Chair of Public Law with special emphasis on Constitutional Law (FR-HSG)
Bodanstrasse 6
CH-9000 St.Gallen
lehrstuhl.schmid@unisg.ch
Stefan G. Schmid completed his law degree at the University of Zurich (lic. iur. 1998) where he also worked as a research assistant and subsequently gained his doctorate (Dr. iur. 2003). After leaving the university he earned ample practical experience in legislation and judiciary, both on the cantonal and the federal level, most recently with the Public Law Division of the Federal Office of Justice. From 2008 to 2014, he served as an assistant professor of constitutional history at the Institute of Public Law at the University of Bern. He spent the autumn semester of 2010 as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. In 2017 he qualified as a professor of public law, constitutional history and political philosophy at the University of Zurich. On 1st February 2019 he became a full professor of public law with special emphasis on constitutional law at the University of St. Gallen. He is academic director of the PhD program in Law (DLS) at the University of St. Gallen and co-director of the Centre for the History of public law. Prof. Schmid’s main areas of research are state organisation law (including federalism and democracy) in the light of foreign public law as well as recent constitutional history and political philosophy.
President of the Council of States Andrea Caroni, Honorary Professor at the University of St. Gallen, and Stefan G. Schmid once again led the popular and challenging master's course “HSG im Bundeshaus – Rechtsetzung in der Praxis” this spring semester. After each student had drafted a bill and committee report on the implementation of a pending parliamentary initiative (“Parliamentary Participation Rights in Foreign Policy”), they traveled to Bern to simulate the parliamentary process on site. At the same time, they had the unique opportunity to exchange ideas with numerous top representatives of federal politics and administration, including President of the Swiss Council of States Stefan Engler, National Councillor Aline Trede (leader of the Green parliamentary group in the Federal Assembly), Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter (Head of the Federal Department of Finance), Federal Chancellor Viktor Rossi, Michael Schöll (Director of the Federal Office of Justice), Ruth Lüthi (Deputy Secretary of the Political Institutions Committee) and Florent Tripet Cordier (Secretary of the Foreign Policy Committees).
Please contact the chair via email with your topic suggestion or topic preference. After Prof. Schmid agrees to supervise your thesis and approves your topic, you will elaborate a research proposal, which shall serve as a basis for a first meeting. The search for a co-supervisor for the Master's thesis takes place in consultation with Prof. Schmid.
Details of the requirements can be found in the Implementation Provisions Academic Programmes and the Merkblatt Juristische Bachelor-Arbeiten or the Merkblatt Juristische Master-Arbeiten. The content of your research proposal should follow the structure taught in the Bachelor's course “Methoden und Arbeitstechnik”. Accordingly, your research proposal shall include
Prof. Schmid conducts research in the fields of constitutional law, recent constitutional history, and political philosophy.
Professor of Public Law with special emphasis on Constitutional Law
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