Wolfgang Wiegand studied law at the universities of Berlin and Munich (1961-1966). He was a university assistant in Munich (1966-1976). He took his bar examination in 1970 and obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Munich in 1972, where he also habilitated in Legal History, Civil Law and Civil Procedure in 1976.
He became Professor of Civil, Commercial and Banking Law at the University of Bern and a Director of the Institute of Civil Law in 1977. He was Dean of the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Bern from 1981 to 1982. He has been a Professor Emeritus since 2005. Wiegand was a Visiting Professor or Visiting Scholar at the University of Göttingen (1976/77), University of Geneva (1979/80), University of California at Berkeley (1991/92), University of Basel (1999) and University of Lucerne (2005-2006). He is a member of several academic and professional organizations and associations. He has been – among others- on the Executive Board of the Zivilrechtsvereinigung (Association of the Civil Law professors of the German-speaking countries) since 1993 and on the Advisory Board of the Bankrechtliche Vereinigung (Association of Banking lawyers of Germany, Austria and Switzerland) since 1997. In addition he is a member of ASA (Association Suisse de l’Arbitrage). He is also a member of the DIS (Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtbarkeit) and the LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration). He is a Swiss delegate at UNCITRAL for the project “Security Interests” dealing with international financial transactions. Wiegand published about 100 articles and has written and edited over 30 books, including the leading commentaries on The Swiss Code of Obligations (the “Basler Kommentar”) and on the German Civil Code (“Staudinger”) as well as numerous books on banking law. He has served in practice on domestic and international arbitration tribunals. He has worked as consultant in commercial and telecommunication law and, among others, in privatization matters.