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Speakers & Moderators
Laure Abramowitch is a lawyer admitted to the Dijon Bar and founding partner of LEGIPLANET Avocats, a law firm dedicated to environmental law. She advises local authorities, companies, associations and private individuals in both advisory and litigation matters in environmental public law, environmental criminal law and environmental civil law.
She holds a PhD in public environmental law and is an Associate Researcher at CREDESPO and CREDIMI (Université Bourgogne Europe). She previously worked as a research engineer at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Dijon, where she contributed, together with ADEME, to the creation and coordination of the Research and Innovation Network for Socio-Ecological Transition.
She holds the Certificate of Aptitude for the Legal Profession (Paris Bar Training School), was a laureate of the Dijon Bar Conference competition, and obtained a university diploma in environmental criminal law from Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University (2020–2021).
She has been teaching environmental law, climate change law, water law and public speaking since 2007 and also lectures at the National Centre for Local Public Service and the National School for the Judiciary. She develops international training activities in environmental law within international legal cooperation programmes. She is a member of the Dijon Bar Council (2025–2027).
Soraya Amrani Mekki is Professor of Law and Director of the Law Department at the Sciences Po Law School. Qualified as a professor in 2003, she began her academic career at the University of Littoral Opal Coast, where she directed the Master’s program in Business Law. After two years, she joined Paris Nanterre University, where she served as head of the research axis on judicial, amicable and digital justice within CEDCACE, as well as director of the Master’s in Fundamental Private Law and the University Diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution, which she created. In 2022, she founded the Nanterre Law Academy (ADN).
She has been a member of the French High Council for the Judiciary and Vice-President of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (2016–2019 and 2019–2022), as well as a member of the ethics and independence committee of the French National Authority for Health and of the National Observatory of Secularism (2013–2017 and 2017–2021). She has also served on the scientific committee of the GIP Justice and as Director of the Civil Justice Division at Trans Europe Experts.
She is a member of the ethics committee for judges and of the teaching board of the French National School for the Judiciary. She was also appointed by the Minister of Justice as “Ambassador of Amicable Justice.” She belongs to several learned societies, both in France and abroad (including the Board of the International Association of Procedural Law (IAPL), honorary member of the Royal Academy of Legislation and Jurisprudence of Spain, and honorary associate of the Italian Association of Civil Procedure Scholars), as well as to scientific committees (Association Droit et Procédure, French Association of Collaborative Practice Practitioners, International School of Mediation and Arbitration, Estates General of Family Law) and editorial boards (RTDciv., and procedural law journals in Spain and Chile).
She is regularly consulted on draft legislation relating to justice (including measures on the efficiency of justice, lawyers’ procedural acts, guidelines on procedural protocols before international chambers, the “Green Paper” on commercial justice of the Paris Commercial Court, civil procedure reform, collective actions, alternative dispute resolution, and inspections of judicial services) and human rights (including access to rights and non-take-up, rights-based approaches, same-sex marriage, criminal procedure reform, and radicalisation). She has served as an expert for the Legislative Committee of the French National Bar Council (2017–2020) and is currently an expert for its ADR Committee (2021–2024).
Her research and teaching focus primarily on general theory of litigation, civil procedure, alternative dispute resolution, arbitration, and digital justice.
Full Professor of Procedural Law and Comparative Law at the University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Coordinator of the Centre for German and Comparative Law Studies. Habilitation degree (Livre-Docente) from the University of São Paulo (USP). Doctorate degree from UERJ, in cooperation with the University of Munich, Germany (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität). Master's degree in Public Law from UERJ. Post-doctorate studies at the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). Visiting Professor at the Universities of Passau and Kiel (Germany), Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto (Japan), and Pontificia Universidad Catolica (Peru). Senior Lecturer at the Peking University (China). Vice-President of the International Association of Procedural Law (IAPL).
Professor Emeritus at Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris I
Honorary President of the International Association of Procedural Law
Former Member of the High Council of the Judiciary
Honorary Member of the Institut universitaire de France
Doctor of Law (1983) and agrégé des facultés de droit (1984), Loïc Cadiet was a professor at the law schools of Rennes (1984–1992) and Nantes (1992–1996) before being appointed professor at Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris I, where he has taught since 1996. He specializes in legal theory, judicial systems, institutional law, private law, and alternative dispute resolution. He founded and directed the Centre for Research on Justice and Litigation, as well as the master’s programs in Theory and Practice of Litigation and the Social Sciences of Justice.
