The Institute hosted a "China Afternoon" as part of the „Hamburg Lecture Series on Chinese Law“.

On 27 and 28 March 2009 a conference was held at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law on the topic "Private Law in Eastern Europe – Autonomous Developments or Legal Transplants?".

The MPI's sixth Habilitandenkolloquium was held on 4-5 May 2009. 16 junior scholars from German speaking countries presented their post-doctoral research projects.

On 23 and 24 January 2009 a conference titled "Structure and Effects in EU Competition Law - Studies on Exclusionary Conduct and State Aid" was held at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law

On 9 September 2009 a ceremony commemorated the newly constituted Directorate of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg.

On Friday, 11 September 2009, the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg and the German-Japanese Jurists' Association jointly sponsored two lecture programs. The occasion for the events was the 20th anniversary of Hamburg and Osaka's relation as sister cities.

The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law and the Verein Rechtsstandort Hamburg e.V. held a ceremony commemorating the release of the Encyclopaedia of European Private Lawrelease on 22 September 2009

This year's conference of the German Iranian Law Association (DIJV) and the Society for Arabic and Islamic Law (GAIR) featured a series of talks on the law of the Maghreb nations as well as on Iranian law

On September 29, 2009 Jürgen Basedow celebrated his 60th birthday. In keeping with the Festschrift tradition, the Institute marked the occasion by compiling a celebratory edition of the Rabels Magazine for International Private Law. [more]

On 30 November 2009 a symposium was held titled "The Ban on Majority Ownership: German Soccer's 50 + 1 Rule under National and International Law". [more]