Martin George LL.B. (Hons), LL.M. - General Editor
Martin received his LL.B. from the University of Leicester, and his LL.M. in International Commercial Law from the University of Nottingham. He is currently a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant and Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Birmingham (supervised by Professor Jonathan Harris). His major research interests are in the fields of private international law and maritime law, on which he has published an article: “Choice of Law in Maritime Torts” (2007) 3 Journal of Private International Law 137-172. He also teaches on the LL.B. Land Law and Equity & Trusts courses at Birmingham.
Martin was a Consultant to the British Institute of International & Comparative Law in 2006 on a European Commission-funded comparative study concerning the application of the Brussels I Regulation in the Member States. He is also National Reporter for England on a feasibility study commissioned by the European Commission on the creation of a European research network in the fields of international private law, civil law and civil procedure, and has published an article on the current status of English private international law in that context (Martin P. George, “The present situation of private international law in England” (2005) 6 European Legal Forum I-257, I-271.)
Martin is the creator and General Editor of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET and the Website Coordinator of the Journal of Private International Law.
Email: martin.george@conflictoflaws.net.
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Giorgio Buono - Editor (Italy)
Giorgio obtained his law degree from the Faculty of Law, LUISS-Guido Carli University (Rome), under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Baratta, and he is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, supervised by Prof. Paolo Picone. His major research interests are in the field of private international law, especially in the development of EC private international law: his PhD thesis is focused on Rome II Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations.
Giorgio has been a visiting scholar at the Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht, in Hamburg.
Giorgio is the Editor for Italy of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Gilles Cuniberti - Editor (France)
Gilles Cuniberti is a professor of law at the University of Luxembourg. Previously, he taught for 10 years at the Faculty of Law of Paris 12 University (Paris Val-de-Marne). His primary teaching and research interests are conflict of laws, international arbitration, international litigation and comparative law. He is a regular contributor to the Journal du Droit International (Clunet). He has an ongoing visiting relationship with the University of Versailles St Quentin where he teaches international litigation. He has also taught at Duke Law School, Sheffield Hallam University and ESSEC business school.
He holds a Doctorate in Law from Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University and an LL.M. degree from Yale Law School. He was also a Paris-Oxford Doctoral Program Scholar for a year at Trinity College, Oxford. He is admitted to the Paris Bar and practiced on a part-time basis in the Paris office of a leading English firm from 1999 to 2004.
SELECTED ARTICLES:
“The Recognition of Judgments Lacking Reasons in Europe: Access to Justice, Foreign Court Avoidance and Efficiency”, (2008) 57 Int’l & Comp. L. Q. 25
“L’apprezzamento dell’efficacia della clausola arbitrale da parte del giudice statale : un conflitto tra Italia e Francia”, 21 Diritto del Commercio Internazionale 2007.789 (with M. Winkler)
“Is the CISG Benefiting Anybody?” 39 Vand. J. Transnat’l L. 1511 (2006)
“Action déclaratoire et droit judiciaire européen”, Journal du droit international 2004.77
Gilles is the Editor for France of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Dr Veronika Gaertner LL.M. - Editor (Germany)
Veronika passed her first state exam at the University in Heidelberg before obtaining an LL.M. in International and European Law from the University of Aberdeen and completing her doctoral thesis on extra-judicial divorces at the University of Heidelberg (supervised by Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Erik Jayme). At present she is a trainee lawyer in Kiel. Her major research interests are in the fields of private international law – especially private international law of family law, on which she has published an article (Veronika Gaertner, “European Choice of Law Rules in Divorce (Rome III): An Examination of the Possible Connecting Factors in Divorce Matters Against the Background of Private International Law Developments” (2006) 2 Journal of Private International Law 99).
Before starting her practical legal training, Veronika was a research assistant at the Institute for Private International Law, University of Heidelberg where she was involved inter alia in the Study JLS/C4/2005/03 concerning the application of Regulation 44/2001/EC in the Member States which was conducted on behalf of the European Commission under the direction of Prof. Dr. Burkhard Hess, Prof. Dr. Thomas Pfeiffer (both Heidelberg) and Prof. Dr. Peter Schlosser (Munich).
Veronika is the Editor for Germany of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Eleonora Gerasimchuk LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. - Editor (Russian Federation)
Eleonora is an associate at the international law firm of Clifford Chance, Moscow office, where her particular focus is on corporate law and real estate law issues. Eleonora graduated from the Moscow Lomonosov University, Faculty of Law, spent an exchange year at the University of Regensburg, Germany, and completed the Post-Graduate Course in International Trade and Business Law at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague, The Netherlands. She performed Ph.D. research at the Max-Planck-Institute on Foreign and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany, supervised by Professor Juergen Basedow. For the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law Eleonora prepared Preliminary document No. 27 on the relationship between the Convention of Choice of Court Agreements of 30 June 2005 and CIS regional instruments.
