After graduation he became a court clerk at the Higher Court [de] of Argovia for a year before he assumed the same duty at the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne between 1987 until 1996.[1] Besides he acted as the substitute judge for the high court in Argovia between 1987 and 2002 before he assumed as an ordinary Judge at the same court from 2002 to 2004.[1] Concordantly he also acted as a part-time judge at the Federal Court of Switzerland from 1996 to 2004 before he was elected a Federal Judge in Dezember 2003[1] as the successor of Martin Schubarth.[2]
As a Swiss Federal Judge he was involved in several notable cases of public law like the transfer of date from thousands of UBS bank account holders to the French authorities.[3] In Switzerland judges are members of a political party for which Switzerland was often criticized by the Council of Europe.[3] He is a member of the left-wing Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP).[3]
In January 2021 he was elected a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe(PACE).[4] He is the sixth judge representing Switzerland at the ECHR[5] and only the second Swiss Federal judge to assumed as a judge at the ECHR.[6]
