Specialties:
Institution-building, property rights, restitution, media law, freedom of expression, intellectual property, constitutional development, governmental
reform, regulation, alternative dispute resolution, ethnic minority rights, international organizations, European harmonization. Speak English (native),
German, Catalan, Spanish, Italian; read Latin, Portuguese, French, Albanian.
Until June 2008, I had spent nearly six years working in Kosovo, most recently as Senior Legal Advisor in the Office of the Head of Mission of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (seconded by the United States), from February 2006 until June 2008. There, I provided general counsel to the OSCE Mission on its mandate to build Kosovo's democratic institutions. In this capacity, I was also an expert advisor to Kosovo's Constitutional Commission, advising on decentralization, economic policy, and independent public institutions.
Previously, from October 2004 until February 2006, I was Senior Legal Advisor to Kosovo's Temporary Media Commissioner, at that time the independent media regulatory authority in Kosovo, where I helped establish Kosovo's permanent broadcast regulatory agency, as well as drafted the laws, policies, and guidelines creating the legal framework for freedom of the media and freedom of expression in Kosovo. From September 2002 until October 2004, I was Head of Legal Process at the Housing and Property Directorate (part of the UN Civil Administration) in Kosovo, responsible for the regularization of property rights in Kosovo through the adjudication of claims for property restitution and through the administration of abandoned properties for humanitarian purposes.
Prior to working in Kosovo, I served at the Claims Resolution Tribunal in Zurich, Switzerland, where I adjudicated claims to Swiss bank accounts. Besides my practical legal work, I have done theoretical work in comparative constitutional and international law, particularly focusing on the rights of ethnic and cultural minorities. I have published articles on countries ranging from Spain, Belgium, ex-Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Ethiopia, South Africa, Colombia, Canada, and Australia. I am licensed to practice law by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (USA).
Education: I hold a DPhil in Modern History from the University of Oxford, where I was the Norman Hargreaves-Mawdsley Scholar in the History of Spain at Wolfson College; an MScEcons in European Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science; a JD from the College of William and Mary; an AB in History and the Classics (Latin) from Harvard College; and a Classical Diploma from Phillips Exeter Academy.
If you read Catalan, you can order my latest book: Lliga Regionalista - Lliga Catalana, 1901-1936.
I am also a rowing coach, although there is unfortunately no rowing in Kosovo, so I ceased active involvement in the sport when I left Zurich in 2002.
I am a citizen of the United States and Austria, and own an apartment in Vienna's Second District.
I enjoy traveling, especially to places with opera, fresh air, history, and good cafes. See where I have been.
I can be reached most easily by e-mail:
home e-mail: Dr CE Ehrlich
Last updated: 26-JUL-08
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"Hoffnungslos, aber nicht gefährlich!"
-Ernst Rüdiger, Graf von Starhemberg, 1683.