He is the author or co-author of numerous books on litigation, justice, mediation and arbitration, contract law, and civil liability. He also compiled and edited a French dictionary of justice, published in 2004 with the collaboration of Soraya Amrani Mekki. He is the director of:
- an encyclopedia, JurisClasseur de procédure civile, published by LexisNexis
- a journal, Procédures, also published by LexisNexis, co-edited with Hervé Croze
- a collection, Thémis, published by PUF, co-edited with Didier Truchet and Anne-Laure Girard
He has published several books on law, including Les voies du droit (PUF, then IRJS Editions), and serves on the editorial boards of various French and international journals. He is also one of the co-editors, with Burkhard Hess, Margaret Woo, Séverine Menétrey, and Enrique Vallines, of the online legal treatise Comparative Procedural Law and Justice (2024).
Loïc Cadiet is a Knight of the Legion of Honour and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Mons.
His latest publications are:
- Droit judiciaire privé, Paris, LexisNexis, 12ème éd. 2023 ; 13ème éd., à paraître en 2027, avec Emmanuel Jeuland
- Théorie générale du procès, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 4ème éd. 2026, avec Soraya Amrani-Mekki et Jacques Normand (jusqu’à la 3ème édition)
- Modes alternatifs de règlement des conflits, Paris, Dalloz, 4ème éd. 2024, avec Thomas Clay
- Code de procédure civile, Paris, LexisNexis, 39ème éd. 2026
Professor of Civil Justice at the University of Turin, where she teaches and conducts research in the field of Italian, European and Comparative Civil Procedure. Her scholarly work focuses on cross-border litigation, judicial cooperation in civil matters, and the harmonisation of procedural law within the European Union. On these subjects, she has authored numerous publications, both in Italy and with international publishers.
She participated in the IAPL Summer School 2023 in Madrid, where she delivered a lecture entitled Judicial Remedies for Climate Change in Domestic Courts, later published in the International Journal of Procedural Law. She is a member of the Environmental Law Research Group of the Law Schools Global League and coordinated the open-access volume Reports & Essays on Climate Change Litigation 2024.
She has coordinated and served as unit director in several EU-funded projects on judicial training in civil judicial cooperation, developed in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Justice and the Scuola Superiore della Magistratura (Italian Judicial Training School). She currently serves as Executive General Secretary of the International Association of Procedural Law (IAPL).
Louis Degos is the Bâtonnier (President) of the Paris Bar for 2026 and 2027.
Admitted to the Paris Bar in 1999, he specializes in litigation, international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. For more than twenty-five years, he has advised French and international companies on the prevention and resolution of complex disputes.
He is a partner at K&L Gates in Paris, where he served as Managing Partner until 31 December 2025. He now continues his practice as a partner, focusing on complex litigation and arbitration matters.
Highly involved in the legal profession, he served as a member of the Council of the Barreau de Paris (2012–2014), as the Bâtonnier’s delegate for public affairs (2014–2015), and as a member of the Conseil national des barreaux (2015–2020), where he chaired the Prospective and Innovation Commission.
He is also the founder and director of the Revue Pratique de la Prospective et de l’Innovation, published by LexisNexis, which focuses on the future of the legal profession and innovation in law.
Since 2021, he has been a member of the French delegation to the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, representing France within European legal institutions.
Actively involved in the arbitration community, he is a board member of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage and regularly teaches and speaks at conferences on litigation and arbitration. He is also a mediator with the Centre National de Médiation des Avocats.
He has been awarded the rank of Knight of the Ordre national du Mérite.
Sonya Djemni-Wagner is an Advocate General at the French Court of Cassation, where she serves in the Criminal Division. She is also a member of the Office of the Prosecutor General, with responsibility for international and institutional relations, cooperation with universities and research institutions, and digital-justice issues.
She is a member of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) and the French representative to the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe, to whose Bureau she was elected.
She previously served as General Delegate for Strategic Development at the Institute for Studies and Research on Law and Justice (IERDJ, now the Robert Badinter Institute) and as Inspector General of Justice. Her earlier judicial appointments include Deputy Public Prosecutor at the Bobigny Regional Court (Criminal and Organised Crime Division), Deputy Prosecutor at the Paris Regional Court (Counter-Terrorism Section), and Vice-President of the Nantes Regional Court.
Between 2008 and 2011, she worked at the European Commission as a Seconded National Expert in the Directorate-General for Justice. From 2017 to 2019, she served as Justice Adviser to the President of the Republic.
