Fédération
des Barreaux d’Europe

Attorney-at-law, President of the National Bar Council of Attorneys-at-Law (since 2020), Vice-President (2010-2016) and member of the Presidium (since 2017) The Board of the National Bar Council of Attorneys-at-Law, Dean (2013-2020) and Vice-Dean (2010-2013, since 2020) of the Warsaw Bar Association of Attorneys-at-Law. In 2000, he graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. Between 2001 and 2005 he completed his legal training at the Warsaw Bar Association of Attorneys-at-Law. Since 2006 he has been conducting a law firm of attorneys-at-law.

Włodzimierz Chróścik specializes in civil, business and commercial law cases. He is an expert in the field of company law, including aspects of their operations, as well as corporate cases. He is also a co-author of specialized publications in the field of commercial company law and ethics of attorney-at-law.

Ms Tamara Ćapeta is Advocate General at the Court of Justice as of 7 October 2021. Before becoming a member of the Court, she pursued an academic career as professor of EU law at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law. She was Head of the EU Law department as well as of the postgraduate programmes in European law. She was also an academic coordinator of a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “EU Global Leadership in the Rule of Law”. Ms Ćapeta has participated in numerous international research projects and published extensively on different topics of EU law.

Maria Dymitruk – attorney-at-law specializing in the field of new technology law, with a particular focus on AI & Law issues, actively involved in numerous law and IT initiatives; counsel at Olesinski & Wspolnicy sp. k.; researcher at the University of Wroclaw, Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics. Since 2014 Maria has been working at the Center for Legal and Economic Research on Electronic Communication, focusing on the applications of artificial intelligence in law. She has prepared a doctoral dissertation on the admissibility of using AI in civil proceedings.

Maria has a rich portfolio of scientific and industry publications in the field of LegalTech, as well as participation in national and international research projects (currently involved in the following scientific projects: Conflict Resolution with Equitative Algorithms II, Digital communication and safeguarding the parties’ rights: challenges for European civil procedure and Small Claims Analysis Net II).

Maria is a recognized trainer and speaker at IT law events. She has extensive experience in team management, legal project coordination, and international cooperation. Currently, she chairs the Commission on New Technologies of the European Bars Federation (FBE), and is a member of the International Association of Artificial Intelligence and Law. She’s also the co-founder and co-creator of the Legal & IT MeetUp events in Wrocław, which have been in operation since 2022.

• Advocate (Scotland);
• King’s Counsel (Scotland);
• Clerk, and subsequently Treasurer, of the Faculty of Advocates;
• President of the Consultative Committee of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Community;
• Salvesen Professor of European Institutions and Director of the Europa Institute, University of Edinburgh;
• Special Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities;
• Honorary Bencher, Gray’s Inn, London; Judge at the Court of First Instance from 25 September 1989 to 9 March 1992; Judge at the Court of Justice from 10 March 1992 to 7 January 2004.

Anna Adamska – Gallant is a lawyer with vast professional experience, also in international humanitarian law. She worked 17 years as a judge, including almost 6 years as an international judge in Kosovo, where she adjudicated war crime cases, also as the judge of the Supreme Court. In 2019, she was enrolled to the Polish Bar. She specializes in the criminal law, international humanitarian law and human rights.

Since 2018 she has been involved in strengthening the rule of law in Ukraine as the key international expert on the judiciary of Pravo Justice, the biggest EU project supporting the judicial reform in this country. She is a member, appointed by President Zelyensky, of the Council of Experts on Judicial Reform.

In 2022, she received her PhD in law cum laude from the University of Wroclaw, where she defended her thesis dedicated to “Vulnerable Witnesses in Practice of International and Hybrid Courts”.

