SPEAKERS
 | Dubravka Akšamović is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Osijek, Croatia. In 2004 she was appointed the Head of the Legal Clinic and in 2014 the Head of the Department of Commercial Law. Her area of specialization is company law, contract law and competition law. Other areas of interests are bankruptcy law, sports law and legal clinics. She is a member of the Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences, the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE), the Public Law Interest Initiative (PILI) and the Croatian Institute for Local Self-Government (HILS). |
 | Marc Barennes is a référendaire in the cabinet of Judge Vesna Tomljenović at the General Court of the European Union. Before joining the General Court in 2006, Marc worked as a competition lawyer in a US law firm based in Brussels and as a case officer with the DG Competition of the European Commission. In addition to acting in his spare time as a Non-Governmental Advisor (NGA) for the International Competition Network (ICN) and lecturing at the Sciences-Po Paris and the Nancy University, Marc regularly writes or speaks on EU, State Aid and Competition law topics. He qualified as a New-York lawyer after obtaining law degrees from Panthéon-Sorbonne, Montpellier and Northwestern (Chicago) Universities. |
 | Nuria Bermejo Gutiérrez is a Legal Secretary (Référendaire) at the EU General Court, since 2008, and at Judge Tomljenović’s Chambers since 2013. She obtained her Law Degree, with honours (1994), and PhD degree, with honours (2000), from University Autónoma of Madrid (Spain). She was a Senior Lecturer of Commercial Law, at the University Autónoma of Madrid (Spain) since 2007, and a Guest Lecturer in other Spanish and South-American universities: Rene Moreno (Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia), Universidad San Pablo-CEU (Madrid, Spain), Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset (Madrid, Spain). She wrote several publications on Bankruptcy Law, Law of Contracts, Corporate http://www.podravka.com/?language=enLaw, and Intellectual Property Law. |
 | Ludovic Bernardeau studied law in Poitiers (France), Montreal (Canada), Louvain (KUL, Belgium) and London (UK). He is a legal secretary (référendaire) at the General Court of the European Union in the Chambers of Judge I. Labucka since 2012. Before joining the European Court of Justice in 2001, he has been in the French delegation at the WTO (1995-1997, Geneva, Switzerland), research officer at Unidroit (1997-1999, Rome, Italy) and at the Academy of European Law (1999-2001, ERA, Trier, Germany). He teaches EU law at the University of Paris Nanterre. Recently, he has published, with Jean-Philippe Christienne, Les amendes en droit de la concurrence – Pratique décisionnelle et contrôle juridictionnel (forw. M. Jaeger, introd. w. K. Lenaerts, post. I. Labucka, Larcier, Bruxelles, 2013, 1165 pp). |
 | Nada Bodiroga-Vukobrat is a Full Professor of European Public Law. She is the Head of the Jean Monnet Chair for European Public Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka and the Head of the Jean Monnet Interuniversity Centre of Excellence Opatija (excellence.com.hr). She received the University of Rijeka Foundation Award for her scientific achievements as well as the City of Opatija award. She acted as the principal researcher in international projects, and authored several books. She is the editor of the Springer’s edition “Globalisation and Europeisation”. She is a member of the Academia Scientiaum at Artium Europea (Salzburg), Südosteuropa-Geselschaft (Munich) and University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES). |
 | Vlatka Butorac Malnar is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International and European Private Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka. In addition to European Private Law, she teaches Competition Law to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She holds the LL.M and Ph.D. degrees from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. As a visiting fellow, she researched in a number of institutions (Cornell Law School, NY, USA; Max-Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg, Germany; Asser College Europe, den Haag, the Netherlands.) She writes mostly on competition law and is the co-author of the first textbook on competition law in Croatia. |
 | Mladen Cerovac is the President of the Competition Council of the Croatian Competition Agency (CCA). He has been with the CCA since its establishment in 1997 – in capacity of the Director of the Antitrust and M&A Division, the Deputy-Director General of the CCA, a Member of the Competition Council and the Deputy-President of the Competition Council. He was a member of the negotiating team for the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the EU (Chapter 8 Competition). As an international legal expert, he participates in the EU funded projects on technical assistance to the competition authorities of Serbia, FYR Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is the author of the first Croatian “Glossary of Competition Law and Policy” and coauthor of the books “Introduction to the EU” and “Legal Environment of Doing Business” (in Croatian). |
 | Nicola Chesaites is a legal secretary in the cabinet of Judge Vesna Tomljenović at the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg. Prior to that, she specialised in European Union litigation before the European Union courts in Luxembourg, and competition law damages claims before national courts in Europe. |
