Born 1967 in Karlsruhe, Germany, Claudia Hoefer was educated at the European School in Karlsruhe and studied Law at the University of Freiburg (Second State Exam 1996).
Professional Experience:
She was Visiting Researcher at the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, United States (1998), and Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany (2000–2001).
From 2001 until 2017 she worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands, first as (Associate) Legal Officer and then as Senior Legal Officer, in Chambers (trial and appeal). She was also Focal Point for Women at the ICTY (2014–2017).
When the ICTY closed in December 2017 she became Senior Civil Servant in the Tax Administration and the Ministry of the Prime Minister, State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany (2018–2021). Since June 2021 Claudia Hoefer works as Prosecutor at the Office of the Federal Public Prosecutor of Germany in Karlsruhe investigating and prosecuting international criminal law cases.
She was appointed as Judge of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in February 2019, reappointed in June 2020 and in June 2022.
Languages:
Besides her mother tongue German, she speaks English and French fluently.
Lectures and Publications (select.):
Lecture on Investigating and Prosecuting Sexual Violence, Study Visit of a Delegation of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on International Criminal Law and Investigation of War Crimes, German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation e.V. (IRZ), Mar. 2023, Berlin (Germany)
Lecture on the Legacy of the ICTY, executive seminar at the Federal Academy for Security Policy (Bundesakademie für Sicherheitspolitik), Jun. 2022, Berlin (Germany)
Lecture on Mechanisms to improve Gender Equality and Gender Parity among High Level Staff in International Tribunals - Lessons Learned at the ICTY, Changing the Picture of International Justice, Conference organized by GQUAL, Oct. 2017, The Hague (Netherlands)
Lecture on The Institutional Gender Strategy Legacy of the ICTY, Legacy Conference of the ICTY, Jun. 2017, Sarajevo, (Bosnia)
Lecture on The ICTY - Challenges in Prosecuting Sexual Violence before International Courts, Conference of Women Lawyers Without Borders (Anwältinnen ohne Grenzen e.V.) on Women, Peace and Security in the Former Yugoslavia, Nov. 2015, Freiburg (Germany)
Lecture on Rape as a War Crime - from a Court's Perspective (Vergewaltigung als Kriegsverbrechen aus Sicht der gerichtlichen Praxis), Conference of German Lawyers (Deutscher Anwaltstag), Jun. 2011, Strasbourg (France)
Large-scale Criminal Incidents: A Judicial Challenge?, Training for Judges of the High Court of Uganda organized by the International Center for Transitional Justice, Oct. 2010, The Hague (Netherlands)
Summaries of two ICTY cases in The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice (Ed. A. Cassese), Oxford University Press, Jan. 2009