Dr. Benedikt Schmitz

Dr. Benedikt Schmitz is Assistant Professor of Private International Law and Comparative Contract Law at the University of Groningen since December 2024, with a focus on the status of economically weaker parties in cross-border contractual relationships. He coordinates the research line Weaker Economic Agents and (Un)Known Economic Risks in Private International Law (WEAKER PIL), which examines in particular the need for protection of small and medium-sized enterprises in substantive law as well as in private international law. His further research interests include cross-border consumer alternative dispute resolution, the theoretical limits of party autonomy, and the interaction between the harmonisation of consumer law and private international law. Dr. Schmitz is also a Lindemann Fellow for Private International Law (since January 2026).

Dr. Schmitz was born in Bonn, grew up in Berlin, and has been living in the Netherlands since 2015. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Professor, he worked as a doctoral researcher and as a lecturer at the University of Groningen.

His academic training includes an LL.B. in European Law from Maastricht University and two LL.M. degrees in International Commercial Law and International Business Law, both cum laude, from the University of Groningen. His doctoral dissertation examined in depth the conflict-of-laws rule for consumer contracts under Article 6(2) of the Rome I Regulation.

In addition to his research, Dr. Schmitz is actively engaged in the academic community, organises international workshops and conferences - including on the digitalisation of justice - and regularly publishes on issues of private international law and substantive contract law. He is a member of several academic associations, including the European Association of Private International Law, the Gesellschaft Junge Zivilrechtswissenschaft, and the Royal Netherlands Society for International Law.

See study program on studIp

For publications see