Elisabeth Steiner is an Austrian jurist a former Judge at the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

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Education

Born on 21 March 1956 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, she graduated from the Academy for Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna in June 1978, and went on to study law at the Faculty of Law,

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, where she obtained her Doctor of Law degree in 1981. She continued studying at the Economics University (Academy for International Trade) in Vienna for a master's degree (business administration), which she graduated in November 1983, and in January 1985 she received a Doctorate (business administration) from the same school.

Call to Bar and working life

Steiner was admitted to Austrian Bar in December 1987 and established legal practice in Vienna in January 1988. She practiced solo until her appointment as a Judge. Between March 1999 and October 2001 she acted for some 80,000 former slave and forced laborers from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and

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, which involved extensive fact-finding missions to those countries. She achieved a remarkable success as she obtained reparation for tens of thousands of forced laborers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Between 1999 and January 2001 she represented

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victims from various countries (USA, Austria, etc.). Judge Steiner places an emphasis on women's rights and maintains contacts with women's rights organizations in China, Nigeria, Bhutan, Nepal, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Algeria, Belarus and Ukraine. In 2001 she took up as a justice at the ECHR, a post she held until 2015 when she was succeeded by Gabriele Kuscso-Stadlmayer. Since 2015 she has been an Attorney at Law at Lansky, Ganzger + partner in Vienna. In 2018, she was elected the chair of the Austrian section of the International Women's Fondation for two years. In 2019, she was also elected into the international

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

(CAS).

References

* Peter Wrabetz, ''Österreichs Rechtsanwälte in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart'', Verlag Österreich, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Steiner, Elisabeth Lawyers from Vienna Austrian women judges Judges of the European Court of Human Rights Living people 1956 births 20th-century Austrian lawyers Austrian judges of international courts and tribunals