Eleonora is the Editor for the Russian Federation of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Lorna Gillies LL.B. (Hons), Dip.L.P., Ph.D. - Editor (UK)
Lorna Gillies obtained her LLB (Hons), Dip LP and PhD all from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. She is a non-practising Scottish solicitor, a Member of the Law Society of Scotland and a lecturer in law at the Faculty of Law, University of Leicester. Her teaching and research interests are in international private law (in particular the jurisdiction and choice of law aspects of electronic commerce), commercial law, the law of electronic commerce and consumer law. Lorna is also a Member of the Higher Education Academy, the Society of Legal Scholars, the International Law Association and the International Association of Consumer Lawyers.
Lorna is the Editor for the UK of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Perry Herzfeld B.Sc., LL.B. (Hons) - Editor (Australia)
Perry obtained his law degree from the University of Melbourne. He is currently Associate to Justice Crennan of the High Court of Australia.
Before commencing as Justice Crennan’s Associate, he was a lawyer at leading Australian commercial law firm Allens Arthur Robinson, where his principal areas of practice were general litigation and insurance (both litigation and advice). He is currently completing his LLM part-time at the University of Melbourne. Perry’s academic research interests include insurance, international arbitration and private international law, on which his work has been published.Perry is the Editor for Australia of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Michael M. Karayanni, LL.B, LL.M, LL.D, S.J.D . - Editor (Israel)
Michael M. Karayanni, has an LL.B from Bar-Ilan University, an LL.M from the George Washington University National Law Center, an LL.D from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an S.J.D from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is a member of the Faculty of Law of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and holds the Edward S. Silver Chair in Civil Procedure. Dr. Karayanni is the author of two books: The Influence of the Choice of Law Process on International Jurisdiction (2002) (in Hebrew) and Forum Non Conveniens in the Modern Age (2004). Other research interests of Dr. Karayanni include conflicts in inter-religious law and state law in Israel and civil procedure. He was the academic director of the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University, the vice-dean of the faculty of law at the same institution and is currently a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
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Charles T. Kotuby Jr B.A., J.D., LL.M. - Editor (U.S.A.)
Charles is an associate at the international law firm of Jones Day. Charles maintains an active appellate practice before the United States Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals, with a particular focus on matters involving significant international issues. Prior to joining Jones Day, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph F. Weis Jr., Senior Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a legal fellow at the Max Planck Institute on Foreign and Private International Law in Hamburg, Germany, and as a stagiere attorney with the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in the Netherlands.
Charles received his B.A and J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, and his LL.M. from the University of Durham. He is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, as well as before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Ninth Circuits.
Charles is the Editor for the United States of America of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Xandra Kramer LL.M., Ph.D. - Editor (Netherlands)
Xandra Kramer is an associate professor of Private International and Comparative Law at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands where she has worked since 2001. She obtained her Masters and Ph.D. degrees (in 1996 and 2001 respectively) from the Leiden University, where she also worked as an assistant professor. Her Ph.D. focused on Provisional and Protective Measures in Private International Law. She has published numerous articles and some books in the fields of private international law, international litigation as well as the harmonization of civil procedure. She is editor of several journals, and editor-in-chief of Nederlands Internationaal Privaatrecht (Netherlands Private International Law; see www.nipr-online.eu). She lectures on private international law, European private law, comparative private law, civil procedure and international dispute settlement, amongst others in the LL.M. Business, Corporate and Maritime Law of Erasmus University. She has been a visiting professor at the Foreign Trade University in Hanoi, Vietnam, and a guest scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. In 2007 she was appointed Deputy Judge of the District Court of Rotterdam in addition to her academic work.
Xandra is the Editor for the Netherlands of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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George Philip Krog Cand. Jur., LL.M. – Editor (Norway)
Georg received his Cand. Jur. and LLM from the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo where he currently is a Research Fellow, a Lecturer and a Candidate for the Doctor Juris degree.
The principle area of Georg´s doctoral research centres on jurisdiction and choice-of-law in matters relating to non-contractual liability. Other aspects of his work involve legal issues pursuant to tort law, contract law and theories of rights and normative positions applied to information- and communication systems.
Georg has been a visiting scholar at the Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht, in Hamburg, a Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School, a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School, European Law Research Center, and a Visiting Scholar at the WIPO Academy. Georg is the author of numerous articles on the subject of private international law, alternative dispute settlement and e-commerce law.
Georg is the Editor for Norway of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Thalia Kruger B.A., LL.B., Ph.D. - Editor (South Africa)
Thalia Kruger obtained her BA and LLB degrees from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Thereafter she completed her PHD at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium on “Civil jurisdiction rules in the European Union and their impact on third States”. While working on her PHD, she was a teaching and research assistant at the Law Faculty’s Institute for Private International Law where she tutored and lectured on various aspects of private international law and international business law and initiated the Institute’s websites on the CISG and on European civil procedure. She has also participated in a research project funded by the European Commission on “International Civil litigation in Europe and relations with third States”.
Thalia currently works at the Flemish Centre for Minorities where she advises lawyers, civil servants, welfare organisations and individuals on private international law in family matters and also lectures to civil servants in this field. She has been recording for the Hague Conference on Private International Law on several occasions.