Giulia Gentile (LL.M, Ph.D. King’s College London) is Lecturer in Law at Essex Law School, where she leads an EU Horizon-funded research project on the use of digitisation in the State and EU fundamental values. She is a qualified lawyer at the Italian Bar Association and has gained legal experience at the chambers of Judge Lucia Serena Rossi at the CJEU and at Clifford Chance (Milan). She joined Essex Law School in 2023, having previously worked at LSE Law School and Maastricht University. Her academic work was cited by the UK Parliament, Advocates General at the CJEU, the European Banking Authority, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Slovenian Constitutional Court. Giulia provided expert evidence to the UK Parliament and the EU Commission on issues of fundamental rights and digital regulation.

Oleksandr Gryban, Investment Team Lead at Advantage Ukraine – governmental platform former Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine 20 years of experience in the financial sector and investment banking.

He held managerial positions in leading investment organizations, in particular as the Director of the Concorde Capital investment company and one of the heads of the Ukrainian subdivision of the Amstar International Direct Investment Fund headquartered in the USA, whose assets under management amounted to more than $3 billion at the time of his employment. Implemented fundraising projects using such instruments as IPO, private placement, Eurobonds and syndicated financing.

Banking experience includes the signing of more than 30 agreements on interbank lending with leading global financial institutions and the development of the financial and risk controlling system at the Ukrainian branch of HVB Bank, Germany. The total amount of assets in project management experience in various industries exceeds half a billion US dollars.

In June 2021, he was appointed as a freelance adviser to the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine. Participated in the preparation of international loans to Ukravtodor, development of the public-private partnership strategy, preparation and implementation of intergovernmental agreements, negotiations with IFIs regarding the financing of large-scale infrastructure projects in Ukraine for $ billions. Co-author of a number of amendments to legislative acts of Ukraine. Has been leading the establishment of the Ukraine Development Fund. His current goals involve creating an international war-risk insurance pool and a specialized risk data-sharing platform with the help of the biggest insurance broker, Marsh McLennan.

From 2021 to 2023, he served as the Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine. Currently, he holds the position of the Investment Team Lead of the Governmental platform Advantage Ukraine.

Volodymyr Halchenko – attorney-at-law since 2006, member of Kyiv Region Bar Association, legal consultant, and mediator. Founder of the Sota.legal attorneys-at-law union.

Education in Ukraine – master of law (Kyiv National University of Economics, 1999) and master’s degree in public administration (Ukrainian Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine, 2001). Also I received a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of North London (2001).

As a member of the Committee on Interaction with the Military Administration, Law Enforcement Agencies, and the Judiciary to Ensure the Protection of Civilians under Martial Law of the Kyiv Region Bar Council, from the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into Ukraine, I provide cost-free legal advice to the injured individuals and advise a number of legal entities, in order to protect the material damage and moral harm caused by military actions of the aggressor, collecting evidence etc.

As a member of the Organizing Committee of the International Conference “International Network Cooperation in Overcoming the Consequences of Armed Conflicts: the Case of Ukraine” I actively follow international evidence and judicial practice in connection with the confiscation of private and national assets, international sanctions policy, and take part in working out possible ways of recovering damages due to the assets of the aggressor country, as well as legal entities and individuals related to it, frozen in certain foreign jurisdictions.

Charles Kerrigan, Partner, CMS UK, Charles Kerrigan is a specialist in emerging technologies including crypto, digital assets, Web3 and AI. He works on corporate finance and venture capital transactions in crypto, tokenisation, NFTs, Web3 and DeFi. He works on consulting projects on blockchain and AI for public bodies, policymakers, standards institutions, and corporations.

The Blockchain Industry in the UK Landscape Overview names Charles as a “leading influencer in blockchain”.  He is part of teams working on investing and setting standards for emtech in the UK, Europe and the US.  At CMS he is a Partner in a team that covers emtech.  He has roles on the advisory boards of AI and crypto firms and of trade bodies.  He is the Editor and co-author of Artificial Intelligence Law and Regulation (Edward Elgar, 2022).  He is the Contributing Editor of AI, Machine Learning & Big Data (GLI, 2023).  He was listed in The Lawyer Hot 100 2022 of “most daring, innovative and creative lawyers”.

