The Bretton Woods Law Team

Rule of Law

Antje has a strong background in human rights and rule of law work in the field, in particular with the UN in post-conflict environments. Her expertise relates especially to a state’s international human rights and anti-corruption commitments (e.g., UNCAC) and post-conflict state building.

• Prior to joining Bretton Woods Law Antje held senior lawyer positions with the UN for more than a decade in post-conflict countries such as Kosovo (UNMIK) and Palestine (UNRWA). With UNMIK she provided advisory assistance in the legal and justice reform process to the Kosovar government, parliament and judiciary on rule of law, the implementation of legislation, institution-building and access to justice matters.

• With UNMIK Antje prepared and revised complex legislation in accordance with international standards (e.g., the Kosovo Civil Service, the Law on Public Procurement, parts of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Customs Code). She also advised on the Kosovo Independent Oversight Board responsible for hearing appeals of Kosovo civil servants ensuring its functional independence. She was the Kosovo Customs Service’s counterpart within UNMIK’s Office of Legal Affairs on institutional and legislative matters.

• Antje is an active member of Transparency International’s German Chapter (‘TI’) and member of the working group on international affairs.  Through her work with TI she is fully aware of the latest international anti-corruption instruments and commitments (e.g., UNCAC).

Human Rights

• Antje advises on various human rights matters, in particular related to the ECHR, UNCRC, ICCPR, ICESCR (e.g., non-discrimination cases). In her human rights work Antje takes a strong interest in access to effective remedies for persons in situations of vulnerability.

• In (strategic) litigation cases before the European Court of Justice (CJEU) and other courts and tribunals Antje brought claims on behalf of clients (g., EU staff) on grounds of violations of the right to a fair trial and an effective remedy, right to sound administration and the prohibition of discrimination (Art. 14 ECHR).

• At the UN, she prepared the responses to complex complaints about human rights violations (g., right to life/ obligation to conduct an effective investigation) before the UNMIK Human Rights Advisory Panel which was created as a result of lack of access by Kosovar citizens to the ECtHR.

• Recently she worked with civil society actors and UNICEF in Sri Lanka on a project which concerned the fulfilment of children’s rights and the implementation of provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

She is a member of the federation of mainly Asian bar associations LAW ASIA (Human Rights Section) and will speak at its next annual conference on the rights of refugee children, prohibition of discrimination and the right to respect for family life.

International Humanitarian Law

Antje studied International Humanitarian Law during her Master’s at King’s College London and has a diploma from the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo on the Law of Armed Conflict. She served from 1999-2004 with the UN in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and gained first-hand experience of international humanitarian law matters relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

• Based on her extensive experience in anti-corruption and in depth knowledge of the institutional law of international organisations Antje designs and delivers anti-corruption & integrity workshops for staff working in UN, OSCE and EU field missions. She has delivered such workshops inter alia in cooperation with the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR) and the German Centre for International Peace Operations (ZIF) including for staff providing rule of law assistance in post conflict countries.

• She designs and delivers workshops for the justice sector/legal profession on the prevention and fight against corruption (including the implementation of UNCAC) inter alia for bar associations (e.g. for the Vietnamese Bar Association in cooperation with the German Federal Bar Association). The workshops include training on programmatic activities to promote the integrity and independence of the legal profession and advice on anti-corruption interventions, international regulatory frameworks and tools (e.g., asset declarations).

• With Bretton Woods Law, Antje represents and advises clients before International Administrative Tribunals, internal appeal bodies and in disciplinary proceedings before disciplinary boards worldwide. She represented inter alia staff of EULEX, EUBAM, EPO, EUSATCEN, IDLO, IMO, ISA, PAHO, OSCE, UN and UNICEF and was also instructed by international organisations (g., CTBTO) in cases involving staff misconduct, harassment, discrimination, maladministration, misuse of power and other matters. With UNRWA Antje was in charge of all staff appeals filed by international and local staff and prepared submissions to the Joint Appeals Board and the former UNAT for more than five years.

• With a strong commitment to improve international administrative law and the internal justice systems of IOs she brought (strategic) litigation cases before the European Court of Justice (CJEU) and other tribunals Antje pleading inter alia non-compliance with the ECHR and the EU Charter,g., the right to a fair trial and an effective remedy.

• Through the variety of cases she is dealing with both for staff and international organisations, she has an in-depth knowledge of the internal law of a number of organisations and the procedures and case law of International Administrative Tribunals, in particular the UN tribunals, the CJEU and the ILOAT.

• She speaks regularly at international conferences on international administrative law including on the case law of the CJEU, UNDT and UNAT regarding harassment, discrimination, investigations into misconduct and disciplinary processes and procedures and the internal justice systems of international organisations.

Antje has extensive experience, gained as an institutional lawyer for the United Nations, in providing legal advice concerning the law governing an international organisation. She is well-versed in drafting the internal law, procedures and policies for an international organisation, including in the area of human resources and institutional integrity.

In practice since 1998, before joining Bretton Woods Law in 2013 Antje spent many years working internationally both as an institutional lawyer for the UN in the Balkans and the Middle East and prior to that for international law firms in India and South Africa.

With UNRWA’s Department of Legal Affairs and UNMIK’s Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) she provided legal advice on institutional law including staff matters. With UNMIK very soon she was mainly involved with highly challenging host government support, rule of law and legal reform matters. She eventually led a multinational team of lawyers and advised as OiC, OLA the Head of the Mission (SRSG) in both areas.

Antje studied law in Germany and passed her first state exam in law in Göttingen in 1993 and her second state exam in law in Berlin in 1996. She also holds an LLM from King’s College London in international law. In addition, she holds a Spanish law degree of the university of Granada, Spain and a French literature degree of the university of Nantes, France.

Through her work Antje developed a particular interest in the Arab world and South Asia. She travelled extensively in these regions and speaks and reads Arabic and Sinhalese.

She is married and based in Berlin with her family.