Rate My Professor Geert Van Calster

Geert Van Calster is Professor Ordinarius at KU Leuven's Faculty of Law and Criminology, holding chairs in Private International Law, commercial and investment arbitration, and international trade and investment law. He heads the Institute of Private International Law and served as head of the Department of European and International Law from 2009 to 2020. Additional roles include chair of the Law Faculty's PhD Committee from 2016 to 2024, member of KU Leuven's Research Fund from 2017 to 2021, and service on faculty professorial appointment and promotions committees. He directed Leuven's Centre for Advanced Legal Studies from 2009 to 2012 and served as director of studies for the Master of EU Law program from 2009 to 2012 and the Energy and Environmental Law LL.M. from 2002 to 2012. Van Calster obtained his LL.B. in 1990 and LL.M. in 1993 from KU Leuven, an LL.M. in 1994 from the College of Europe in Bruges, and a Ph.D. in 1999 from KU Leuven on conflicts between international trade law and environmental protection. He was a Chevening Scholar at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University from 1997 to 1998. His visiting appointments include professor at Monash University and Senior Fellow at Melbourne University Law School, professor at King's College London until 2023, professor at the China-EU School of Law in Beijing until 2022, and a sabbatical in 2024-25 as visiting fellow at St Catherine's College, Oxford, and the European University Institute in Florence.

Van Calster's academic interests cover European Institutional Law, Private International Law and Conflict of Laws, commercial and investment arbitration law, International Economic Law and WTO law, European and international environmental law, and European economic and regulatory law. Key publications comprise Cases and Materials European Private International Law, 21st revised edition (Acco, 2026), International Trade and Investment Law: Core Materials (Acco), Forum Lovanium: Cases and Materials European Private International Law, revised edition (Acco, 2025), 'Significant EU Environmental cases: 2024' (Journal of Environmental Law, vol. 37, iss. 2, 2025), 'International jurisdiction: Fundamental issues and “principles” of EU private international law' (Handbook European Civil Procedure, De Gruyter, 2025), and Article 3: Choice of Law (Elgar Commentary on the Rome I Regulation, 2025). His publications are cited by Advocate Generals at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Admitted to the Brussels Bar in 1999, he practiced in international firms including SJ Berwin, DLA Piper, before founding his boutique practice in 2015. He is listed on the WTO's Panelists roster at the EU's request, acts as ad hoc expert for the EBRD compliance review mechanism, and has been appointed by the Council of the EU to dispute settlement panels and committees in Free Trade Agreements.