Dr Jiri Nykodym was born in on 10 July 1945 into the family of a postal clerk. He read law at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague from 1963 to 1968. In 1969, while serving in the military, he passed his doctorate viva voce. In September 1969 he joined the Municipal Court in Prague in the position of a trainee judge, and in December 1969 he began a stint as an articling lawyer with the Prague Municipal Barristers Union. He passed the bar examinations in 1971 and from 1972 worked as a barrister in Legal Advice Bureau No. 3 in Prague. He became a member of the Civil Law Section of the Czech Bar Association's Education College in March 1972.

       In 1976 Dr Nykodym was appointed to the board of examiners for bar examinations, in the discipline of civil law.

       In 1990 he was elected to the board of the Czech Bar Association, where he contributed to the drafting of the law on advocacy and advocates' fees.

       Dr Nykodým served on the board of the Czech Bar Association up to his appointment as a Justice of the Constitutional Court, with the exception of the period from 1993 to 1996 when he was on the Czech Bar Association's Audit Commission.

       In 1998 he was appointed to the Government's Legislative Council, on which he served up to his appointment as a Justice of the Constitutional Court. He was also a member of the Justice Ministry's working group for family law and the working group for the general part of the newly drafted Civil Code.

       He is one of the co-authors of the comments on the Civil Code published by Beck Publishers, and one of the co-authors of Linde Publishers' Law Dictionary.

       Never affiliated with any political party, Dr Nykodym is married and has two grown daughters.

Brno, 30 December 2003