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Judges 2024

Below are details of the members of the 2024 CEEMC Judicial Panel.

President of the CEEMC

Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston

Eleanor Sharpston KC was an Advocate General to the Court of Justice of the European Union from January 2006 until September 2020. 

Eleanor became the President of the CEEMC Judicial Panel in 2009 and has been an incredible supporter of the CEEMC and the British Law Centre

She is one of the most formidable thinkers and writers on EU law and someone whose passion for the European project is second-to-none. 

She studied economics, languages and law at King’s College, Cambridge (1973-77), followed by university teaching and research at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1977-80).

She was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1980 and was a barrister in private practice from 1980-87 and 1990-2005 King’s Counsel: 1999; Bencher of Middle Temple (2005). In the intervening years she worked as Legal Secretary (referendaire) in the Chambers of Advocate General, subsequently Judge, Sir Gordon Slynn later Lord Slynn of Hadley (1987-90).

She was also a Lecturer in European and comparative law (Director of European Legal Studies) at University College London (1990-92) and then a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law (1992-98), and subsequently Affiliated Lecturer (1998-2005), at the University of Cambridge. Yorke Distinguished Visiting Fellow; Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor in Legal Science 2023-24

 

She was Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Legal Studies of the University of Cambridge (1998-2005) and remains a fellow of King’s College, Cambridge (since 1992).

In 2021, Eleanor was elected as a member of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee.

Aside from her academic and professional achievements, Madam President Sharpston is well-known for her ability to entertain everyone during the CEEMC, especially at the Singing Competition! 

Founder of the CEEMC

Founder of CEEMC

Denise was Director of Studies at Juris Angliae Scientia for almost 25 years.

She was instrumental in expanding the activities of the British Law Centre throughout the CEE region.

She founded the CEEMC competition in 1995 and continues to be instrumental to its ongoing success. 

Denise’s services to encouraging the study of English law in CEE are renowned. In 2013, she was formally honoured for such services with the award of an MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

European Courts and Institutions

Judge of the CJEU (President of the Seventh Chamber).

Judge Passer was a Judge at the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic from 2005-2016.

In 2016, he was appointed as a Judge of the EU’s General Court.

In 2020, he became a judge of the CJEU.

He graduated in law from Charles University, Prague, obtaining a Master of Laws from the University of Stockholm (2000); Doctor of Laws (2007). 

Judge Passer has been extremely generous in supporting the CEEMC, including by hosting CEEMC Best Speakers in his cabinet. 

Judge at the Supreme Administrative Court, Czech Republic; Former Advocate General to the CJEU

Judge Bobek was an Advocate General to the Court of Justice between 2015-2021.

In 2022 he became a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic.

Previously, he was a Member of the Board of Appeals of the Czech National Bank and an ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

He both writes and lectures extensively on EU law. He has been a Fellow and Research Fellow at the Institute of European and Comparative Law of the University of Oxford and a Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges.

In addition to his numerous professional and academic achievements, Michal graduated the British Law Centre Diploma with a distinction and participated as a mooter in the CEEMC 2003.

Whilst at the CJEU, Michal kindly allowed CEEMC Best Speakers to undertake an internship (stage) within his team. 

Judge at the General Court of the EU 

She graduated in law from the University of Gdańsk (1999) then completed a diploma of advanced studies at the University of Social Sciences of Toulouse (2000); a Master of Laws in European law at the College of Europe (2002); and a Doctor of Laws (2004).

She was a Lecturer in EU law at Gdańsk University of Technology (2010-16); Senior Lecturer (2006-14), then Associate Professor (2014-16), at the Institute for Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She co-edited and authored number academic publications on EU law.

Krystyna is also a graduate of the British Law Centre Diploma and a former CEEMC mooter. She is an ardent supporter of both projects. 

European Commission

Deputy Head of Unit at the European Commission.

Graduated in law from Jagiellonian University (Kraków) before completing post-graduate studies at the Universities of Leuven and Cambridge. Holds a Ph.D in law.

He has authored numerous publications on various aspects of European Union law.

First became a CEEMC judge in 2002.

Secretary General at European Women Lawyers Association

Eliana is the Secretary General of the EWLA. She coordinates various projects in the field of gender equality. She is responsible for relations with EU Institutions, having been a Policy Advisor at the European Parliament.

She has extensive experience of advising on EU contentious and non-contentious legal matters, working with a range of lawyers from various jurisdictions.

She is a Member of the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law and Co-Editor in Chief of the BCCE. She is a Visiting Lecturer at the West University of Timisoara. 

Eliana has done significant work to encourage mooting throughout CEE and is a long-term supporter of the CEEMC. She has been a member of the Judicial Panel since 2012.

