David Hawkes currently heads the Special Litigation Unit in the World Bank Group’s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT). The Special Litigation Unit represents INT’s investigative findings in World Bank Group sanctions proceedings. Before joining the World Bank in 2005, Mr. Hawkes served as a prosecutor and later as a deputy head in the anti-corruption department of the Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin (Berlin Office of the Prosecutor) and as an official in the Federal Ministry of Justice. On behalf of the Berlin Office of the Prosecutor and then as a Senior Officer with the World Bank Group, Mr. Hawkes has managed multidisciplinary and multinational teams in very large and in highly sensitive investigations and litigations on the ground in more than 40 countries and as a unit head in Headquarters. He has also contributed in a leading role to judiciary reform and international training programs.

Mr. Hawkes holds law degrees from the University of Heidelberg and the State of Berlin, as well as a doctorate in Administrative Environmental Safety Law (Gene Technology Law) from Freiburg University (Germany).