Basil Markesinis
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Professor Sir Basil Markesinis, QC, DCL, LLD, FBA, is, simultaneously, Professor of Common and Civil Law at University College London and Jamail Regents Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He also practises from Essex Court Chambers.
He was educated at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (LLB 1965) and the University of Cambridge (MA and PhD 1970) and held a studentship at St Antony's College, Oxford (1970). He was called to the Bar in 1972 at Gray's Inn, of which he is now a Bencher. He took silk in 2001.
He has held office as Assistant Professor of Roman and Byzantine Law at the University of Athens (1966–8), Fellow and Director of Studies in Law at Trinity College, Cambridge (1974–86), Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge (1978–86), Denning Professor of Comparative Law at Queen Mary and Westfield College, Professor of European Private Law at University College London, Clifford Chance Professor of European Law and Director of the Institute of European and Comparative Law, and Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford (1995-99) and Clifford Chance Professor of Comparative Law and Fellow of Brasenose College.
Other positions have included Director and Founder of the Institute of Anglo-American Law, Leiden, member of the Council of Management of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, member of the Board of Management of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, member of the Board of Editors of European Review of Private Law, Revue de droit internationale et de droit comparé, and The Netherlands Journal of International Law.
He has held visiting professorships at Cornell Law School, University of Paris I, University of Paris II, the University of Michigan Law School, the University of Gent, and the University of Siena.
He has authored or co-authored thirty books and more than one hundred and twenty articles in languages including English, French, German, and Greek.
He was appointed Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List 2005 for "Distinguished Services to International Legal Relations". He is also a Knight Grand Cross of the Italian Order of Merit ("for services to Italian law and European integration") and a Knight Commander of the German Order of Merit. He has been decorated by the Greek Government and, three times, by the President of the French Republic, having been appointed in 2002 Conseiller Scientifique du Premier Président de la Cour de Cassation.
He has also received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Paris I, Munich, and Gent, and is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Athens, the Institut de France, the Royal Dutch Academy, and the Royal Belgian Academy. He is also a member of the American Law Institute, of the Commercial Bar Association, and the London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association.