From 2020 to 2025, she chaired the Femmes de Justice association, dedicated to promoting professional equality within the judiciary. She is also a member of the Strategic Committee of the Sciences Po Law School and of the Editorial Board of Archives de philosophie du droit.
Joseph Fifamin Djogbenou is a Beninese academic, lawyer, and statesman. An Agrégé of Law Faculties in private law and criminal sciences, he is a full professor at the University of Abomey-Calavi and a practicing lawyer. He also directs the Center for Research and Study on Law and Judicial Institutions in Africa (CREDIJ).
Active in public service, he served as a member of the National Assembly of Benin and president of the Commission on Laws, Administration, and Human Rights, before holding the positions of Minister of Justice and Legislation and President of the Constitutional Court of Benin.
In recognition of his contributions to higher education and legal research, he was made an Officer of the International Order of Academic Palms of CAMES.
Fernando Gascón Inchausti is Full Professor of Procedural Law at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. His main fields of interest are civil and criminal procedure, both from a European and a comparative perspective. He has published several books, chapters and articles on these topics. He has also participated in conferences and colloquia on different topics regarding procedural law and justice. He is currently Secretary General of the International Association of Procedural Law and Co-Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Procedural Law.
Emmanuel Gassmann graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Nancy II. Since 2002, he has served as an associate judicial officer at the Court of Appeal of Nancy, based in Épinal.
His office has been awarded the CSR label – Exemplary level – under the AFNOR AFAQ 26000 standard, reflecting a structured and recognised commitment to social responsibility.
He also serves as a trainer at ACADEMYS, the organisation responsible for the continuing education of judicial officers, where he teaches on topics related to the social responsibility of organisations and companies.
Full professor at Sciences Po and Dean of the Sciences Po Law School.
Julie Klein holds a PhD in Law from Panthéon-Assas University (Paris II) and passed the agrégation in law in 2011. She is a Professor at the Sciences Po Law School, where she serves as Academic Director of the Business, Markets and Regulations track within the Master’s programme in Economic Law. Prior to joining Sciences Po, she was Professor of Private Law at the University of Rouen (2011–2019). Her teaching focuses primarily on contract law, civil liability (tort law), and company law.
Her doctoral dissertation examined the starting point of limitation periods (Le point de départ de la prescription, Economica, 2013). Her research interests include the law of obligations and its legal regime, the law of evidence, economic law, and the interaction between civil law and commercial law. Since 2023, she has been responsible for the case law section on the law of evidence for the Revue trimestrielle de droit civil.
She has been Scientific Editor of La Semaine Juridique – Entreprise (JCP E) since 2018 and has been a member of the High Committee on Corporate Governance (Haut Comité de Gouvernement d’Entreprise – HCGE) since 2019.
Bart Krans is a full professor of Civil Law and Civil Procedure Law at the University of Leiden since 2016. Before his appointment in Leiden in 2016, Bart Krans was (among others) full professor at the University of Groningen and a practising lawyer in The Hague. He is a member of several editorial boards.
He has published many books and numerous articles on civil procedure law and substantive private law. Particularly relevant to the subject of this conference is his publication with A.G. Castermans and J. Lukkes, Climate liability: a duty of care for companies. The Court of Appeal the Hague in Shell v Milieudefensie, JuristenZeitung 22/2025, p. 1022-1028. Other publications related to the conference theme are forthcoming.
Kamalia Mehtiyeva is a Professor of Law at Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne and holds the French agrégation in private law and criminal sciences. She co-directs the LLM in Advanced International Business Litigation and serves as Deputy Director of the interdisciplinary research centre LIPHA (EA 7373). She teaches, in particular, international arbitration, international commercial law, international economic law and international litigation.
Her research focuses primarily on international arbitration, civil procedure, enforcement proceedings and international judicial cooperation, in both civil and criminal matters. A significant part of her research is devoted to contemporary transformations in international litigation arising from environmental, climate-related and energy-related challenges, in particular the normative challenges of the energy transition, the integration of environmental considerations into investment arbitration, and environmental counterclaims. She also examines the emergence of climate vulnerability as a legal category in contemporary litigation.
She is the author of several books and articles, including The Concept of Judicial Cooperation (LGDJ), as well as the annual Judicial Cooperation column in the Journal du Droit International (Clunet), which she founded in 2019. She has also published extensively on the legal sources of the energy transition, contractual mechanisms in the renewable energy sector, environmental counterclaims in international arbitration – particularly in the mining sector – as well as on the relationship between climate vulnerability and litigation.
