degree in the Philology of the Christian Orient from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich with a dissertation on the Law Book of the Nestorian Catholicos Yoḥannan bar Abgare which he went on to publish in 1971 as Syrische Texte zum islamischen Recht.
After completing the Dr. iuris degree in 1973 (with a dissertation on the legal collection of Gabriel, the 9th-century Nestorian metropolitan of Baṣra),[2] and passing his second state examination as a lawyer in that year also,[3] Kaufhold served as a public prosecutor and judge in Munich from 1973 to 2008.
Since 1996, he has been a member of the editorial board of the electronic magazine Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies.
[7] The Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I. Iwas awarded him the St. Ephräm Order in 2013.
[8] The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising awarded him the Audomar Scheuermann Study Prize in 2015.