Practice Area Counsel
Marya Akhtar assists Danish and international clients in all aspects of litigation – before, during and after the action. Marya also assists clients in conducting criminal proceedings.
Before Marya joined Gorrissen Federspiel, she worked at The Danish Institute for Human Rights and at Bruun & Hjejle. In 2021, Marya also served as acting High Court Judge at the Eastern High Court.
Marya has hereby acquired profound insight into procedural, administrative and constitutional law matters and what governs and shapes these areas, with a particular focus on legal certainty and the protection of rights.
Gorrissen Federspiel 2025 -
Danish Institute for Human Rights 2016 - 2025
Acting High Court Judge at the Eastern High Court 2021- 2022
Bruun & Hjejle 2011 - 2016
Admitted to the Danish Bar, 2014
Master of Laws, University of Copenhagen, 2011
Sommer school “Competition Law and Policy” LSE, UK 2010
University of British Columbia, Canada 2009
English
Jørgensen, Akhtar & Boye Koch, “Business and Human Rights: Minimising Risks or Maximising Rights?”, in Oxford Handbook on Digital Constitutionalism (Giovanni De Gregorio, Oreste Pollicino, Peggy Valcke red.), Oxford Publishing, 2025
Akhtar & Jørgensen, “A Rights-Based Approach to Automated Decision-Making in the Public Sector”, in Artificial Intelligence and International Human Rights Law: Developing Standards for a Changing World (Michał Balcerzak, Julia Kapelańska-Pręgowska red.), Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024
Akhtar, “Kunstig intelligens, rettigheder og retssikkerhed”, in Menneskerettigheder i konflikt (Boye Koch, Faye og Juul Petersen red.), Samfundslitteratur, 2023
Akhtar, “Transparens i det offentliges brug af maskinlæring”, in Fra velfærdsstat til overvågningsstat - algoritmernes magt i den offentlige forvaltning (Escherich og Jarlner red.), Djøf, 2021
Christoffersen & Akhtar, Karnov-commentary on central UN human rights conventions, 2017 –
Member, Danish Bar and Law Society's Fundamental Rights Committee, 2026
Member, Ministry of Justice working group on new model for collection of criminal costs, 2024
Member, editorial committee, EU Law and Human Rights, Djøf, 2016 –
Member, Djøf's legal panel 2023 – 2025
Representative for ENNHRI, Council of Europe's ad hoc committee on artificial intelligence (CAHAI) 2020-2021
University of Copenhagen, External Lecturer, Human Rights in Practice, 2024
University of Copenhagen, External Lecturer in Institutional Constitutional Law and EU Constitutional Law, 2016 – 2021