Mustapha Mekki is a professor at Sorbonne Law School, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and serves as Director of International Relations at the EDS. He is a lecturer and researcher in civil law, covering contracts, liability, obligations, property, security interests, persons, family law, gifts, matrimonial property regimes, succession, sociology of law, and legal theory. His research focuses on the impact of environmental and digital issues on the fundamental concepts of private law.
He has authored several monographs, edited around twenty collective works, oversees two case law columns, and has published numerous articles on civil law, business law, notarial law, environmental law, and digital law.
Sunita Narain is a globally respected environmentalist, researcher, and public intellectual with over four decades of leadership in shaping national and international discourse on sustainable development, climate justice, water governance, and environmental equity. She is the Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi. Under her stewardship, CSE has advanced a distinctive model of knowledge-based activism that combines rigorous research, public campaigns, and strategic policy engagement. The institution has been widely recognized as one of the most influential environmental think tanks in the developing world and has received major national and international honours, including the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development.
Narain has been instrumental in bridging science and policy, advocating development pathways that are both ecologically sustainable and socially just. Her work focuses on air pollution mitigation, climate negotiations, community-led water harvesting, affordable sanitation, waste management, and circular economy approaches. She has consistently emphasized that environmental protection must go hand in hand with inclusive growth, particularly for countries of the Global South.
A prolific author and editor, she has co-authored and edited numerous landmark publications, including the State of India’s Environment series and influential books such as Global Warming in an Unequal World, Dying Wisdom, Excreta Matters, and Conflicts of Interest – My Journey through India’s Green Movement. Her writings have shaped global conversations on equity in climate policy and decentralized, people-centered ecological restoration.
Among her many recognitions are the Padma Shri and the Stockholm Water Prize. She was also featured in the documentary Before the Flood alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, where she highlighted the impacts of climate change on India’s monsoon-dependent farming
communities.
Professor of Civil and Criminal Procedural Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (Chile). He holds a degree in Legal Sciences from the University of Valparaíso (Chile) and a PhD in Law from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). Former fellow of the Institute for Ibero-American Cooperation (ICI) at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). Former Associate Professor of Procedural Law at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law of Roma III University (Italy). He has conducted research stays at universities in Germany (Humboldt in Berlin and Goethe in Frankfurt), Spain (Autónoma in Madrid and León) and Italy (Milan).
Director of the Department of Civil Procedural Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. President of the Chilean Institute of Procedural Law (ICHDP). Member of the International Association of Procedural Law (IAPL). Member of the Forum for Civil Procedure Reform formed by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights between 2006 and 2015. Between 2011 and 2019, he was permanent advisor to the National Economic Prosecutor (Free Competition) on procedural strategies. Between 2014 and 2015, he was advisor to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Chile for the drafting of a new Code of Military Justice for Chile. Member of the International Association of Procedural Law (IAPL). Member of the academic committee of the Doctorate Program in Law and the Master's Programs in Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences and the Master's Program with specializations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (Chile). Member lawyer (alternate magistrate) at the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso between 2015 and 2023. During the second half of 2018, he participated as a member of the commission for the reform of the Criminal Procedure Code appointed by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of the Government of Chile. Author of various legal reports for the Chilean Public Prosecutor's Office and for the defense in important criminal trials. President of the Chilean Institute of Procedural Law.
Full Professor and Director of the LL.M. Program in Procedural Law at the National University of La Plata. Awarded the Enrico Redenti prize in 2016, he has been the President of the International Association of Procedural Law since 2019. He also presided the Argentine Association of Procedural Law (2011–2013) and the Ibero-American Institute of Procedural Law (2014–2018).
As a visiting professor, he has lectured and given courses on civil procedure, comparative law, and judicial reform at the universities of Bologna, Turin, Genoa, Brescia, Florence (Italy); São Paulo (Brazil), York (Canada), Yale (USA), Pompeu Fabra (Spain), Medellín (Colombia), PUCP (Peru) and Pekin (China), among others.
Is co-editor of the International Journal of Procedural Law, and since 2021, a corresponding member of the Accademia delle Scienze dell’Istituto di Bologna.
Jean-Baptiste Parlos is a judge in the French judicial system. He notably presided over the financial chamber of the Paris Judicial Court and chaired the trial of the Erika oil spill disaster, which led to the recognition and compensation of ecological damage.
