Between 1970 and 1971, Jaeger was seconded as a research assistant to the
Bundessozialgericht, and in 1974 was promoted to sit on the
Landessozialgericht for North Rhine-Westphalia, remaining there until 1987. From 1976 to 1979, she was again seconded as a research assistant, this time to the
Bundesverfassungsgericht, the
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. In 1986, she was promoted to Presiding Judge at the
Landessozialgericht, and in 1987 was called to join the
Bundessozialgericht. As well as being a member of the Federal Social Court, Jaeger was appointed in 1988 to sit on the State Constitutional Court of North Rhine-Westphalia. From 1991 to 1994, she took on a lectureship at the
University of Münster. On 24 March 1994, she was appointed a judge of the
Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in the First Senate. She was also appointed Liaison Officer between the Court and the
Council of Europe's
Venice Commission. On 28 April 2004, Jaeger was elected by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to be a judge on the
European Court of Human Rights, based in
Strasbourg,
France, with effect from 1 November that year. On 14 October, she received an honorary doctorate by the
University of Münster, and that Autumn was awarded the Grand Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (
Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband). She was succeeded at the Federal Constitutional Court by Reinhard Gaier. On 2 July 2009, she was elected vice-president of one of the Court's Sections. Her term at the Court ended on 30 December 2010, and she was succeeded by
Angelika Nussberger. ==Charity==