Juridisk Institut

Dr. Graham Butler (B.A., LL.M., Ph.D.) is Associate Professor of Law at Aarhus University, Denmark. He researches and teaches in various aspects of European Union law, including EU constitutional law, EU internal market law, EU external relations law, and EU procedural law on both Bachelors and Masters degree programmes. 

His research has been published in the leading academic law reviews and journals related to European law, including the European Law Review, European Constitutional Law Review, European Public Law, Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, European Foreign Affairs Review, the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, the Yearbook of European Law, Legal Issues of Economic Integration, the Columbia Journal of European Law, Nordic Journal of International Law, the Journal of European Public Policy, International Organizations Law Review, the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law, amongst others.

He has also contributed to several edited volumes and collections published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Hart Publishing, Bloomsbury, Edward Elgar, Routledge, Intersentia, and more. Dr. Butler is the author of Constitutional Law of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (Oxford: Hart/Bloomsbury 2019), the only monograph dedicated to the law of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in modern times. 

Dr. Butler holds a number of academic degrees from University College Dublin (UCD), National University of Ireland (NUI); the University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands); and the University of Copenhagen (Københavns Universitet), Denmark. 

Dr. Butler was a member of the Investigation on developments in the EU and Europe in the field of security and defense policy, and implications for Denmark (Udredning om udviklingen i EU og Europa på det sikkerheds- og forsvarspolitiske område og betydningen for Danmark) (2018-2019), in light of the Danish defence-opt-out, commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Udenrigsministeriet). 

Dr. Butler's research has been cited in four cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU's highest court.

• Firstly, in a Grand Chamber case concerning the EU's Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice (Justice and Home Affairs) in the Opinion of Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston in Case C-670/16, Tsegezab Mengesteab v Federal Republic of Germany in 2017.
• Secondly, in another Grand Chamber case concerning, inter alia, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), EU institutional law, scope of executive discretion, standards of judicial review, and EU procedural law in the Opinion of Advocate General Michal Bobek in Case C-418/18 P, Puppinck and Others v European Commission in 2019, an appeal of a judgment of the EU General Court in Case T-561/14, One of Us and Others v Commission.
• Thirdly, in a First Chamber case concerning, inter alia, the scope of the arbitration clause/jurisdiction clause under Article 272 TFEU, the contractual relations of the European Union, and the jurisdiction of the Court in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in the Opinion of Advocate General Evgeni Tanchev in Case C-730/18 P, SC v Eulex Kosovo in 2020, an appeal of a judgment of the EU General Court in Case T-242/17, SC v Eulex Kosovo.
• Fourthly, in a Grand Chamber case concerning, inter alia, jurisdiction of the Court in actions for damages, restrictive measures (sanctions), and the legal aspects of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in the Opinion of Advocate General Gerard Hogan in Case C-134/19 P, Bank Refah Kargaran v Council of the European Union in 2020, an appeal of a judgment of the EU General Court in Case T-552/15, Bank Refah Kargaran v Council of the European Union.