Basil Kerski (born in 1969 in Gdańsk) is a German-Polish manager of culture, editor, publicist, and political scientist. He grew up in Poland, Iraq and West Germany. He studied political science and Slavic studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. He is the director of the European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk and since 1998 an editor-in-chief of the bilingual Polish-German journal DIALOG, and a contributor to Przeglad Polityczny [Political Review]. He is also the Vice-Chair of the Academic Committee of the House of European History in Brussels. Author of German, Polish and Ukrainian books analysing history and politics.

• Professor of Law;
• Director of the Department of European and Comparative Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Gdańsk;
• Law graduate of University of Wrocław and of the School of law of the University of Edinburgh;
• Member of the Editorial Board of the Oxford Encyclopedia of EU law;
• Member of the Advisory Committee on the Award for Good Administration at the Office of the European Ombudsman;
• Member of the Council of the Jean Monnet Fondation pour l’Europe in Lausanne;
• Attorney specializing in the strategic litigation before supranational and constitutional courts;
• 2021 – 2023 Professor and Visiting Fellow, European University Institute;
• Attorney specializing in the test cases and strategic European and human rights litigation before supranational, international and highest domestic courts;
• Member of the Committee on the control of the legality at the Marshall of the Senate; Founding Member of the Good Lobby Professors;
• Principal Investigator at Paneuropean research projects: H2020 Reconciling Europe with its citizens through rule of law and democracy (RECONNECT) and JUSTICE: Trust, Independence, Impartiality and Accountability for judges and arbitrators under the EU Charter (TRIIAL I and II);
• Has taught across the world among others UC California, Berkeley; Princeton University; Radzyner Law School; European University Institute;
• Author of 11 books and over 300 scholarly papers in Polish, English and French; Has written on among others European law, the Court of Justice, judicial dialogue, human rights, democracy beyond the nation state, theories of democracy, democratic (de)consolidation; constitutional capture ; democratic backsliding, populist constitutionalism, values in European law, politics of resentment, rule of law, judicial independence, role of courts in the european integration.
• Former referendaire, the Court of Justice and former adviser to the Polish Constitutional Court;

Izabela Konopacka deals mainly with cross border issues where her legal expertise and experience enables her to achieve the best possible outcomes for her clients.  She specialises in family, business, fashion and European law within common law and codified systems.

In June 2023 she has been appointed the first Polish President of the European Bars Federation since the establishment of the organization i.e. (since 1992).

An active member of the Wrocław Bar Associations where she holds a function of a vice-dean and chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee. She is a firm supporter and advocate of continuous learning, education and new technology in law. She is a defender of human rights and unequivocally committed to equal opportunities and encouraging newly qualified lawyers at the start of their career.

She graduated from Wrocław University with a Master’s degree in law and an MA in English.

Additionally, she has taken part in the following related courses and training sessions.

• 2013 graduated with honours from the University of London Common Law programme,
• 2015, participated in the National Bar Association’s overseas training course by appearing before major European courts such as the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR),
• 2015 awarded a certificate in Advocacy Skills by the Court College of Advocacy, London,
• 2016 participated as the first overseas lawyer in the Advocacy Skills training programme for trainers at the invitation of Gray’s Inn London.
• 2017, awarded the Academy of European Law certificate in Trier for her appearance at the Court of Justice (CJEU),
• 2021 graduated from the post-diploma studies in Medical Law (Jagiellonian University),
• 2023 awarded the Compliance Officer Certificate.

In 2006 by incorporating the law and her other passion – English she set up a language school, Legal English in Practice, which provides specialist and dedicated legal English classes and training for lawyers, trainees and representatives from other legal professions (including judges and notaries).

Since 2009, she has been an associate at several established law firms providing legal services to enterprises in English.

She has been involved on the international legal stage for several years advising and representing Polish nationals within various English speaking jurisdictions. She has worked extensively with UK and Irish lawyers on commercial law cases including, declarations of enforceability of Polish judgments, Additionally, on family law cases such as divorce or division of assets and European Payment Orders (EPO’s).

