Prof. Dr Jürgen Helle, the former President of the Oldenburg Regional Court, received an honorary doctorate from School II Computing Science, Economics and Law at the University of Oldenburg at a ceremony in the library hall on 27 February 2009 for his outstanding academic achievements in the field of the protection of personality rights. Thanks to his book "Besondere Persönlichkeitsrechte" ("Special personality rights") in private law, published in 1991, which became a standard work, Helle is regarded as one of the few high-calibre experts on personality rights. He has built up and consolidated his reputation in many books and almost 50 specialist articles. Helle studied law and political science in Marburg and Göttingen, where he also gained his doctorate. In 1959, he joined the higher judicial service of the state of Lower Saxony and from 1971 to 1977 was a presidential councillor in the administration of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Celle. From 1977 to 1996, Helle was President of the Regional Court of Oldenburg. Here he was Chair of a civil chamber that dealt with disputes concerning the protection of personality and honour. In 1990, Helle was appointed to the Ethics Commission of the Medical Association of Lower Saxony, of which he was a member until 2008. Helle taught media law at the University of Oldenburg for ten years and has been an honorary professor at the University of Osnabrück since 1995.