 | Anca D. Chirita is the Lecturer in Competition Law at Durham University in England and a member of Grey College since 2011, acting as Of Counsel on competition matters since 2014. She served as Co-Director of the Durham European Law Institute and is a recipient of numerous academic scholarships, including recently a DAAD visiting fellowship at the Max-Planck-Institute of Comparative and International Private Law and the Europa-Kolleg in Hamburg. She holds a doctorate in competition law (summa cum laude) and an LLM in 'European Integration' from the Europa-Institute of Saarland University, Germany, having previously worked with the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium), the Monopolies Commission (Bonn, Germany), and the European Commission. She is a frequent speaker at various national and international conferences and seminars and has written on various competition issues, including most recently the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies and the International and Comparative Law Quarterly. |
 | Edita Čulinović-Herc is a Full Professor and Head of the Department for Commercial and Company Law at the Faculty of Law University of Rijeka. She also serves as the Vice Dean for Science and the Director of the Postgraduate Specialist Course “Law on Corporate Finance” at the same Faculty. She is the Principal Investigator at the scientific project “Legal Aspects of Corporate Acquisitions and Knowledge Driven Companies Restructuring” funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. She authored a large number of papers on company law, and legal aspects of capital market and financial services. |
 | Mihail Danov is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Brunel University London, and he will be taking up the post of Associate Professor in Law at the University of Leeds on 1 May 2015. His articles have appeared in International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Journal of Private International Law and European Competition Law Review. He is the author of a research monograph on "Jurisdiction and Judgments in relation to EU Competition Law Claims". Mihail coordinated a funded research project (JLS/2009/JCIV/AG/0034-30-CE-0350182/00-6 - the project book "Cross-Border EU Competition Law Actions" identifies how cross-border EU competition law actions should be accommodated in Europe. At present, he is contributing to a funded research project (JUST/2013/JCIV/AG/4635) on Cross-Border Litigation in Europe, which is coordinated by Professor Beaumont from the University of Aberdeen. |
 | Marc Jaeger is the President of the General Court since September 2007 (on-going third mandate). He obtained a law degree from the Robert Schuman University of Strasbourg and studied at the College of Europe. He was admitted to the Luxembourg Bar in 1981. In 1983, he acted as the attaché de justice delegated to the office of the Public Attorney of Luxembourg. He was appointed a Judge at the Luxembourg District Court in 1984. From 1986 to 1996, he was working as a Legal Secretary at the Court of Justice of the European Communities. Around the same time, he became the President of the Institut universitaire international de Luxembourg (IUIL). Since 11 July 1996, he acts as a Judge at the General Court and in the period of 2004-2007 he was a President of Chamber. |
 | Viktor Kreuschitz was born in 1952. He earned the doctorate degree in law from the University of Vienna in 1981, upon which he worked as a civil servant in the Federal Chancellery, Constitutional Affairs Department (1981-1997). From 1997 to 2013, he was Adviser in the Legal Service of the European Commission. On 16 September 2013, he was elected a Judge at the General Court of the European Union. |
 | Ivana Kunda is the Head of the International and European Private Law department at the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka. She teaches several courses including private International Law, European Private International Law and intellectual Property Law, and she initiated the course in Internet Law. She was awarded the University of Rijeka Foundation Award for the Year of 2008. She was granted international scholarships including the Fulbright Research Fellow scholarship in 2010 for the research at the Columbia University, the Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht scholarship in 2007, 2008 and 2014 for the research at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and the Deutsche Stiftung für internationale rechtliche Zusammenarbeit scholarship in 2002 for research at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. She authored papers published in Croatia and abroad and a monograph on overriding mandatory provisions. |
 | Silvère Lefèvre is a Legal Secretary at the General Court of the EU since 2006. In the period of 2004-2006 he was a Law Lecturer at the Cardiff University and in the period of 2002-2004 he was a Law Lecturer at the University of Dundee. Previously he was a Junior Lecturer at the Faculté de droit et de Science Politique Aix-en-Provence (1998-2002). He obtained a Ph.D. degree summa cum laude in 2005 from the Aix-en-Provence University (wining the European Group of Public Law thesis prize for 2005). |
 | Marijana Liszt is a practicing attorney-at-law since 2002 and is one of the three founding partners in the Law Firm Posavec, Rašica & Liszt. After graduating from the Zagreb Law School and obtaining a master degree in EU Law at the University Carlos III of Madrid, she completed the master studies in EU Law at the Zagreb Law School. She is now a PhD candidate at the Law School of the University of Rijeka working on a thesis on the topic of state aid law, in particular the public financing of the services of general economic interest. Her fields of expertise are competition law including state aid law, commercial law, company law and sports law. |
