Doctoral dissertation opportunities

with Prof. Dr. Philipp S. Fischinger, LL.M. (Harvard)

Please note that doctorates at the School of Law and Economics, Department of Law, are based on individual doctoral dissertations characterized by a one-to-one supervision instead of structured programs.
The following provisions apply for doctoral applications at the Chair of Labor Law, Commercial Law and Business Law.

1. Minimum requirements

Please refer to the current regulations and procedures governing the doctorate of the School of Law and Economics, Department of Law at the University of Mannheim to learn more about the minimum requirements for obtaining a doctoral degree. If you are in doubt whether you fulfill these criteria, do not hesitate to contact me personally. Should you not yet comply with the seminar requirements, you can fulfil these during your doctoral research period.

Please bear in mind that even though you might meet the minimum requirements set by the university/faculty, I reserve the right to decline your application because of other reasons, for instance, if your dissertation topic does not match the research interests of the Chair of Labor Law, Commercial Law and Business Law.

2. Research interests

Doctoral projects must match the research interests of the Chair of Labor Law, Commercial Law and Business Law. Apart from Civil Law in general these include:

Employment and Labor Law
Sports Law
Comparative Employment and Labor Law
Social Law (SGB III, VII, IX)
Commercial Law
Liability Law
Discharge of Residual Debt, Part Eight of the German Insolvency Statute
Legal aspects of prostitution

3. Application process

Apart from your curriculum vitae your application should include a letter of motivation expressing your interest in obtaining a doctoral degree and the reasons for choosing the Chair of Labor Law, Commercial Law and Business Law. Further, I expect that you have already sufficiently given thought to a possible topic for your dissertation and that you are familiar with the current state of research and possible research questions. However, you are not required to present a complete draft proposal yet. This can be jointly developed during our individual sessions. After that I will ask you to prepare an exposé, which will provide, after review and consultation, the basis for your doctorate.

4. Supervision

After the acceptance of your application, I will personally supervise your doctoral research project. Supervision particularly includes one-to-one meetings, in which we are able to discuss the structure of your dissertation as well as individual problem areas. To ensure the success of your dissertation at an early stage, you are also welcome to submit single chapters of your dissertation in advance.