Dr. Christiana Fountoulakis

Biography

Christiana Fountoulakis is a Swiss scholar specializing in private international sales law. She holds the Chair of Civil Law at the University of Fribourg since July 2010 and will be joining the University of St. Gallen as a Professor of Private Law in August 2025. Fountoulakis earned her doctoral degree summa cum laude from the University of Basel in 2004 and completed her habilitation in 2009. She has published extensively on international sales law, comparative contract law, arbitration, international private law, EU private law, and media law. Fountoulakis co-edits several law journals, including 'Internationales Handelsrecht', 'Zeitschrift für Internationales Wirtschaftsrecht', and 'European Journal Law Reform', and has authored and contributed to leading textbooks and commentaries in Swiss law, particularly on the CISG. Her work has had significant influence, with citations from high-instance courts including the Swiss Federal Tribunal, German Federal Court, and Swedish Supreme Court. Fountoulakis served as a rapporteur for the CISG Advisory Council's Opinion 18 Set and received the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2010 for her research in international trade law. Additionally, she is a member of the Council of the European Law Institute and served on the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation from 2015 to 2025.

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