Bremen lawyer writes film history – Alumni Talk with Bernhard Docke

Bernhard Docke found studying law at the University of Bremen particularly appealing because in the 1970s it still offered a single-phase legal education. For him, that included an eight-month internship abroad at the United Nations in New York. "I have benefited from this stay in the USA throughout my entire career, especially in the various court cases I have handled in the USA," said Docke at our Alumni Talk on 28 June. Of course, the talk was also about his most prominent case, the former Guantanamo prisoner Murat Kurnaz.

The case came to theatres this past spring as “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush”, a moving and humorous multiple award-winning feature film that looks at the fate of the Guatanamo prisoner from the perspective of his mother and her lawyer. In our Alumni Talk, Bernhard Docke, listed for years as one of the top criminal defence lawyers in Germany, shared candid insights into the ups and downs of his work as a lawyer. "In the first few years, when we didn't know at all what legal means we could even use to advocate for Murat, and new and often seemingly insurmountable obstacles kept piling up, the psychological strain on Murat's mother and me was almost unbearable." But the two kept going and eventually succeeded. "Today Murat is a happy family man with three children. That is not a given for people who have experienced years of torture,” says Docke. This successful outcome also owes a lot to his profound legal expertise. In an accessible way, Docke explained how deeply he had to delve into American legal history in order to finally win the Kurnaz case before the US Supreme Court against American President George W Bush.

Using other cases from his many years of legal practice as examples, the conversation with the approximately 40 participants extended into social commitment and the moral responsibility of lawyers. "I have not for a moment regretted studying at the University of Bremen," said Docke. "The university equipped us to find our way into new subjects. It didn't cram us full of all-encompassing knowledge, but it gave us the tools we needed to independently explore the things that then became important."

Please watch the presentation of Bernhard Docke here (only in German)