EFELA - Key Persons

Dr. Branislava Lepotić Kovačević is an energy lawyer. She passed the bar exam. She has doctor dissertation in 2001. Further specialist education in the EU law has been acquired in Berlin and Brussels, and in the energy law at the CEPMLP, University of Dundee, United Kingdom. She tought the energy law and regulation at the Energy Law postgraduate studies at the Law Faculty, University of Belgrade, during 2004-2006. That built the 120 professionals allumni with different background: lawyers, economists and engineers; from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina that populate newly established regulatory institutions and companies for emergging liberalized energy market under the Energy Community Treaty. From another point, this work have established energy law profession across the region and accross the industry. For over twenty years she has been working in the field of energy on various expert and managerial affairs in the field of commercial law and the energy law. She was engaged and cooperated with government and regulatory institutions, as well as bodies of the UN, the EU, the Energy Community, USAID, GIZ, KPMG, KEMA and others. She participated in drafting a series legislation, laws and sublaws in the energy sector in the Balkan region. She is the author of over 50 papers in the field of commercial law, energy law, European Union law and other related fields of law. She is regular author with the Klywer Law International Enciclopedia of Law on the Energy law of Montengro and Serbia. She speaks to conferences, Parliamentary hearings and various professional association within the energy industry across the region. Branislava lead an efforts to establish the Serbia Energy Regulatory Agency. She provided training to key professional staff at the Serbia energy utility in the Energy Community Treaty and the energy law with the PWC. She was a lead lawyer in spin-off of the oil pipeline company, Transnafta, from the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) prior to NIS acquisition by GazPromNeft. As a Director of Legal Affairs she resumed a role of key lawyer in the pan European Oil Pipeline project with counterparts from Croatia, Italy, Romania and Slovenia. Beyond being President of the Serbia Energy law Association, she is the member of: the Assembly of the Association of Lawyers in the Economy, the Executive Board of the Serbian Petroleum Gas Association - SNAGA, the Association of International Negotiators in the Oil Economy (AIPN), the Thermal Power Association and been member of the Executive Committee of the National Petroleum Committee of Serbia - World Oil Council.

Job Titles:

• VICE - PRESIDENT

Born 1948; graduated in law from the University of Athens (1971); degree in economics (postgraduate studies) from the Athens University of Economics and Business (1974); admitted to the Athens Bar (1973); Doctor of Law, University of Hamburg (1984); lawyer (1973-2016); Professor of International and European Economic Law (2007-2015) and Professor in the ‘Master in International and European Energy Law' programme (2015-2017) of the Faculty of Law, Democritus University of Thrace, Professor Emeritus at the same University (2016); Assistant lecturer (1980-1984), lecturer (1992-2006) and Visiting Professor (2015) at the Faculty of Law, University of Hamburg; member of the Hellenic Competition Commission (1992-2006); Legal adviser to the Minister for Economic Development and Energy (2007-2009); Legal adviser appointed by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus (2000-2003); Treasurer (1987-2000) and Secretary-General (2000-2017) of the Greek Association for European Law; founding member and Secretary-General (2012-2017) and President (2017) of the Greek Association for Energy Law; Vice-President of the Greek-German Lawyers Association (Hamburg) (1987-2017); Secretary-General of the Greek-German Lawyers Association (Athens) (1990-2017); author of numerous publications (especially in European Law, International Economic Law, Competition Law, Energy Law, Labour Law an Intellectual Property Law); Judge at the General Court of the European Union since 13 April 2016.

Constantinos Tsimaras was born in Athens. He graduated from the Athens University Law School. He has an LLM in Public Law from University of Paris I, an MA in Political Science from the same university and a PhD in public law from University of Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne). After his PhD he continued his studies with a post-doc at the Universities of Toledo, Lisbon and as a researcher in the Portuguese Constitutional Court. He also attended classes at the MA of "Law and Finance" at the University of Paris V. He is a lawyer since 1992. Constantino's practice is focused on public law, including all branches of administrative law, public procurement law, state aid, data protection law, constitutional law, human rights protection, legislation drafting and consulting on EU's programs. He worked as in internal lawyer at the "Information Society SA" a special branch of the Greek Ministry of Interior and Public Administration, specialized in public procurement. He worked also as a lawyer for the National Audiovisual Archives in Greece, in the areas of administrative law, public procurement and data protection. He has a long expertise as legal consultant for members of the Greek Cabinet especially in law drafting. From 2002 is teaching at universities in Greece and Cyprus. He is the writer of several books and articles in law reviews across Europe.