 | Marko Maček heads the State aid and Compliance Department in the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development since December 2014. He studied economics at the Zagreb University. His professional career in the field of state aid begun in 2006 when he joined the Croatian Competition Agency. During his work at the CCA, he was participated in several state aid cases, e.g. restructuring of Croatian shipbuilding industry, SGEI cases and infrastructure cases. He regularly publishes articles on state aid and participates as a speaker at conferences and twinning projects. |
 | Petra Nemeckova is a Czech and Spanish lawyer, currently working as a Member of the Legal Service of the European Commission. In 2014, she was seconded to assist the former Commissioner for Competition, Joaquín Almunia, as a Member of Cabinet in charge of state aid matters. Before, she practiced competition and European law in the Brussels offices of two renowned international law firms, Arnold & Porter and Latham & Watkins. She graduated in Law and Economics and holds a Master Degree (LL.M.) in European Legal Studies from the College of Europe and a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in European & International Public Law. |
 | Vesna Patrlj has been on several leading positions at the Croatian Competition Agency (CCA) since its establishment of in 1997. By on the Decision of the Croatian Parliament of 2009, she has was appointed a Member of the Competition Council – the managing body of the CCA in two mandates (2009–2014 and 2014–2019). As of December 2013, she acts as the Vice-President of the Competition Council. Mrs. Patrlj’s professional contribution in the process of drafting the legislative proposals related to competition rules in Croatia is invaluable, particularly in the course of negotiations for the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the EU. |
 | Helena Penovski is a case-handler in the DG COMP Policy and Strategy Directorate, Private Enforcement Unit. She is a qualified lawyer with experience in litigation. Her fields of expertise include corporate and commercial law, She completed postgraduate studies at Turin University Institute of European Studies and United Nations International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC-ILO) and King‘s College London, University of London (LL.M). |
 | Siniša Petrović is Full Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb. He was a member of the Republic for Croatia Negotiating Team in the course of preparations for the accession to the European Union. Currently, he is a special advisor to the Croatian Prime Minister for European law. He is author of many papers and books in the field of commercial and competition law. |
 | Ana Pošćić is an Assistant Professor at the Jean Monnet Chair of European Public Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka. She participated actively in the negotiations related to accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union and has obtained her Dr. Jur. degree at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb. She conducted research visits at the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, the European University Institute in Florence and the Europa-Institute at the Saarland University. She published a book “European Competition Law and Consumer Interests” (in Croatian), as well as several scientific articles on various topics including competition law, consumer protection law and EU law. She is also one of the key staff members at the Jean Monnet Inter-University Centre of Excellence Opatija, Croatia. |
 | Miro Prek is a Judge at the General Court of the European Union since 7 October 2006. From 2004 to 2006, he was a Head of Division at the Court of Justice of the European Communities. He was a lawyer and officer responsible for projects regarding adaptation to European legislation and achieving European integration, principally in the western Balkans. He performed various tasks and functions within public authorities of the Republic of Slovenia, principally in the Government Office for Legislation (Under-Secretary of State and Deputy Director, Head of Department for European and Comparative Law) and in the Office for European Affairs (Under-Secretary of State). He was also a member of the negotiating team for the Association Agreement with Slovenia (1994-1996) and for Slovenian accession to the European Union (1998-2003). He obtained a law degree in 1989 and was called to the Bar in 1994. |
 | Vesna Tomljenović is the first Croatian Judge at the General Court of the European Union elected in 2013. She is a Full Professor at the Department of International and European Private Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka as well as the Head of the Institute of European and Comparative Law at the same Faculty. She is the organiser of a number of international and domestic conferences, author of many papers and author or editor of several books. She is also one of the founders and the Director of the postgraduate specialist programme "Law of European Integrations" at the Faculty of Law in Rijeka. During the negotiations for the Croatian accession to the EU, she was appointed the Head of the Negotiating Team Working Group for the Consumer Protection and Health. She is a long-term active member in the International Law Association and as of 2006 she has served as the President of the Croatian Comparative Law Association. |
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