Another aspect of her work includes representing clients at European courts such as the European Court of Human Rights, and also providing consulting services for Polish businesses wishing to expand and develop their activities overseas.

Moreover, part of her role as legal counsel involves representing Polish entrepreneurs at negotiations concerning cross-border contracts. This may also involve intellectual property (IP) rights agreements and settlement where she works closely with a well-established patent law firm.

Additionally, she also handles a considerable amount of civil cases concerning such matters as family arrangements, contract breach or non- performance, probate and inheritance law.

PhD Oleksandr Kravets, from 2023 Partner and Head of administrative law practice in TeffiLaw Firm, from 2019-2023 judge of the Fifth Appeals Administrative Court,  from 2008-2019  judge of the Odesa Appeal Administrative Court, from 2003-08 judge of the Kyiv District Court, from 1996-2003 worked as the head of the legal department of the Kyiv District Administration of the Executive Committee of the Odesa City Council and the Kyiv District Administration of the Odessa City Council,  born in 1973, higher education – in 1995 graduated from Odesa State University named after I.I. Mechnikov, in 1999 – the Odesa branch of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine, in 2003 – the Institute for the Training of Professional Judges under the Odesa National Law Academy, 2017 defended  thesis for the degree of candidate of legal sciences on the topic: “Legal status of the legal service in local self-government bodies in Ukraine.” before the Specialized Academic Council of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 2018, was awarded the academic degree of candidate of legal sciences, 2023 completed the Chicago Kent college of Law Pre LLM  program, 29 years of experience as a lawyer, and about 20  years as a judge, a judge-trainer of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, elected as a delegate to Congresses of Judges of Ukraine, member of the Board of the Association for the Development of Judicial Self-Government of Ukraine and a member of the Ukrainian Bar Association, author of numerous publications and speeches.

Born on 1 October 1960 in Castellammare di Stabia, Naples, Italy

• Master’s degree in Law, University of Naples, 1983
• Admitted to the Bar, session of 1985
• Official of the Banking Supervision Authority, Bank of Italy, 1985-1991
• MCJ degree (Master of Comparative Jurisprudence), Law School, University of Texas, Austin, United States of America, 1987
• Graduate degree in Political Science, University of Macerata, Italy, 1988
• Post-Graduate degree in Commercial Law, University Federico II, Naples, 1991
• Expert at the Chair of Private Law, University Federico II, Naples, since 1991
• Judge, Tribunal of Naples, 1991-2012
• Cooperation with Italy’s High Council for the Judiciary (CSM) in the field of initial and permanent training of judges (1996-2012), and Member of its Scientific Committee for Judicial Training (1998-2001)
• Judicial expert in a number of programmes of multilateral international co-operation, 1999-2019
• Member (2000-2018), Vice-President (2004-2005), President (2006-2007) of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) within the Council of Europe, Strasbourg
• Visiting scholar at the Post-Graduate Course “EU Law: the protection of rights”, University Federico II, Naples, since 2006
• Member (2012-2019), Member of the Executive Committee (2017-2019), European Law Institute (ELI), Vienna, Austria
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Italian School for the Judiciary, 2012-2015
• Justice, Civil Chamber specialising in Tax Law, (2012-2016), Civil Chamber specialising in Property, Wills, Contracts and Supervision on Professionals and Financial Activities (2016-2019), Supreme Court of Cassation, Rome
• Contact Person within the Italian judiciary for the EU Commission, 2013-2019
• Judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 5 May 2019.

I am an attorney at law, registered with the Lucca Bar Association. I am specialized in criminal law and I am passionate about Legal Tech.

In 2018 I joined the Observatory on the Digitalization of the Criminal Trial of the Italian National Criminal Chambers Union (UCPI) which contributed in shaping many of the latest critical changes undergone by the Italian criminal trial.

