Franz Werro is a teacher and researcher in various fields of private law, including the law of obligations, European private law and comparative law at the University of Fribourg and the Georgetown University Law Center. He has been a visiting professor at Cornell Law School (Ithaca, NY), the Universita degli Studi di Trieste, the Scuola Superiore Santa Anna (Pisa), and at the universities of Geneva, Lausanne, Pau and Bordeaux. He has also been teaching for a number of years in the Tulane Summer Law Program in Paris.
In 2009, he was a lecturer at the International University College of Torino and at the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg. During the academic year 2009/2010, he was the academic co-Director of the Center for Transnational Legal Studies, in London. Professor Werro acts as an arbitrator and as a consultant in international commercial disputes. He is on the governing board of a number of Swiss and European Journals and is involved in different projects of continuing legal education in Switzerland. He has recently published a treatise on Swiss tort law, a number of essays on the impact of EC law on national private law, and a monograph (with Professor Vernon Palmer) on European Tort Law, which focuses on strict liability and is part of the Common Core project in Torino. Franz Werro is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Comparative Law, along with Professor James V. Feinermann, Associate Dean for Transnational Programs at Georgetown Law and McGill Professor Helge Dedek.
He holds the following functions and responsibilities:
Professor of Law (ordinarius; tenured), Fribourg University Law School, Chair of Private Law, as of 1994 ; Associate Professor of Law, as of 1992; Full-time (tenured) professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., as of 2001; Visiting Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale, Lausanne, as of 1992; Professor at the Law and Sport Master’s program at the University of Neuchâtel, as of 2001; Co-director of the Master of Laws in Cross-cultural Business Practice, Universities of Fribourg, Berne and Neuchâtel, as of 2009; Member of the Council of the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lausanne, as of 2005 (Member of the Steering Committee, as of 2007); Legal consultant and arbitrator, as of 1994 (Member of the Swiss Arbitration Association, as of 2001); President of the Commission fédérale d’experts du secret en matière de recherche médicale, as of 1998; Member of the Board of Editors of the “The Common Core of European Private: The Trento Project”, as of 2004 (with James Gordley, UC Berkeley/USA, and Antonio Gambaro, University of Milano/Italy); Chair of the Tort Group in the Common Core of European Private Law Project in Torino, as of 2002; Member of the board of editors of HAVE/REAS (Swiss Tort and Insurance Law Review), as of 2002; Member of the Advisory Board of the European Review of Private Law, as of 1998; Vice Dean at the Fribourg University Law School, as of 2006 until 2008; Dean of International Studies at the Fribourg University Law School, as of 2006; Co-director of the Institut de droit européen, Fribourg University Law School, as of 1995 until 2006; Swiss Observer at the Commission for European Contract Law, as of 1998 until 2002; Member of the Bar Exam Commission of the Canton of Fribourg, as of 1995 until 2003; Responsible for organizing continuing education for notaries in French speaking Switzerland, as of 1995 until 2002; President of the 3ème cycle romand de droit (doctoral studies), as of 1997 until 2002; Rédacteur, Journal des Tribunaux, as of 1999 until 2001; Academic Co-Director at the Centre of Transnational Legal Studies, London, 2009-2010; Visiting professor at the International University College, Torino, May 2009; Visiting Professor at the Bucerius Law School, Hamburg, September 2009; Professor at the Tulane Summer School Law Program in Paris, as of 2001 until 2009; Professor in the Advanced Master’s Studies in European and International Commercial law of the Universities of Geneva, Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Fribourg, as of 2002 until 2007; Visiting Professor at the Geneva University Law School, Fall 2007; Visiting Professor at the Università degli Studi, Trieste/Italy, March 2006; Visiting Professor at the Scuola Superiore Santa Anna, University of Pisa/Italy, March 2004; Lecturer at the Summer Institute of International and Comparative Law in Paris, Cornell Law school, July 2003; Lecturer at the World Trade Institute (WTI, Universities of Berne, Fribourg and Neuchâtel), Fall 2000, 2002; Visiting Professor at Cornell Law School (USA), Spring 2001; Visiting Professor at the Universities of Bordeaux and Pau, 1996, 1998 and 1999; Visiting Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center (USA), Fall of 1999
He holds the following academic degrees:
Privat-Docent, Venia legendi in Private and Comparative Law, University of Fribourg, 1993; Master’s degree (LL.M.) at Boalt Hall School of Law, Berkeley, University of California, 1986; Docteur en droit (Ph.D), summa cum laude, University of Fribourg 1986
He has obtained the following awards:
Grand Prix Walter Hug (National Award, jointly with Prof. T. Koller, University of Berne), Award for contributions to a systemic and comparative analysis of Swiss and European private law, 1997; Prix Walter Hug and Prix Gottlob : Awards for doctoral dissertation, 1987;
His major teaching fields are:
Law of tort and contract, European private law (University of Fribourg); Comparative and European private law, Comparative Products Liability, EU jurisprudence, Comparative Privacy Law (Georgetown University Law Center)
References : http://www.unifr.ch