Born 1955 in Metz (France), Jean-Claude Bonichot obtained a law degree from the université de Metz (University of Metz, France) in 1976 and, subsequently, a degree from the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies, France) in 1977. He was then a student at the École nationale d’administration (ENA) (National School of Administration, France), graduating in 1982 (Henri-François d’Aguesseau graduation class).

It was in that year that he joined the Conseil d’État (Council of State, France) as a junior officer and he was a rapporteur (advocate-reporter) in the Judicial Division until 1985. Appointed as a commissaire du gouvernement (Government commissioner), he served in that capacity in the General Assembly and in other judicial sections of the Conseil d’État between 1985 and 1987.

In addition, he was given posts external to the Conseil d’État that were linked with his experience in administrative proceedings. During 1986, he was appointed as a legal adviser to the Director-General of Urbanism and Construction in the French Ministry of Infrastructure. In 1987, he joined the Court of Justice of the European Communities as a legal secretary in the Chambers of Judge Yves Galmot, subsequently serving as a legal secretary in the Chambers of Judge Fernand Grévisse, with whom he worked until 1991. Returning to France, he was appointed as Director of the Private Office of the Minister for Labour, Employment and Vocational Training and, subsequently, as Director of the Private Office of the Minister for the Civil Service and Modernisation of Administration.

Between 1992 and 1999, Mr Bonichot again held the post of commissaire du gouvernement at the Conseil d’État, subsequently being invited to serve as an assesseur (non-presiding judge) before being appointed in 2000 as President of the Sixth Sub-Division of the Judicial Division of the Conseil d’État (sub-divisions are now referred to as ‘chambers’), where he held that office until 2006. At the same time, he was head of the Legal Mission of the Conseil d’État at the National Health Insurance Fund for Employed Persons between 2001 and 2006.

An author of numerous publications on administrative law, EU law and European human rights law, Mr Bonichot has also been involved in teaching during a varied academic career: between 1988 and 2000, he was an Associate Professor at the université de Metz, where he was head of the public law department for a number of years. In 1995, he was also a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the université de Liège (University of Liège, Belgium). He was appointed in 2000 as an Associate Professor at the université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) (University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), France), a post which he held until the end of the 2007 academic year. His academic career led him to become a member of the selection board for the national competitive examination in public law in 2000.

He was also Deputy Secretary-General and, subsequently, Secretary-General of the Institut français des sciences administratives (French Institute of Administrative Sciences, France) and a member of the Executive Committee of the Institut international des sciences administratives (International Institute of Administrative Sciences, France).

He is the co-founder of two legal journals: Bulletin de jurisprudence de droit de l’urbanisme, for which he is president of the editorial committee, and Bulletin juridique des collectivités locales.

Judge at the Court of Justice from 7 October 2006 to 7 October 2024.