In 2019, I was elected to the council of the Lucca Bar Association, of which I am now Secretary General. I am also a member of the FBE New Technology Commission which this year released the first guidelines for lawyers on GenAI.

In 2022 I had the privilege be invited to the BAL Conference and join the panel on “AI & cybersecurity in digital services” with a speech titled “Questions on AI, Digital Medicine and Criminal Law”.

Tomasz Wardyński is the founding partner of Wardyński & Partners. His practice includes arbitration proceedings involving Polish and foreign entities, as well as civil, commercial and competition law. He has a wealth of experience in negotiations on large public projects. He was one of the first lawyers in Poland to develop a practice in EU law and competition law.

He is a member of the Commission on Arbitration and ADR at the International Chamber of Commerce. He is a listed arbitrator at the Lewiatan Court of Arbitration, at the International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber in Vienna, and at the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is active in the International Bar Association. In 2001 he was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

Professor of court administration and senior justice at the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, Member of the Consultative Council of the European judges of the Council of Europe.

In his judicial career he has decided seminal cases on the asylum, immigration as well as on the administrative law, criminal law. He has also adjudicated in the surrender cases, both in first instance and as an appeal judge.

Wojciech Wiewiórowski is the European Data Protection Supervisor.

He was appointed by a joint decision of the European Parliament and the Council on 5 December 2019 for a term of five years.

Before his appointment, he served as Assistant European Data Protection Supervisor from 2014 to 2019 and as Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data at the Polish Data Protection Authority, a position which he had held since 2010. He was also Vice Chair of the Working Party Article 29 Group.

Since October 2020 she is the President of the Gdańsk Bar Association of Attorneys-at-Law . Previously, she served as a spokesperson, a member of the Council and the Presidium of the OIRP.

Since 2012, she has been representing the National Bar of Attorneys-at-Law in the Human Rights, Access to Justice and Surveillance Committees of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE).  Since 2013, she has been a member of the European  Association of Lawyers (AEA-EAL) based in Brussels, where she is a member of the Board of Directors.  In the years 2014-2020 she was the Chair of the Human Rights Commission at the National Council of Attorneys-at-Law, and in the years 2016-2020 she was a member of the Presidium of the National Council of Attorneys-at-Law. She cooperates with non-governmental organizations. In 2012, she was awarded by the National Council of Attorneys-at-Law in the “Crystal Heart of a Legal Adviser” competition for pro bono activities for women’s rights.

LLM Joanna Wsołek – attorney and mediator, 2005 Master of Law from the Jagiellonian University, 2010  LL.M. from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., USA, graduated also from School of French, German and Ukrainian Law at the Jagiellonian University, since  2015 Member of the Commission for International Cooperation at the Krakow Bar Association, from 2020 Vice-chair of the Commission for international cooperation at the Krakow Bar  Association, from 2022 Chair of the Committee of Aid for Ukraine at the Krakow Bar Association, from 2023 chair of the Professional Solidarity Commission of the FBE, member of UIA, IAFL, MiKK, AEA-EAL.

Professor Wojciech Zalewski – Dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdansk from 2019.  Head of the Department of Substantive Criminal Law and Criminology at the University of Gdansk, Member of the Board of Governors (Board of Governors) of the International Association of Law Schools (IALS) – a worldwide organization of law faculties, member of numerous legal organizations, scientific associations, and scientific journal boards.

Specialist in criminal law, criminology and victimology. Advocate since 2006.

Georg Ziegler, lawyer by education (Freiburg university Law School), advisor in the Ukraine Service in the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations at the European Commission, after having been deputy Head of the Support Group for Ukraine (SGUA) in 2021/2022. He joined the Commission in 1997, first as Seconded National Expert, where he worked on the 5th EU Enlargement covering mainly Central and Eastern European countries and then spent 10 years on the Cyprus file. Before joining the Ukraine Service he followed Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. In the 1990ties he worked for the German Government, inter alia at the German Embassy in Warsaw.