Job Titles:

• Founding Member and Vice - President of Swiss Energy Law Association
• General Counsel of Duferco Group

Federico Piccaluga is the General Counsel of Duferco Group and a qualified lawyer with international in-house experience in energy law. Federico is a Founding Member and Vice-President of Swiss Energy Law Association (SELA). He also actively participates in different organizations including the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), in which he holds the role of Country Representative for Switzerland.

Dr. Harris Synodinos is a holding a Ph.D. and a LL.M of European Law, studies in the Universities of Strasbourg (France) & Athens (Greece), who has worked in private practice, as an external counsel, and in academia. He possesses unique expertise in advisory and litigation work in the fields of energy (especially in respect of regulatory matters), competition, public procurement and expropriation as well as in environmental law. His extensive litigation experience involves the presentation of high net value clients before the Supreme Courts of Greece, the Greek Competition Authority [NCA], Regulatory Authorities, the European Courts (CJEU, EGC, ECHR) and the European Commission. He is currently the Deputy General Counsel of the Greek Public Power Corporation (PPC), and in this capacity he has, inter alia, actively taken part in a variety of high profile energy law cases involving PPC, which, were referred before the European Court of Justice (CJEU). These, among others, include: Case C-43/10 in which he represented PPC regarding the diversion of the Aheloos river and the Mesohora's hydroelectric dam; Cases T-421/09 & T-169/08 (PPC-Commission), which dealt with the exploitation of PPC's lignite reserves; and Case T-542/11 (Aluminium v. Commission), which involved an action for the annulment of Commission Decision C(2011) 4916 regarding the alleged granting of State aid through the provision of electricity tariffs, C‑590/14 P (DEI and Commission v Alouminion tis Ellados, referring to Preferential electricity tariff granted by a contract, following a Judicial suspension of the effects of termination of this contract) etc. At the same time he is partner in the International Law Firm Rokas from 2016, handling cases of European law (see inter alia, cases referred before the European Court of Justice as cases C-201/15 AGET Iraklis (concerning collective redundancies from a multinational company in Greece coping restrictive national legislation conferring to a Minister the power to oppose on its assessing the conditions in the labour market, the situation of the undertaking and the interests of the national economy), C-555/11 EEAE and Others (dealing about insurance mediation and the query whether it is possible for an employee of an insurance undertaking acting under the responsibility of to pursue insurance mediation activities on an incidental basis) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) cases 55949/13 Heracles S.A. contre la Grèce (11.10.2016). He is also active in the Rokas energy department providing support to big and important clients, lastly acting in the South Kavala Natural Gas Storage of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (ΤΑΙΠΕΔ). Dr Synodinos has also participated in Greek law drafting committees (i.e. Laws 3066/02 and 3734/09 concerning the Mesohora's hydroelectric dam), including the transposition into Greek legal regime of certain EU Directives, such as Directive 2005/89/EC. In 2003-2005 he was External Legal Counsel in the ATHOC (Organizing Committee of Olympic Games -Athens 2004) in the area of public procurement in the Directorate of Technology. He has further been heavily involved in academic activities having been invited to teach in various occasions at Panteion University, at the Law Faculty of the University of Athens and at the National Public Administration School and to take part in seminars held by the Centre of European and Financial Law.) Moreover, he has been the editor of the Greek Legal Review Magazine Energy & Law since 2003, he is a member of the editorial commission of the Greek Legal Review Magazine of European Law and a scientific collaborator of the Greek Legal Review Magazine of Administrative Law. In addition, he has authored a number of books and articles dealing with a diverse array of matters spanning several different legal areas, such as energy, competition, public procurement and European environmental law.

Job Titles:

• OBSERVING MEMBER
• Professor at the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law

Henrik Bjørnebye is a Professor at the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law, University of Oslo, where he is head of the Department of Petroleum and Energy Law. In 2018-2019, he is a Visiting Fellow at the Florence School of Regulation, European University Institute. Bjørnebye specializes in energy law (particularly renewable energy sources and electricity markets) and EU law. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Oslo with the thesis Investing in EU energy security (published on Kluwer Law International (2010)). Bjørnebye has published a large number of articles, has broad consultancy experience and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences. He formerly worked as an attorney advising clients within the energy sector.

