Christian Thönnes studied law at the Humboldt University in Berlin. During this time, he worked as a 
parliamentary assistant to Bettina Bähr-Losse, a member of the Bundestag. At the GFF – Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (Society for Civil Rights), he coordinated the Zivilcourage Project, which was founded to improve the legal protection of whistleblowers through the means of strategic litigation.
In addition to his doctorate in constitutional law, he continues to work academically on legal issues related to whistleblowing.