Short Bio
Clara Kiesbye studied German and Spanish law (LL.B. / Grado en Derecho) at the Universities of Bayreuth and Seville and completed the First State Examination in Law in 2023, specialising in international law. During her legal clerkship, she gained experience at the Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU and at the Secretariat-General of the European Commission, working with the Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life and the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration. Following her Second State Examination, she has been a research assistant at the Chair of Public Law, Public International Law and Human Rights (Prof. Dr. Dr. Wiater) since October 2025.
Clara’s project investigates how chilling effects produced by private actors—especially corporations— undermine public debate, thereby impairing democratic deliberation. It examines how state mechanisms enable or amplify these effects, raising questions of causality, accountability, and responsibility across the public–private continuum. Grounded in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the project focuses on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) as a paradigmatic case of private instrumentalization of public infrastructure and analyses how selected regional human rights courts address these challenges.