He was an advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a judge at the Federal Administrative Court, as well as an adjunct professor at the European University Viadrina.

[2] He passed the second legal state exam in Berlin in 1996, followed by post-graduate studies at the University of Cambridge where he obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in 1997.

He obtained his doctorate in law in 1997 on the subject of European integration as a constitutional problem in France at the University of Göttingen.

He was employed by the law firms Hengeler Mueller and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer,[2] but professional curiosity drew him away just two years later.

[5] He was expected to continue Merkel's policy of maintaining a balanced, but friendly relationship with the People's Republic of China.