Péter Paczolay is judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 2017. He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest in 1980. From 1992 he was Head of Department of Political Sciences at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the University of Szeged. He is full professor since 2000.

He was elected Judge of the Constitutional Court of Hungary in 2006 and he was Vice-President of the Court from March 2007 to July 2008, and President of the HCC from 2011 to 2015.

From 2005 to 2013 he was member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.  Between 2009 and 2011 he was Vice President of the Commission, and in 2013 he was elected as Honorary President. Since December 2017 he is also elected President of the Association of the Former Members of the Venice Commission.