Episode #2 of the Borderlines CJEU Series features CJEU President Koen Lenaerts in conversation with Professor Katerina Linos (Berkeley) and Professor Mark Pollack (Temple University). President Lenaerts has been re-elected to the Court’s top office by his peers three times since 2015, having served tirelessly since his nomination to the CJEU in 2003 by home country of Belgium. His interview traces the historic path to today’s Court of Justice, and illuminates differences from other courts, including the U.S. federal judicial system.

Listeners will come away with an overview of the Court’s functions and structural methodology in interpreting the EU legal order, including the role of the President, the Judge rapporteur, and the Advocate General. Presidential responsibilities include assigning cases to Judges and presiding over the Grand Chamber to deal with the most important cases. New developments in case law, evolving technological access, and finding balance between unity and diversity, privacy and security, are addressed by the head of the EU’s judicial institution.

President Lenaerts in total has spent 35 years as a European Union Judge, initially serving on the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (now the General Court) when it was established in 1989. He earned his legal degrees including a doctorate in Belgium and also obtained a Masters of Laws and a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University.

President Lenaerts is Professor of European Union Law at Leuven University in Belgium and a member of many legal and academic associations including the Academia Europaea, London; the Advisory Council of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law; the Advisory Board of the Centre of Law and Governance in Europe, University College London; the Governing Board of the Foundation of the Academy of European Law (ERA), Trier; and the Board of Trustees of the Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, Heidelberg. He is the recipient of numerous awards and author of a vast list of publications.