Biographical note

Eckart Gottschalk is an associate with CMS Hasche Sigle in Hamburg specializing on corporate and commercial law. Before he started practising, he served as a Joseph Storu Research Fellow at Harvard Law School and as a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany. He is the author of a book about pervasive problems in private international law treaties and has published numerous law review articles on German, European and US business law, comparative law, and private international law. He holds both German State Examinations, a Master of Laws from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from the University of Gottingen (Germany). Ralf Michaels is Associate Professor at the Duke University Law School in Durham, North Carolina. Prior to joining the Duke faculty, he was a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany. He also served as the Joseph Story Research Fellow at Harvard Law School. Michaels is the author of a book on the connections between sales contracts and the passing of ownership. He is the co-editor of a forthcoming volume on the return of the private in private international law. He holds German state examinations and a Ph.D. from the University of Passau (Germany), as well as a Master of law from King's College, Cambridge where he received the C. J. Hamson Prize in Comparative Law. He is a member of the editorial boards at the American Academy in Berlin. Gisela Ruhl is Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany, Lecturer of Law at the University of Hamburg and at the Humboldt University Berlin. Before she joined the Max Planck Institute she held the position of the Joseph Story Research Fellow at Harvard Law School. She is the author of a book abou the harmonization of insurance contract law in Europe and has published a number of law review articles on comparative law and conflict of laws in Germany, England, and the United States. Her research at the Max Planck Institute focuses on comparative and economic analysis of conflict of laws. She holds both German State Examinations, a Master of Laws from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg. Her dissertation was awarded the Otto-Hahn Medal for Outstanding Scientific Achievements by the Max Planck Society, Munich. She is a member of the editorial board of the German Law Journal. Jan von Hein is a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany. His research at the Institute focuses on private international law and European corporate law. He holds both German State Examinations, and Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg. He served as the Joseph Story Research Fellow at Harvard Law School. Von Hein is the author of a book about determining the law applicable to transnational torts that was honored with the Otto-Hahn Medal for Outstanding Scientific Achievements by the Max Planck Society, Munich. He has published numerous law review articles, mainly on private international law, corporate law, and civil procedure. He has taught private international law at the Universities of Hamburg and Osnabruck and is currently teaching conflict of laws and comparative law at the University of Greifswald.