Alumni

Max Planck Law Alumni

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Connection, Mentorship, Expertise

The Max Planck Law Alumni Network brings together current and former researchers in a vibrant global community of scholars and professionals in law and related disciplines. We facilitate meaningful connections and knowledge exchange while supporting the next generation of researchers and practitioners.

Our alumni make valuable contributions across academia, practice, and policy. As a member of our alumni network, you will receive regular updates about cutting-edge research, events, and opportunities within the Max Planck Law community. The network provides a platform for continued professional engagement and enables you to share your expertise, eg through our newly founded mentoring programme.

Your experience and expertise help foster the excellence of Max Planck Law.

Testimonials

My time at the Max Planck Law Institute in Halle was a defining chapter. As a postdoc, I had the rare freedom to delve into new legal fields, experiment with empirical methods, and engage deeply with other disciplines, particularly anthropology. That period of intellectual openness was invaluable and profoundly shaped the scholar I have become. Today, as a professor, I can clearly see how those years laid the foundation for my interdisciplinary approach to both research and teaching. The Max Planck Law network doesn’t just foster cutting-edge scholarship—it nurtures curious, well-rounded scholars with the confidence to think across disciplinary boundaries. To early-career researchers: embrace the postdoc as a privilege. It’s your chance to grow, take risks, explore new directions, and build a truly holistic academic identity.

Alice Margaria, Former Senior Researcher & Current Research Partner, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Department of ‘Law and Anthropology’

 

As a Max Planck Law alumnus, I have mentored emerging scholars, advised international researchers on careers in US legal academia, and contributed in various other ways. Yet the great value of the network lies not only in the knowledge and expertise it provides, but in the lasting relationships it fosters—a lifelong community of colleagues, collaborators, and friends.

Mateusz Grochowski, Former Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law

 

The MPIL’s dynamic exchange of ideas—especially the incisive discussions in Dienstagsrunden—trained me to anticipate counterarguments and refine my reasoning under scrutiny. Presenting in Referentenbesprechungen was equally formative: learning to distil complex legal analysis into persuasive, concise arguments has been directly applicable to my work as an EU civil servant. Today, whether defending legislative proposals before EU Member States or chairing large-scale meetings, I draw on those same skills—balancing precision with the ability to engage diverse perspectives under pressure.

For early-career researchers, my advice would be to embrace the MPIL’s unique ecosystem: attend those cross-disciplinary meetings and seminars, seek feedback beyond your immediate team, and don’t hesitate to propose bold ideas. The institute’s resources and network are unparalleled—use them to build connections that last long after your time in Heidelberg!

Desirée C. Schmitt, Former Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (MPIL)

 

For an academic, finding a scholarly community that is both intellectually committed to interdisciplinarity and actively seeking to promote it is a rare thing. Max Planck Law is one of them. Over the years, Max Planck Law has helped me to connect with researchers who, like me, were operating across various disciplinary boundaries, while supporting our interdisciplinary initiatives. These initiatives have included fostering academic interest in diverse methodologies and methods in Law (the ‘Legal Research Methods Initiative’), establishing a dedicated socio-legal panel at Max Planck Law’s ‘Diversity’ conference in 2025, and organising two socio-legal workshops in Liverpool (UK, 2025) and Rancagua (Chile, 2026), in partnership with the Socio Legal Studies Association. I am profoundly grateful to Max Planck Law for supporting these initiatives and providing a home for the ‘undisciplined’—those working beyond the confines of law alone—and I would strongly encourage early career researchers to get involved in this great project.

Rachel Pougnet, Former Senior Researcher, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law

If you are interested in joining our alumni network,please contact us at: alumni@law.mpg.de.