners to serve as an expert witness, consultant, board member, or arbitrator.
Prof. Peter V. Kunz is willing to take interviews from national and international media, as an independent expert free of charge, which has led to interviews on television, radio, online and in print over the years.