University of Cambridge

Professor of English Law; Deputy Chair, Faculty Board of Law

 

Fellow, Dean and Director of Studies in Law, Corpus Christi College

Book reviews editor, Law Quarterly Review

Jonathan Morgan read Jurisprudence at Oxford, later moving to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge to write his PhD thesis “In defence of freedom of contract”.

He was previously a lecturer in English Law at the British Law Centre and maintains links with legal education in Central and Eastern Europe as a trustee of the charity which organises the BLC and the CEEMC (Juris Angliae Scientia Ltd).

He held tutorial fellowships at Christ’s College, Cambridge and St Catherine’s College, Oxford before returning to Corpus as a Fellow in 2012.

Legal Practitioners

Clifford Chance and CEEMC judge since 1998.

Nick joined Clifford Chance, London 1985; solicitor, England and Wales 1987; assistant in corporate practice 1987-94; Warsaw office 1994; managing partner from 1998- 2009.

Nick specialises in corporate/commercial work, in particular acquisitions and disposals, general corporate finance, debt restructuring, flotations, equity issues and joint ventures. He has advised a number of international investors active across Central and Eastern Europe, including clients in the utility, engineering, pharmaceutical and financial sectors.

Nick has been instrumental in securing Clifford Chance’s ongoing support for the CEEMC and the British Law Centre. He is a director of Juris Angliae Scientia, the UK charity which manages the CEEMC and BLC. 

Clifford Chance

Jan Dobrý is a Czech law qualified Counsel specialising in all forms of dispute resolution, judicial review of administrative decisions and competition law.

 

Jan has steadily built up a strong profile and gained significant expertise in the commercial, energy and construction sectors from a litigious, regulatory and competition perspective, while also playing a key role in consolidating the Prague office’s restructuring and insolvency practice.

Inner Temple (Master of the Bench); KC at Francis Chamber Building 

Mark has more than twenty years experience of common law practice advising and representing clients in a broad range of cases including personal injury, professional negligence, rating, costs, trusts of land, property disputes and village greens.

Against this wide background he has developed an expertise in the law of religious liberty and is recognized as the country’s leading practitioner in ecclesiastical law.

He is an Honorary Professor of Law at Cardiff University and formerly Visiting Fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Mark is Honorary Professor at the Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University; Extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria; Visiting Professor at the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London and Adjunct Professor at Notre Dame University, Sydney and is Ecumenical fellow in Canon Law at the Venerable English College in Rome.

He was elected a Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in 2011 and appointed President of the European Consortium for Church and State Research in 2012.

He is a qualified Mediator and was a legal assessor to the Fitness to Practise Panel of the General Medical Council (2008-2015).

He regularly publishes and lectures on matters of Church and State and was a contributing editor for Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law (2010).

Mark has been a member of the Judicial Panel since 2021. he represents Inner Temple at the CEEMC and has provided significant help in organising the competition.

Grayston & Company Law Firm

Peter Gjortler is a Danish qualified lawyer who has practiced EU law for more than 30+ years in private practice, public administration, judicial service and universities.

He was a referendaire (Legal Advisor) in AG Sharpston’s cabinet at the CJEU.

His practice areas focus on free movement, competition, state aid, environment, public procurement, intellectual property, public international law, and private international law.

He advises not only private clients but also the public sector, including extensive assistance for government agencies in a number of central and eastern European countries, and also teaches at several European universities.

Apart from international law firms, his professional experience includes time spent at the Ministry of Justice, the High Court of Appeal, and the Legal Adviser to the Danish Government, as well as the European Court of Justice, the University of Copenhagen and Riga Graduate School of law.

Peter has been extremely supportive of the CEEMC, including having helped in drafting CEEMC questions. 

Clearly Gottlieb Law Firm

Vladimir Novak’s practice focuses on EU, U.S., and international competition law/antitrust, including complex merger control proceedings, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance cases, antitrust counseling, and litigation before EU Courts, as well as a wide range of issues under EU law and sports-related matters.

Vlad was a member of the CEEMC moot question drafting committee in 2022. 

 

Other Academic Institutions

University of Westminster.

