28 Facts About Brigitte Bierlein

Brigitte Bierlein is an Austrian former jurist who served as president of the Constitutional Court before serving as chancellor of Austria from June 2019 until January 2020.

In 2003, Brigitte Bierlein was made a member and the vice president of the Constitutional Court.

Brigitte Bierlein was the first woman to assume the role and served until the next government led by Kurz was sworn in following the legislative election which took place on 29 September 2019.

Brigitte Bierlein was born on 25 June 1949 in Vienna during the Allied occupation of Austria.

Brigitte Bierlein's mother, trained as an artist, was a homemaker.

Brigitte Bierlein was educated at the Gymnasium Kundmanngasse, from which she graduated in 1967.

Brigitte Bierlein originally wanted to study either art or architecture and came close to joining the University of Applied Arts.

Brigitte Bierlein enrolled at the University of Vienna, receiving her doctorate of law in 1971.

Brigitte Bierlein served for four years as a candidate judge, before she was officially elevated to the judiciary in 1975.

Brigitte Bierlein spent the next two years presiding over trial courts, first the District Court Innere Stadt and then the District Tribunal Vienna, a criminal court that has since been dissolved.

In 1977, Brigitte Bierlein left the bench to join the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office.

Brigitte Bierlein was responsible for general and political criminal cases as well as for criminal cases pursuant to media law, a type of proceedings customarily handled by dedicated specialists in Austria.

In 1986, Brigitte Bierlein was promoted to the Vienna Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

Brigitte Bierlein was now a distinguished civil servant attached to one of the country's five most senior criminal chambers.

Brigitte Bierlein was the first woman to serve in this position.

In 1995, Brigitte Bierlein was appointed to the executive board of the Association of Austrian Prosecutors.

Brigitte Bierlein had prosecuted crime with great fervor but had not distinguished herself as a legal scholar; she is in fact considered indifferent as a theorist to this day.

Once again, Brigitte Bierlein was the first woman to serve in the role she was being elevated to.

Brigitte Bierlein took over from the president of the court, Gerhart Holzinger, when he retired from the bench effective 31 December 2017.

Brigitte Bierlein reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 2019.

Brigitte Bierlein herself acknowledges both her toughness as a prosecutor and her socially conservative bent in general.

Brigitte Bierlein became the first female chancellor of Austria and was in office until the next government was formed following the National Council elections on 29 September 2019.

Brigitte Bierlein's appointment was agreed with all political parties in the National Council.

Brigitte Bierlein became the second independent to serve as a chancellor after Johannes Schober, who was in office twice between 1921 and 1930, and the first in Austria's post-war history.

Brigitte Bierlein owns contemporary paintings, although she does not consider herself a collector.

Brigitte Bierlein attends theatre and opera performances as well as museums.

In June 2020, Brigitte Bierlein was pulled over on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Brigitte Bierlein was forced to surrender her driver's licence for four weeks and has since issued an apology.