A Justice at the Court of Cassation, he was elected by his peers as President of the Court of Justice of the Republic, before being appointed First President of the Court of Appeal of Reims. He currently serves as First President of the Court of Appeal of Rennes.
Doctor of Law (University of Salamanca), Master of Law (University of Montevideo), Lawyer (University of the Republic, Uruguay.
President of the Ibero-American Institute of Procedural Law, Member of the Council of the International Association of Procedural Law.
Full Professor of Procedural Law and Director of the Master’s Program in Procedural Law and Litigation at the University of Montevideo.
Former Chair of the Board of Directors of the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA–OAS).
His main research areas focus on justice system reforms, particularly the interaction between Procedural Law and Public Policies. He has served as a consultant on justice reform projects for the IDB, MIF, World Bank, JSCA, UNDP, and several national governments.
He has also worked extensively in the field of collective proceedings (class actions). Among his main publications are Collective Actions – Class actions, group litigation and other forms of collective litigation (Procesos Colectivos – Derechos difusos, colectivos e individuales homogéneos), La Ley Uruguay, Montevideo, 2016; and Collective Justice in Ibero-America (Justicia Colectiva en Iberoamérica), La Ley Uruguay, Montevideo, 2019 (coordinator).
Arbitrator, expert, and attorney in highly complex judicial and arbitral proceedings (ICSID, ICC, MERCOSUR Arbitral Tribunal).
Coordinator of the “Uruguayan Network for Clear Legal Language” and member of the “Latin American Chair for Clear Legal Language.”
Lawyer from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Master's degree from the Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata.
Principal professor at Law Department of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). Member of the Faculty Council of the Law School of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Coordinator of the Justice System, Conflict Resolution, and Procedural Law Area of the PUCP Law School. Coordinator of the Critical Procedural Law Research Group.
Secretary General of the Ibero-American Institute of Procedural Law. Member of the Council of the International Association of Procedural Law.
Former President of the Working Group for the reform of the Peruvian civil procedural code. Fellow of the Peruvian Academy of Law. Member of the Group for the Harmonization of Law in Latin America.
Partner at Miranda & Amado, lawyers. Arbitrator.
Author of articles published in Peru and abroad. Author of six books on procedural law.
Professor Dr. Alan Uzelac is a Full Professor of Law and Head of the Department of Civil Procedure at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. His academic focus has been in national and comparative civil procedure, procedural human rights, evidence, judicial efficiency, arbitration and ADR.
He has been a visiting researcher and guest lecturer at numerous universities worldwide, including Harvard Law School (as a Fulbright scholar), as well as universities in Vienna, Maastricht, Paris, Oslo, Uppsala, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Milan, Pavia, Ljubljana, Budapest, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Beijing, and others.
He has published over one hundred scholarly articles and is the author or editor of more than twenty books with leading international publishers. He is an active member of major academic networks, including the International Association of Procedural Law and the German Association for International Procedural Law, where he has served on senior advisory bodies.
He was among the founders of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe and served in several key roles, including as a Bureau member and President of the Task Force on Timeframes of Proceedings. As an international expert, he has advised on civil-justice reforms and judicial management projects across Europe and neighbouring regions.
Alongside his academic career, Professor Uzelac has longstanding experience in arbitration and dispute resolution. Earlier in his career he served as Secretary General of the Permanent Arbitration Court at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and has since acted as arbitrator or expert in international proceedings under various institutional rules. He is a co-author of the leading commentary on Croatian arbitration law.
Christina Voigt, Ph.D./Dr. jur. (Oslo, Norway), LL.M. Env. (Hons.1) (Auckland, New Zealand), Rechtswissenschaft/Law (Passau and Munich, Germany), is Full Professor of Law at the Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo, Norway.
She is a leading expert in international environmental law and the author of numerous academic publications, including “Non-Compliance Mechanisms versus International Courts” (w/C. Foster, CUP, 2024), “International Judicial Practice on the Environment – Questions of Legitimacy” (CUP, 2019), “Handbook on REDD+ and International Law” (EEP, 2016), and “Rule of Law for Nature” (CUP, 2013).
Professor Voigt is the chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law and acted as IUCN´s lead legal counsel in the climate change advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.
From 2009 to 2018, she served the Norwegian government as lead negotiator on REDD+ and as principal legal advisor in the UN climate change negotiations, negotiating, inter alia, the Paris Agreement and its Rulebook. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Paris Agreement Compliance Committee and served as the Committee’s inaugural Co-Chair from 2020 to 2024, and was recently re-elected as Co-Chair.