Professor Dr Adam Łazowski is a Professor of EU law at the Westminster Law School, University of Westminster as well as a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Natolin) and at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. His research focuses on EU pre-accession policy, EU External Relations, Internal Market, EU Criminal Law as well as withdrawal from the European Union. On the latter topic Prof. Łazowski has published extensively in academic journals (European Law Review, Public Law, Journal of European Public Policy) and edited volumes (Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press). His monograph on legal parameters of EU exit is forthcoming in 2024 (Edward Elgar Publishing). He is also a co-editor (with Professor Graham Butler) of ‘Shaping EU Law the British Way: UK Advocates General at the Court of Justice of the European Union’  (2022, Hart Publishing) and a co-editor (with Professor Adam Cygan) of ‘Research Handbook on Legal Aspects of Brexit (2022,

Adam Łazowski serves in editorial boards of New Journal of European Criminal Law, an on-line journal European Papers and Croatian Yearbook of European Law and Policy. He regularly speaks at conferences around the World. Guest lectures delivered at various European universities, including College of Europe, University of Surrey, University of Leicester, University of Sussex, University of Warsaw, University of Tartu, Université Libre de Bruxelles, University of Zagreb, University of Luxembourg, University of Basel, University of Rotterdam, Sapienza University Rome, Mohyla University Kyiv, Shevchenko University Kyiv, University of Lviv. He regularly teaches at the European Law Academy (ERA) in Trier (Germany) and European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Luxembourg. In November 2012 Prof. Lazowski provided oral and written evidence to the House of Lords EU Select Committee (enquiry into the EU Enlargements). In December 2015 he provided oral and written evidence to the Scottish Parliament (enquiry into withdrawal from the EU).

Adam also graduated the British Law Centre Diploma and later joined the BLC Teaching Team. He was also a CEEMC Team Coach.  In 2022, Adam was a member of the CEEMC moot question drafting committee.


Professor Łazowski divides his time between law and photography. In 2016 his album of black & white photos from Albania (“Albania through a lens”) was published by Dudaj Publishing and it coincided with an exhibition at Kalo Gallery in Tirana.

University of Oxford.

Emily grew up in Melbourne, Victoria, and completed undergraduate degrees in law and science at the University of Melbourne. After graduating, she spent three years as a solicitor at Minter Ellison before returning to the Melbourne Law School as a research fellow and, subsequently, doctoral candidate. She passed her thesis in 2012, and won the Law School’s Harold Luntz Graduate Research Thesis Prize and the university-wide Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD Thesis. Prior to starting at Queen’s in 2023, she held posts at the University of Queensland (2009-2012), University of Oxford (2012-2015) and King’s College London (2015-2023). She is the author of Drafting Copyright Exceptions: From the Law in Books to the Law in Action, published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.

At Oxford, she teaches IP law, Contract Law and Trusts. She contributes to the Oxford Diploma in Intellectual Property Law. Her research spans many areas, including intellectual property, personal property, trusts, and law as it relates to cultural institutions and the creative industries. She have a particular interest in interrogating the ‘law in action’ – that is, law as understood by everyday actors. This reflects the idea that law has multiple audiences, only some of which are legal experts (judges, lawyers and the like).

Professor of EU Law at the University Complutense of Madrid and Editor-in-Chief of EU Law Live

 

Daniel is a professor of Administrative and European Union Law at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, where he currently teaches on European Union Law in both graduate and post-graduate programmes. He is also a faculty member of the Instituto de Empresa.

His research interests are focused on constitutional aspects of European Union Law, particularly the role of courts within the Union’s legal order. He has written extensively on the Union’s judiciary, its sources of law, institutional law and fundamental rights. At the current time he is also actively researching in the area of Economic and Monetary Union.

He has a special interest in the Court of Justice and the procedural framework under Union Law. His research interests have also been complemented by extensive practical experience. He was a legal secretary at the Court of Justice (2007-2015) and he is currently a practicing lawyer handling cases before both the Court of Justice and the General Court.

He is the author of several books, book chapters and articles on EU Law. At the time, he is working on dispute settlement systems between the EU and third countries, with a special focus on the jurisdictional arrangements resulting from Brexit.

Assistant professor, Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science (Masaryk University); Visiting Fellow in European Constitutional
Law UCLan Cyprus

2017- : Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law, Human Rights, and Political Science at the Masaryk University

2017- : Judicial assistant at the Czech Constitutional Court

2018-2019: Tutor in European Union Law at the University of Oxford

2016-2016: Legal adviser at the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2015-2016: Junior Lawyer at Havel, Holásek and partners, law firm

2012-2014: Teaching and research assistant at KU Leuven

2008-2011: Tutor of Legal English for legal professionals.

Lecturer in Law (Module Leader for EU Law) at Edinburgh Napier University; Charles University Faculty of Law

EU Law Academic (2014-2023 EU Law Lecturer at Charles University in Prague, as of 2024 EU Law Module Leader at Edinburgh Napier University) and fully qualified lawyer (Czech Bar exams in 2011). 

In her practice of law, Tereza provides legal advice on different aspects of the laws of the European Union, European public affairs, and relations with EU authorities. Through her research and publications, Tereza deals with the practical application of EU law, with a particular focus on the Internal Market.