Andreas Martin Fleckner, former head of the Otto Hahn Group on Financial Regulation at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance, joined the law faculty of Humboldt University of Berlin in February and was appointed professor of Private Law, Roman Law, and Commercial Law in May.

In his research, Andreas Martin Fleckner aims to find out more about the conceptual and historical foundations of the legal institutions that shape our economic life today. His PhD in law, on ancient capital associations (“Antike Kapitalvereinigungen”), explores how capital-intensive projects were financed in antiquity and shows that there were no associations comparable to today’s joint stock companies or stock corporations. His PhD in history, on the rise of joint stock companies in Germany (“Im Anfang war die Actie”), ventures into the early days of the stock corporation and illustrates how quickly its idea could spread at the beginning of the 19th century. As these questions have many economic implications, following his law studies in Germany (J.D. equivalent), Andreas Martin Fleckner studied twice for two years in the U.S., first with a focus on law & economics, then with a focus on the economic theory of the firm, and obtained two master degrees. Immediately thereafter, Andreas Martin Fleckner joined the Max Planck Institute and established a research group on the foundations of financial regulation, benefitting from the Institute’s interdisciplinary composition of both economists and lawyers.

At Humboldt University, Andreas Martin Fleckner will continue his research at the intersection of law, economics, and history, and will also include his findings in his teaching, ranging from Roman Law to Civil Law to Commercial, Corporate, and Securities Law.

Link to Andreas Martin Fleckner’s website at Humboldt University:
https://www.rewi.hu-berlin.de/de/lf/ls/flk

February 2020