Job Titles:

• Contributor
• Observing Member

Matthias offers clients his extensive entrepreneurial knowledge and longstanding expertise in the international energy and regulatory sector.Matthias is a partner in the International Energy & Utilities Sector Group, based in our Düsseldorf office. He is a member of Bird & Bird's Regulatory & Administrative Practice Group. Matthias studied economics at Wirtschaftsakademie Hamburg (now Hamburg School of Business Administration) and was a banker before he studied law in Trier and Geneva. He did his PhD at Humboldt University in Berlin on an environmental and corporate law subject.. During his Referendariat (clerkship) he worked in Hamburg, Brussels and London. He was admitted to the Berlin bar in 1998, spent a year working as a foreign associate for an international law firm in New York, and has been admitted to the Düsseldorf bar since 2002. Matthias regularly advises clients on energy, regulatory, and environmental law as well as issues arising from public commercial law. Matthias has additional expertise in corporate law, administrative, European, and real estate law, as well as standardisation. Matthias has extensive experience in advising clients on all aspects of the German Energiewende (energy turnaround) and cross-border energy issues, including both conventional and renewable energy generation as well planning and permit procedures for extra high voltage lines and other industrial installations. He has worked on numerous complex infrastructure projects as well as transactions in regulated industries, including energy, healthcare, transportation and water. His work includes representing clients before the Federal Network Agency, ministries and other authorities in diverse administrative, regulatory or legislative proceedings, before national and European courts and in arbitration proceedings. With his team, he has also advised on the transposition of European law, such as the Third Internal Market Package and various European environmental directives and regulations, including REACh, WEEE and ROHS. Matthias is a regular contributor to conventional and online legal publications. He writes the section on permits for conventional power plants and wind farms for the "Berlin Commentary on Energy Law". He covers international company law in the "Beck Online Commentary on the Limited Liability Company Act". He has recently also published articles on oil and gas law in Germany, prosumer legislation, the digitisation of the energy transition, state aid to the coal sector, grid expansion and environmental protection in the extra high voltage grid, on the permitting regime for HVDC lines and the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). He is chairman of the oil and gas committee of the International Bar Association and on the board of the German-American Lawyers' Association (DAJV) for Düsseldorf. Matthias is listed as top legal practitioner advising on energy law in Euromoney's 2018 Energy and Best of the Best Expert Guides, the 2017 Who's Who Legal Energy and the Who's Who Legal Germany 2017. He frequently speaks at national and international seminars and conferences and teaches post graduate energy law courses at Technische Universität Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin.

Job Titles:

• Vice - President

Dr. Eva Barrett is a Professional Support Lawyer (PSL) working primarily on energy, environment and planning law with McCann FitzGerald in Dublin. She has a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin; an LL.B. in Law and European Studies (German and Politics) from the University of Limerick; and qualified as a lawyer while working with another leading law firm in 2009. Before joining McCann FitzGerald, Dr. Barrett worked as a lecturer with University College Cork; Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment (Fulbright Schuman awarded); Trinity College Dublin; and Maynooth University. She has also worked in the European Commission's Directorate General for Energy and Transport, Brussels; and at the Institute of International & European Affairs (IIEA) in Dublin. Dr. Barrett has been published in a variety of international peer-reviewed journals and won national and international awards for research, writing and teaching.

Job Titles:

• Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law

Filippo Donati is full professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Florence since 2003. He also teaches Media Law in the University of Florence. His main research interests include: (i) the interaction between Constitutional Law, European Union Law and international treaties, on which he has published and edited books (Diritto comunitario e sindacato di costituzionalità, Milan, 1995; Una Costituzione per l'Unione europea, ed. by G.Morbidelli and F.Donati, Turin, 2006) and several articles, (ii) the regulation on services of general interest (in particular energy and communications), on which he has published and edited books (La regolazione dei servizi di interesse economico generale, 2010, ed. by Eugenio Bruti Liberati and Filippo Donati, Il nuovo diritto dell'energia tra regolazione e concorrenza, ed. by Eugenio Bruti Liberati and Filippo Donati, Torino, 2007 La nuova disciplina delle comunicazioni elettroniche, Turin, 2009, L'ordinamento amministrativo delle comunicazioni, Turin, 2007) and several articles, (iii) the Italian institutional system, on which he has published a book (La responsabilità politica dei ministri nella forma di governo italiana, Giappichelli, Turin, 1997) and several articles. His publications include 3 monographs, 10 edited books essays, more that 100 articles and notes. He is director of the Law Review "Rivista della regolazione dei mercati" and seats in the Board of Editors of "Italian Journal of Public Law", "Il Diritto dell'Unione europea", "Osservatorio sulle fonti".

