Mr Gerhard Hesse was born in 1970 in Vienna (Austria); he graduated in law in 1993 and defended his doctoral thesis in 2002 at the Universität Wien (Vienna University, Austria).
His career began in 1994 at the Federal Chancellery (Austria) as a member of the Department of European Affairs. He held that position for a year before working in the Federal Chancellery’s Legal Service from 1995 to 2000, first as a member then as head of department. Between 2000 and 2002, he worked as a legal adviser at the Arbeiterkammer (Employment Chamber, Austria) before returning to his positions of member and head of department of the Federal Chancellery’s Legal Service. From 2007 to 2010, he served as a legal adviser in the Cabinet of the Federal Chancellery and took over the position of Director-General of the Federal Chancellery’s Legal Service between 2010 and 2017. From 2017 to 2019, he was the Director-General of the Legal Service of the Austrian Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice.
In 2010, he was also appointed as a member of the Austrian Government’s Data Protection Council and held that position until 2019. He was also Chair of the board of trustees of the Austrian National Library from 2017 to 2019. His experience in Austrian public administration resulted in many legal publications.
Mr Hesse was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.