Organisation profile

The primary objective of The Nordic Centre for Comparative and International Family Law (NorFam) is to be a focal point for comparative and international research in the Nordic Countries in the areas of Family Law as well as in related areas such as Succession Law, Private International Law and Medical Law. While physically and administratively based at Aalborg University under the directorship of Prof Jens M. Scherpe, its membership will extend to scholars from all Nordic jurisdictions (comprising Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland and the autonomous region of Åland).

Nordic legal scholarship often is underrepresented in the international debates, despite the fact that the Nordic jurisdictions and societies frequently have been (and still are) in the vanguard of many societal and legal developments (e.g. gender equality, recognition of same-sex relationships and cohabitation). NorFam will bring together scholars from all Nordic jurisdictions for joint projects and publications in the English language. Its mission is to make Nordic law and Nordic legal scholarship available and accessible globally, thus adding a Nordic dimension to international and comparative debates. Another core aim of NorFam is to provide in-depth comparative research for law reform discussions within the Nordic Countries and beyond.

Director

Jens M. Scherpe (Aalborg University) 

Co-directors

• Gitte Meldgaard Abrahamsen (Aalborg University)
• Katrine Kjærheim Fredwall (University of Oslo)
• Hrefna Friðriksdóttir (University of Iceland)
• Katja Karjalainen (University of Eastern Finland)
• Anna Singer (Uppsala University)

Advisory Board

• Margareta Brattström (Swedish Supreme Court)
• Maarit Jänterä-Jareborg (Uppsala University)
• Ingrid Lund-Andersen (University of Copenhagen)
• Urpo Kangas (University of Helsinki)
• Walter Pintens (University of Leuven)
• Kirsten Sandberg (University of Oslo)
• Salla Silvola (Ministry of Justice of Finland)
• Anna Singer (Uppsala University)
• Tone Sverdrup (University of Oslo)

Corresponding Members

• Caroline Adolphsen (Aarhus University)
• John Asland (University of Oslo)
• Lena Benediksen (University of Tromsø)
• Viola Boström (Umeå University)
• Thomas Eeg (University of Bergen)
• Maria Ullits Pallesen Fonseca (University of Aalborg)
• Jameson Garland (Uppsala University)
• Trude Haugli (University of Tromsø)
• Janne Rothmar Herrmann (Copenhagen University)
• Antti Kolehmainen (University of Eastern Finland)
• Annette Kronborg (Syddansk Universitet)
• Pernilla Leviner (Stockholm University)
• Tapani Lohi (University of Helsinki)
• Titti Mattson (Lund University)
• Tuulikki Mikkola (University of Turku)
• Sanna Mustasaari (University of Eastern Finland)
• Anna Mäki-Petäjä-Leinonen (University of Eastern Finland)
• Eva Naur (Aarhus University)
• Torbjörn Odlöw (University of Gothenburg)
• Frank Høgholm Pedersen (Copenhagen University)
• Anne Mørk Pedersen (Aalborg University)
• Elizabeth Stuart Perry (Uppsala University)
• Johanna Schiratzki (Stockholm University)
• Anneken Kari Sperr (University of Bergen)
• Jane Stoll (Karlstad University)
• Hannele Tolonen (Helsinki University)
• Tone Linn Wærstad (University of Oslo)

International Corresponding Members

• Cristina González Beilfuss (Universitat de Barcelona)
• Alan Brown (University of Glasgow)
• Anatol Dutta (LMU Munich)
• Belinda Fehlberg (Melbourne University, Australia)
• Josep Ferrer Riba (Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona)
• Stephen Gilmore (From September 2023: University of Cambridge)
• Claire Fenton-Glynn (University of Cambridge and Director of Cambridge Family Law)
• Yuko Nishitani (Kyoto University)
• Kenneth Norrie (University of Strathclyde)
• Josep Ferrer Riba (Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona)
• Nicolás Espejo Yaksic (Centre for Constitutional Studies of the Supreme Court of Mexico)
• Nadjma Yassari (Max Planck Institute Hamburg, Head of the Research Group “Changes in God’s Law – An Inner-Islamic Comparison of Family and Succession Laws”)