Job Titles:

• Senior Regulatory Analyst at the Commission for Regulation of Utilities

Gosia Sadowska is a Senior Regulatory Analyst at the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in Ireland, Electricity Networks and Security of Supply team. Her main focus is network regulation, electricity connection policy, including cross-border interconnectors. Prior to joining the CRU, she was a Research Fellow at the European University Institute, where she worked on the law and economics of energy regulation and competition policy, and coordinated the activities of the EU Energy Law Area at the Florence School of Regulation. Before that, Gosia was a Researcher in EU energy regulation at Tilburg Law & Economics Center, and also worked at the European Commission, DG Competition, and in leading competition and public law firms in Brussels and Cologne. Gosia holds a PhD in Law and Economics (EDLE, 2013) and Master degrees in Law (University of Gdańsk, 2006) and European Studies (University of Hamburg, 2008). She is the author and editor of well-received books and articles on EU energy regulation and competition enforcement. She is a chairperson of the Energy Law Ireland (ELI) Committee.

Job Titles:

• Counsel

Guillaume Dezobry is an of Counsel lawyer at FIDAL where he is co-leading the energy practice. His hands-on experience spans all legal aspects of the energy sector: transmission - distribution - generation and supply of electricity and gas.

Job Titles:

• Assistant Professor of International Economic Law at Universit

Ilaria Espa is assistant professor of international economic law at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), senior research fellow at the World Trade Institute (WTI) and adjunct professor at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Formerly awarded a Marie Curie fellowship from the European Commission for her post-doctoral studies, Ilaria was a member of the WTI-based NCCR Trade Regulation Programme until its expiration in 2017. Ilaria holds a PhD in international law and economics from the Department of Legal Studies of Bocconi University and was a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School in 2012. She has published extensively in leading international peer-reviewed journals on issues at the interface between international trade and sustainability, with a focus on climate change, energy and commodities. She is the author of a monograph on Export Restrictions on Critical Minerals and Metals: Testing the Adequacy of WTO Disciplines (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and co-editor of the volume International Trade in Sustainable Electricity: Regulatory Challenges in International Economic law (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

Iñigo del Guayo is Professor in Administrative Law at the University of Almería. He got his two law Decrees (LLM and PhD) from the University of Navarre. He has researched and published widely in the area of Energy Law and Regulation, within a wider interest in Public Economic Law and Regulation. He is the editor and a co-author of the three editions of the Book «Energy Law in Europe. National, European Union and International Law and Regulation» (Oxford University Press, 2001, 2007 and 2016). Since 1995 is a member of the Academic Advisory Group (AAG) of the Section on Energy, Environment, Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL) of the International Bar Association. He has written many reports on a great variety of energy issues for public and private institutions. Director of the Master on Energy Law, of the Spanish Energy Club.

Job Titles:

• HONORARY PRESIDENT
• Chairman of NEWES

Jorge Vasconcelos is currently the Chairman of NEWES, New Energy Solutions and consultant to several international organizations and national authorities. He is Invited Professor at the Technical University of Lisbon and author and editor of several books and articles. He graduated in power systems from Porto University and got the Dr.-Ing. degree from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Jorge Vasconcelos was the first chairman of the Portuguese Energy Regulatory Authority, ERSE. He was founder and first chairman of the Council of European Energy Regulators and he was founder and member of the Executive Committee of the Florence School of Regulation. Prior to the regulatory experience, he worked in industry and at several European universities.

Julie-Anne Hannon (LLB, LLM) trained and qualified as a solicitor with a leading Dublin law firm with whom she worked post-qualification. In January 2010 she took a career break to pursue a Masters in Energy Law and Policy at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy in the University of Dundee. She was awarded a Distinction in this Masters in June 2011 as well as being awarded the Director's Medal for leadership. She then joined the Regulation team of the Irish utility company Bord Gais Energy in July 2011 where she continues to work in commercial regulatory affairs. Her focus is on wholesale electricity market regulation, policy and law (including for example capacity mechanisms, ancillary services, forwards, spot markets and renewables supports) as well as wholesale gas market issues. Julie-Anne has had a number of papers related to these areas published. Julie-Anne co-founded Energy Law Ireland (ELI) with a solicitor colleague in 2009. She is former chair and vice-chairperson and current secretary of ELI. She also sits on EFELA's Scientific Committee.

