Wolf was born and raised in Weingarten. After receiving his high school diploma in Ravensburg he studied law at the University of Konstanz. Upon completing his traineeship at the regional court district Ravensburg, the county councillor's office in Ravensburg and the Regierungspräsidium Tübingen, he underwent a specialization program in "Management and Finance" at Konstanz University. In 1988 he took his second state examination. Upon completing his legal education, Wolf worked at the district office of Tuttlingen as Councillor for Public Safety, Order and Traffic until 1991. He was then employed until 1993 as a personal assistant and office manager for Baden-Württemberg's Transport Minister Thomas Schäuble. During the following two years he served as a judge at the administrative court in Sigmaringen. From 1994 until October 1996 he worked as a Head of Unit in the policy department of the Baden-Württemberg State Ministry.
Political career
In November 1996 Wolf was elected mayor of Nürtingen. In 2003 he was elected county councillor in the district of Tuttlingen. Three years later he was elected to the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg in 2006 and re-elected 2011. In the same year he was also chosen to be president of the Landtag. In December 2014 he succeeded Peter Hauk as faction leader of the CDU in the Landtag and was elected in January 2015. At the same time, the CDU's state party convention nominated him as its leading candidate for the 2016 Baden-Württemberg state elections. During his campaign Wolf demanded daily refugee quotas and border centers for migrants in a joint statement with CDU Rhineland-Palatinate's frontrunner Julia Klöckner in February 2016. According to their proposal, no one should be allowed to enter Germany without a reason for asylum or a protection status. Thereby, the statement increased pressure on Angela Merkel in the European migrant crisis. Eventually, the German government rejected the proposal. On March 15, 2016, after the CDU's historic defeat in the state election, Wolf was re-elected as leader of the parliamentary group, even though his party only garnered 27 percent of the popular vote. This was criticized by several CDU state politicians and county chapters, who accused Wolf of "arrogant" behavior, because he did not step down after his defeat. In May 2016, Wolf was appointed State Minister of Justice and European Affairs in the government of Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann of Baden-Württemberg. As one of the state’s representatives at the Bundesrat, he has been serving as chairman of the Committee on European Affairs since October 2016.
