Overview
Jens is a Professor of Comparative Law at Aalborg University in Denmark, having left his chair at University of Cambridge, where he is now an Emeritus Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. He specialises in Family Law and Comparative Family Law, and has held visiting positions at universities in Hong Kong, Belgium, Australia, England, Germany, New Zealand, Italy and Spain. He joined QEB as an Academic Door Tenant in 2011.
Jens is fluent in German and Danish and is the founding Director of the Nordic Centre for Comparative and International Family Law (NorFam).
One of his key areas of expertise is matrimonial finance, particularly cases involving an international dimension and/or marital agreements. He has acted as consultant in cases in England, Germany, Hong Kong and Belgium, including Radmacher v Granatino [2009] EWCA Civ 649, Z v Z (No 2) [2011] EWHC 2878 (Fam) and SA v SPH [2011] HKCFI 1649 (HCMC 1/2011) and CACV 99/2012.
His major publications include the books ‘Marital Agreements and Private Autonomy in Comparative Perspective’ (editor, Hart Publishing 2012); ‘The Future of Family Property in Europe’ (edited with Katharina Boele-Woelki and Jo Miles, Intersentia, 2011); ‘The Legal Status of Transsexual and Transgender Persons’(editor, Intersentia 2015) a four volume book set on ‘European Family Law’ (editor, Edward Elgar, 2016) including a monograph on ‘The Present and Future of European Family Law’; ‘The Future of Registered Partnerships – Family Recognition Beyond Marriage?’ (edited with Andy Hayward, Intersentia 2017); ‘The Legal Status of Intersex Persons’ (edited with Anatol Dutta and Tobias Helms, Intersentia 2018); ‘Eastern and Western Perspectives on Surrogacy‘(edited with Claire Fenton-Glynn and Terry Kaan, Intersentia 2019); and ‘Family Matters – Essays in Honour of John Eekelaar’ (edited with Stephen Gilmore, Intersentia 2022).
