About Andrew Hammel
Welcome to my website, which is still under construction. I'm Andrew Hammel, a bilingual lawyer, translator, and writer based in Düsseldorf, Germany. On this website, you learn about books I've written and translated. You can also download my CV and sample some of my journalism and essays.
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I was born in Brussels Belgium but grew up mainly in Houston, Texas. I have a B.A. in English from the University of Texas, a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center, and an LL.M from Harvard Law School. I am licensed by the State Bar of Texas, but my license is currently on inactive status, as I no longer actively represent clients. From 1996 to 2007, I represented death row inmates in Texas, first as a Staff Attorney with the Texas Defender Service and then part-time. For 13 years, I was a Visiting Professor and then Assistant Professor at the Law Faculty of the University of Düsseldorf, teaching Anglo-American Common Law, Comparative Law and Comparative law. Since 2016, I have been a freelance writer and translator.
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I have published two books: Ending the Death Penalty: The European Experience in Global Perspective (2010) and Martyr or Murderer? Jens Soering, the Media, and the Truth (2023). I also write long-form investigative journalism, commentary, and essays, both in English and German. My writing has appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Berliner Zeitung, Übermedien, Quillette, The Critic, and other publications. I have appeared as a legal expert in the Netflix documentary series Soering v. Haysom: Till Murder do Us Part (known in German as Der Fall Jens Söring - Tödliche Leidenschaft). I have also appeared as an interview guest in several German-language programs and documentaries. I have appeared on numerous podcasts, including Amanda Knox's Labyrinths, Paranoid Planet, and Tourist Information.
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I am also a translator and editor specializing in academic and legal texts. I translate mainly from German and French into my native language, English. I have translated six books, including works on constitutional law, comparative law, legal theory, restitution of looted art, the Austrian jurist Hans Kelsen, and the Scottish band Cocteau Twins. I have translated or edited articles in numerous academic areas, including theology, postcolonial theory, political science, art history, literary theory, epidemiology, and intellectual history. My specialty is taking complex academic prose and producing a translation which captures all the nuances of the original but reads as if it were written by a native speaker. My years of study of the German language -- as well as German law, politics, and culture -- enable me to grasp the overall context of the original.
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Testimonials
"A translation of Kischel’s Comparative Law readily attests to an extraordinary feat of dedication
on the part of Andrew Hammel, a lawyer and comparatist in his own right, who practices,
teaches, and researches in Germany against the background of a US legal education. It would be remiss of any reviewer, I think, not to praise Hammel on account of the sheer magnitude of his undertaking." Pierre Legrand, Kischel's Comparative Law: Fortschritt ohne Fortschritt, The Journal of Comparative Law, 15(2), 2020
"The book does not read like a translation. The reason is that Andrew Hammel, for some time an Assistant Professor of Common Law at the University of Düsseldorf, took on the commendable task of translating this book. Hammel is an American lawyer and specialist translator. In collaboration with Kischel, he translated this monumental work into English in a way that it reads like an English original."
Jochen Zenthöfer, Deutscher Exportschlager, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30 September 2019.
Journalism
I write essays and long-form journalism on politics, law, and culture in both German and English.
I have written on topics such as affirmative action in the USA, legal education in Germany, the transatlantic double-murder case of Jens Soering, the death penalty, the murder case of Adnan Syed (subject of the podcast "Serial"), German coverage of the American legal system, and immigration in Germany.
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My work has been published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Berliner Zeitung, Übermedien, Quillette, The Critic, and other outlets.
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My two-part investigative series on the case of Adnan Syed (The Wrongful Exoneration of Adnan Syed Part I: A Straightforward Murder Case, The Wrongful Exoneration of Adnan Syed Part II: The Legal and Media Circus) were the two most-read pieces on Quillette in 2023. David Simon, producer of The Wire, had this to say about the pieces: "This is precise, comprehensive, dispassionate and compelling.... [H]erein, the astounding disaster that is true-crime advocacy journalism is laid bare."
Impressum/Masthead
Responsible for the content of this website under §5 of the German Telemediengesetz:
Andrew Hammel
Brunnenstr. 30
40223 Düsseldorf
For more information or inquiries, please use the contact form.