Thalia is the Editor for South Africa of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Ivana Kunda LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. - Editor (Croatia)
Ivana graduated in law from the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka in 1999, and in 2004 she earned her Masters degree in the Law on European Integrations at the same University. The updated version of her Masters thesis, written in English, which is dedicated to internationally mandatory rules in European private international law, will be published in 2006. Ivana is currently engaged with the scientific project on “Private International Law of International Business Transactions”, within which she particularly focuses on the field where private international law and intellectual property law intersect. In preparing her Ph.D. Thesis, she conducted a six-month research project at the Max-Planck-Institut für Geistiges Eigentum, Wettbewerbs- und Steuerrecht in Munich, Germany in 2006.
Since 2000 she has worked as an assistant at the Private International Law Department of the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Croatia. Prior to working at the University of Rijeka, she worked at the law office, and completed an internship at the Commercial Court in Rijeka. In 2004 she passed the Croatian Bar Exam.
Ivana is the Editor for Croatia of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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James McComish B.A. (Hons), LL.B. (Hons) - Editor (Australia)
James is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and is currently associate to the Honourable Justice W M C Gummow AC of the High Court of Australia. Before commencing his associateship, he worked in the Melbourne office of the law firm Allens Arthur Robinson, where his principal areas of practice were general litigation and insurance.
James’ research interests span both private and public law. He has a particular interest in the interaction between private international law and federalism, and in procedural aspects of transnational litigation.
James is the Editor for Australia of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Jan Neels B.Com., LL.B., LL.M., LL.D. - Editor (South Africa)
Jan Neels obtained his B Com, LLB and LLM degrees, all cum laude, from the Rand Afrikaans University, now the University of Johannesburg. He was awarded the Faculty of Law medal and the Chancellor’s medal during the course of his studies. He obtained his LLD from the University of Leiden and is currently professor of Private International Law at the University of Johannesburg.
Prof Neels is head of the Department of Private Law, member of the editorial board of the Tydskrif vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg / Journal of South African Law and director of the Institute for Private International Law in Africa. He delivered papers at various national and international conferences in South Africa and at the University of Namibia, Yeditepe University (Istanbul), the University of Antwerpen, the University of Innsbruck, the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) and the University of Zaragoza. Prof Neels has authored or co-authored 35 articles, primarily in the field of Private International Law and published in De Jure, EUREDIA European Banking and Financial Law Journal, the International and Comparative Law Quarterly, the South African Law Journal, the South African Mercantile Law Journal, the Stellenbosch Law Review, the Tydskrif vir die Hedendaagse Romeins-Hollandse Reg / Journal of Contemporary Roman-Dutch Law, the Tydskrif vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg / Journal of South African Law, the Yearbook for Private International Law and in a Festschrift published in Turkey. Three reported cases of the Cape High Court and two decisions of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa accepted the proposals for law reform in some of the articles. Prof Neels has written reports to the South African Law Reform Commission on the conflicts aspects of the Islamic Marriages Draft Bill and to the European Commission on the revision of the Rome Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations.
Prof Neels is the Editor for South Africa of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Stephen Pitel B.A., LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. - Editor (Canada)
Stephen G.A. Pitel has a B.A. from Carleton University, an LL.B. from Dalhousie University, and an LL.M. and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario. He is the editor of Litigating Conspiracy: An Analysis of Competition Class Actions (2006), co-editor of Understanding Unjust Enrichment (2004) and The Joy of Torts (2003) and co-author of The Law of Restitution in Canada: Cases, Notes and Materials (2004). His teaching and research is focused on international commercial litigation, civil procedure, torts, and unjust enrichment. His articles on private international law have been published in the Canadian Bar Review, Canadian Business Law Journal and Advocates’ Quarterly. He was Western Law’s Student Legal Society Professor of the Year in 2004. A former commercial litigator, Dr. Pitel has an extensive background in coaching trial and appellate advocacy.
Stephen is the Editor for Canada of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
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Ioanna Thoma B.A., LL.M., LL.M., M.St., Ph.D. - Editor (Greece)
Ioanna is a Greek qualified lawyer (Athens Bar Association). She graduated from the Law School of the University of Athens (1998) where she further studied for an LL.M in international law (1999). She also holds an LL.M from Harvard Law School (2000), an MSt from Oxford University (2005) and a doctorate from the University of Hamburg (2005). Her doctoral thesis was published by Mohr Siebeck in 2007 (Die Europäisierung und die Vergemeinschaftung des nationalen ordre public). Ioanna was a trainee at the Legal Service (Justice and Home Affairs team) of the European Commission in Brussels from October 2000 until March 2001. From 2005 until 2007 she was a stipendiary lecturer at Christ Church (University of Oxford) and full-time lecturer at the Law School of Brunel University West London. At the same time she worked as a part-time associate at the Litigation & Arbitration Groups of WilmerHale (London) and Bird&Bird (London). Since October 2007 she is an associate at the Arbitration Group of Allen & Overy in London. As a visiting Lecturer at the Law School of the University of Athens she gives lectures and seminars on private international law and European procedural law. She fluently speaks English, French, German and Greek (native speaker) and has a good understanding of Spanish.
Ioanna is the Editor for Greece of CONFLICT OF LAWS .NET.
