Professor Dr Johannes Reich, LL.M. (Yale)
Johannes Reich is Professor of Public Law, Environmental Law, and Energy Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zurich. His research centres on international and domestic Climate Change Law, Swiss Constitutional Law in its theoretical, historical, and comparative dimensions, Comparative Constitutional Law, and the foundations of Administrative Law. Johannes Reich’s scholarly work appeared in international and domestic journals such as the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON), the Yale Journal of International Law, Transnational Environmental Law, the Heidelberg Journal of International Law, the Jahrbuch für öffentliches Recht der Gegenwart, or the Schweizerisches Zentralblatt für Staats- und Verwaltungsrecht. He regularly teaches Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Climate Change Law, and Comparative Constitutional Law.
Johannes Reich read law at University of Zurich (Licentiatus iuris [lic. iur.], magna cum laude, 2001) and Yale Law School (LL.M., 2008). He was awarded a doctorate in law (Ph.D. equivalent) by the University of Basel (Doctor iuris [Dr iur.], summa cum laude, 2009). Based on a habilitation thesis on the theoretical foundations of independent regulatory agencies in comparative perspective he was, on 18 December 2017, bestowed the Venia legendi in "Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Comparative Constitutional and Administrative Law as well as Public International Law" by the University of Zurich. Johannes Reich was admitted to the bar of the Canton of Zurich in 2005. Prior to his appointment to the Chair of Public Law, Environmental Law, and Energy Law, Johannes Reich was an Assistant Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Zurich (4/2012-7/2018). Before joining academia, he advised and represented clients in court proceedings as a practising lawyer (associate) with a major Swiss law firm in public procedural, administrative, and environmental law.
Representative Publications in English
Human rights as procedural due process in climate mitigation policies: Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz v. Switzerland, in: Camille Cameron/Patricia Galvão Ferreira/Riley Weyman (eds), Download (PDF, 668 KB)Climate Change Litigation Cases in Context, Cheltenham, UK & Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar 2026, pp. 128–165;
DOI book: ttps://doi.org/10.4337/9781035343188
DOI chapter: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035343188.00013
Federalism and Mitigating Climate Change: The Merits of Flexibility, Experimentalism, and Dissonance, Transnational Environmental Law 10:2 (2021) pp. 263–291;
Oxford University Press (open access): <https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S2047102521000121>
DOI: <https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S2047102521000121>
ZORA: <https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-203363>
Due Process and Sanctions Targeted Against Individuals Pursuant to Resolution 1267 (1999), Yale Journal of International Law 33 (2008) [33 Yale J. Int’L. (2008)] pp. 505–511;
HeinOnline: <https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/yjil33&i=509>
ZORA: <https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-65386>
SSRN: <https://ssrn.com/abstract=1268163> [amended by a brief comment on European Court of Justice, Joined Cases C-402/05 P and C-415/05 P Yassin Abdullah Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities [2008] ECR 2008 I-06351]
Switzerland: Freedom of Creed and Conscience, Immigration and Public Schools in the Postsecular State. Compulsory Coeducational Swimming Instruction Revisited, International Journal of Constitutional Law [I•CON] 7 (2009) pp. 754–767;
Oxford University Press (open access): <https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/mop029> & <https://academic.oup.com/icon/article/7/4/754/733739>
HeinOnline: <https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/injcl7&i=762>
ZORA: <https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-65342>
KlimaSeniorinnen and the Choice Between Imperfect Options: Incorporating International Climate Change Law to Maintain the ECHR’s Relevance Amid the Climate Crisis, in: Maxim Bönnemann/Maria Antonia Tigre (Hrsg.), Download (PDF, 1 MB)The Transformation of European Climate Litigation, Berlin: Verfassungsbooks 2024, pp. 41–52,
Switzerland [2022 Review of Constitutional Law: Contested Permanent Neutrality and the Constitutionality of ‘Laïcité’ in Geneva], in: Richard Albert/David Landau/Pietro Faraguna/Giulia Andrade (eds.), 2022 Global Review of Constitutional Law, Austin TX/Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste/Constitutional Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin 2023, pp. 329–333, 384
<https://ssrn.com/abstract=4617537> & <https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4617537> [preprint published online: 1 May 2023], <https://ssrn.com/abstract=4433911> & <http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4433911>
Switzerland [The ‘Globalization Paradox’ in Constitutional Practice], in: Richard Albert/David Landau/Pietro Faraguna/Simon Drugda (eds.), 2018 Global Review of Constitutional Law, Boston MA: I•CONnect & Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy at Boston College 2019, pp. 298–302, 341, <https://ssrn.com/abstract=3471638> & <http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3471638>
[Preprint: <https://ssrn.com/abstract=3339556>]
Office: RAI F 095
Phone: +41 (0) 44 634 27 95
E-Mail: johannes.reich@ius.uzh.ch