Michael Gøtze

Primary fields of research

Academic profile

Michael Gøtze is a Professor (Ph.D., LL.M., LL.B.) since 2011 of Administrative Law with a broad experience and an in-depth knowlegde within the administrative law and public law area. He was awarded the Ph.D.-degree in law in 1998 at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. His dissertation is an analysis of concept and enforcement of the administrative law principle of "détournement de pouvoir". His research focus is in particular a range of core questions within adminstrative law such as the the citizen's and legal person's right to good administraiton.

To give impetus to research impact Michael Gøtze works in close collaboration with external stakeholders as to solving legal assignments.

Currently his research revolves around rule of law challenges (regulatory quality, Covid-19 issues, digital administration, political impact on legal norms), control mechanisms within public administration such as parliamentary ombudsman control, investigation of administrative cases by means of scrutiny commissions and other legal investigative tools, transparency and openness within public administration, whistleblowing and the right to freedom of expression of public employees, digital impact on administrative decisions and on legislative regulation. He is involved in collective research projects inter alia on digital errors ("systemic errors") embedded and/or occuring in digital and AI solutions.  

Michael is since 2019 head of the research center WELMA at the Faculty of Law with a focus on welfare society issues and on the Nordic welfare society model. 

International profile

As member of the Advisory Committee Michael contributed to the European Law Institute project "AI and Public Administration: Developing Impact Assessments and Public Participation for Digital Democracy", 2022 (ELI, Vienna). Michael is a member of a number of European research networks (within administrative law, public law, European Union law) and he has contributed to comparative research on the laws of transparency and to the preparatory work within the Legal Affairs Committee under the European Parliament on the development and codification of a European Administrative Law Rules. He is currently involved in a number of international and comparative research projects within in particular the rule of law area with a view to digital and AI challenges. 

External experiences and activities

As to professional experience, Michael previously worked as a civil servant (Ministry of the Interior) and as a judge (Eastern High Court). 

Current external assignments include: 

1. Contributions as a respondent to legal opinions and legal expert reports formning part of e.g. consultation, law suits at the Danish courts and arbitration. In 2025 Michael is part of the independent team of practising lawyers etc. scrutinizing the legal responsibility of public authorites involved in the so-called Nordic Waste case (legal report of 667 pages) with a view to environmental law, emergency law and administrative law.
2. Current member of the legislative committee revising the Danish Law on Freedom of Information within Public Administration ("Offentlighedsloven"), appointed by the Ministry of Justice, 2024-2025 ongoing.
3. Current member and assisting President of the Energy Complaints Board, a state complaint body within the energy and clima law area  ("Energiklagenævnet"), 2013-2025 ongoing.
4. Current legal evaluator of the reports of the Danish National Audit Institution headed by the Auditor General, 2020-2025 ongoing.
5. Current member of the Danish Bar Association's Tax Committee providing consultant responses to the Danish Parliament within the tax law area and working with rule of law issues within Danish tax law.
6. Michael has previously been member of inter alia the Danish Bar Association's supporting committee revising professional guidelines for independent investigations by practising lawyers (2021-22) and the legislative committee on freedom of expression of civil servants and the right to whistleblowing within public administration, appointed by the Ministry of Justice (2014-2015). Michael was in 2023 appointed by the Danish Parliament to be part of an expert group evaluating the recent usage of scrutiny commissions in Danish law including the commission reviewing the so-called "Mink culling case" - the Mink Case - during the Covid-period.  

Teaching

Michael (cand.jur. uddannet på KU) underviser på fakultetets jurauddannelser, hvortil kommer undervisning som led i KUs strategiske satsning på Livslang læring (Efter- og videreuddannelse). Michael støtter fakultetets fokus på fagsocial trivsel blandt fakultetets studerende, og han har Open Office tirsdage kl. 13-14. 

I 2026 underviser han på følgende obligatoriske fag:  

• Forvaltningsret, BA 4. semester (forår 2026)
• Forvaltningsret, cand. soc. jur.-uddannelsen (efterår 2026)
• Civilprocesret, KA (forår 2026/efterår 2026)
• BA-projektvejledning
• KA-specialevejledning
• Strategisk initiativ med EVU-kursus "Den gode borgerrådgiver" (KU/KL) i samarbejde med professor Lin Adrian. Kurset er i 2025/26 fuldt booket. 

Michael støtter fakultetets udvikling af uddannelsesområdet bl.a.:

• Forskningsintegration som del af kernefag.  
• Åbne WELMA-seminarer om temaet "Rundt om retsstaten" med sigte på bl.a. studerendes specialeforberedelse i samarbejde med PHD Kristian Hegaard. I 2025 afholdtes 2 (meget velbesøgte) seminarer: "Ansættelsesretligt efterspil i minksagen" (28/1) med Thomas Rørdam, adj. professor og forh. højesteretspræsident, og "Mød den nye ombudsmand" (5/11) Christian Lundblad, Folketingets Ombudsmand fra maj 2025.  
• Udvikling af retsstatsuddannelse/-modul med inddragelse af studerende (se f.eks. interview i Stud.Jur.-Bladet marts 2025). 
• Igangværende samarbejde på tværs af universiteter om forvaltningsretligt undervisningsgrundlag om bæredygtige afgørelser som led i JURiB-projekt støttet af VELUX (se ovenfor). 

Knowledge of languages

Scandinavian languages, English and French

Profile update (September 2025)