Job Titles:

• Treasurer

Job Titles:

• Associate Professor
• Member of the Athens Bar Association
• Visiting Professor at the Program of Post Graduate Studies

Professor Meng-Papantoni is a Visiting Professor at the Program of Post Graduate Studies of the Europa-Institut of the University of Saarland-Germany. She was Visiting Scholar at the Institute of International Economic law at Georgetown Law University and was teaching in many Universities around the globe (e.g. Renmin University - Bejing, the Law Faculty of the University of Yunnan - China, the Law Faculty of Wuhan University - China) Professor Meng-Papantoni is a member of the Athens Bar Association and was legal advisor at the National Bank of Greece till 2016. She is member of numerous professional organizations.

Job Titles:

• General Secretary

Job Titles:

• President
• Vice - President

Peter Cameron is one of the world's leading authorities on energy law. He is currently Professor of International Energy Law and Director of the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee in Scotland UK Prof Cameron has been consultant to many governments, private companies and international organisations around the world, such the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Commission and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He has also acted as an expert witness in many oil and gas arbitrations; done training for energy companies at their request, and has been a leading member of industry associations. Peter Cameron had a long association with the Financial Times division which produced six lengthy management reports for senior executives, from 1984 to 1999. He developed a good understanding of what aspects of energy business senior executives were looking to be informed upon (subjects extended from oil and gas to electricity, mostly regulation).

Prof. Dr. Robert Szuchy specialises in corporate, commercial and energy law. He has extensive experience in advising on energy regulatory issues and M&A transactions. He is a founding partner of Szuchy Law Office - BSLAW Budapest and BSLAW Brussels. In addition to his commercial practice, he is the Vice Rector of Károli Gáspár University in Budapest, Hungary, responsible for educational matters. He holds a Ph.D. degree and, as a full professor, is actively involved in the development of research and development as well as the educational and professional aspects of teaching energy law. He is the author of several books and articles in the field of business and energy law and is a regular speaker at conferences on energy sector issues, EU law and regulatory matters, especially in relation to renewable energy and energy efficiency. He advises and teaches in Hungarian, English and French.

Job Titles:

• Professor for Global Energy Law & Sustainability at the Centre for Energy

Raphael Heffron is Professor for Global Energy Law & Sustainability at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee. His work is international and combines a mix of energy law, policy and economics - including interdisciplinary energy research, EU and US energy law and policy. He has published over 100 publications of different types. Professor Heffron's research all has a principle focus on achieveing a just transition to a low-carbon economy. His research has been cited over 500 times in the last four years. Raphael's research has involved funding from UK national research councils (the ESRC, and the EPSRC), the EU (in a Horizon 2020 project) and currently through the European Commission Jean Monnet Chair 2016-2019. He has acted as a consultant for the World Bank and various policy organisations in the EU. Raphael is on the Editorial Board of the International Energy Law Review and is also Consulting Editor of the Halsbury's Laws of England volumes on Energy Law. Raphael is currently the Co-Chair of the UK Energy Law and Policy Association; Visiting Professor in Energy Law at the International Hellenic University (Greece); and an Associate Researcher at the Energy Policy Research Group at the University of Cambridge. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Paris-Dauphine University (Paris, France) this year (2018). Raphael read for his PhD at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. He is also a trained Barrister-at-Law and was called to the Bar in July 2007 in the Republic of Ireland. He holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (MPhil, PhD), the University of St. Andrews (MLitt), and Trinity College Dublin (BA, MA).

Job Titles:

• MAYOR

is Doctor in Law; Master in Business Administration, IDE; Graduate AMP from IESE; Graduate OPM from HBS (Harvard Business School); Alumni of the IVLP; Professor of Law at the Pontifical University of Comillas; Honorary President of the Spanish-American Association VIA-Jefferson Circle of Spain; Member of the Board of Global Ties Foundation; Member of the European Council of the European Federation ENAM. Former Secretary General and Board Member of UNESA and Chairman of its Legal Committee, and Director General of the FCC Group, listed Spanish company in the field of infrastructures and services. Former member of the Executive Committee and Legal Groups of EURELECTRIC and UNIPEDE.