Keynote SPEAKERS
Ana Barreira is a lawyer, founder and General Director of the International Institute of Law and Environment (IIDMA) with 30 years of experience in the field of environmental law and policy. Ms. Barreira is also Chair of the environmental and climate section of the Madrid Bar Association and holds two LL.Ms in Environmental Law and International Legal Studies. She has worked as an international consultant on projects for the World Bank, the UNDP, UN ECLAC, the European Commission, and the European Investment Bank’s compliance mechanism.
She represented Oceana Europe, litigating on issues related to access to environmental information, fisheries, mercury pollution and marine environment protection. She founded IIDMA in 1997 and has implemented projects on issues related to climate change and energy transition, protection of water resources and the marine environment, biodiversity, waste and environmental democracy. She is a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law. She is the author of books and articles on environmental and climate and energy law and policy. She is currently an adjunct professor of the Master in International Relations at the Instituto de Empresa (IE).
Francesco Sindico is a Professor of International Environmental Law at the University of Strathclyde Law School in Glasgow, Scotland. He is also the Co-Chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Environmental Law Climate Change Law Specialist Group. In this capacity, he is Counsel for IUCN in the ongoing Advisory Opinion on State Climate Change Obligations before the International Court of Justice. Francesco is also the Founder and Director of the Climate Change Legal Initiative (C 2 LI).
He collaborates actively with the International Water Resource Association in the context of the IWRA Islands Water Congress series. Most recently, he was the Scottish Government Carbon Neutral Islands Project Lead from 2021 to 2024. Francesco has published extensively on climate change law, including the 2021 Springer book Comparative Climate Change Litigation: Beyond the Usual Suspects, from which C 2 LI has developed. He is also co-editor of the forthcoming Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Climate Change Litigation.
SPEAKERS
Roxana Mandrutiu is a partner in Revnic Cristian și Asociații, a mediumsized law firm based in Cluj-Napoca. She is a seasoned litigator and advisor on planning and environmental issues. She coordinated the team of lawyers who drafted and brought the climate change case against the Romanian government. As a coordinator of the law firm’s environmental law department, Roxana has successfully managed important cases concerning large mining and hydropower projects lacking adequate environmental impact assessments.
Sindi Kuci is an expert in Western Balkan climate law and a researcher at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Sindi is a member of the climate legislation and litigation team at the Grantham Research Institute and a researcher at the Climate Litigation Lab at the Oxford University.
Vasilka Sancin, PhD, is a Full Professor of International Law, Head of the Department of International Law, and director of the Institute for International Law and International Relations at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Law. She is currently a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee and its Vice-Chair. She previously served as a member and Vice-Chair of the UN Human Rights Committee and its Special Rapporteur for the Follow-up process to Concluding observations.
Among others, she serves as ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights; an arbitrator and a Bureau member of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within OSCE; an expert of the OSCE Moscow mechanism on Human Rights; and a member of the UNODC Anti-Corruption Academic (ACAD) Initiative. She (co-)authored and (co-)edited numerous articles/books in the field of international law and, among other professional affiliations, acts as a President of the Slovene Branch of the International Law Association.
Ana María Suárez Franco holds degrees in law from the Universidad Javeriana and public policies from the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá. She received the titles LL.M. from the University of Heidelberg and Doctor Juris from the University of Mannheim. As a practitioner, Suárez Franco has been responsible for justiciability, country and case work at FIAN International, a global human rights organization that advocates for the right to adequate food and nutrition. She is currently the Permanent Representative of this organization at the UN Human Rights System in Geneva as well as coordinator of the accountability work of the organization.
She has participated in the processes of adoption of the ETO Maastricht Guidelines and International Declaration of Peasants Rights. She is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Mannheim, University of Hohenheim and the Geneva Academy for Human Rights.
Maja Kostić-Mandić is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Montenegro. Her scientific research mainly focuses on international private law, environmental law and international commercial arbitration. She is an author of many published scientific articles and has participated in and coordinated many international conferences and projects.
She was a member of the Montenegrin Parliament (2006-2009) and was engaged in developing new Montenegrin International Private Law. She is a Chair of the National Committee of the International Academy for Comparative Law and one of the arbitrators of foreign trade arbitration within the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. She is a member of the Committee for Legal and Political Science of Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts and a vice-chair of the Association of Legal Professionals of Montenegro.
Selin Esen works as a lawyer in the Emissions Reduction team of environmental law organization ClientEarth since 2021. Her work focuses on preventing and reducing industrial emissions in Europe, using various tools such as the EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive and human rights approaches. She holds a Bachelor in International Relations from the London School of Economics, a Master in Law from the University of Law London and a Master in International Economic Law from the University of Paris 1
Panthéon-Sorbonne. She is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales.
Mirko Popović is an experienced project manager, environmental activist and independent policy analyst. He is a Programme Director of RERI, with fifteen years of experience in working within civil society organizations, public authorities and international organizations. He is a policy analyst and researcher dedicated to democratization and citizens’ engagement in evidence-based policy debate. His areas of interest are the Aarhus Convention, Environmental Impact Assessment, EU environmental, climate and energy policy, and adoption and implementation of EU environmental standards in Serbia. He published and edited various relevant publications related to environmental and energy governance, public participation, democracy and good governance.
Davit Javakhishvili is a Lawyer with General Specialization who Graduated in International Law and Legal Studies at Tbilisi State University, where he also acquired his LL.M. He is the Head of the International Litigation Team at the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), an organization focused on protecting and promoting human rights, rule of law, and transparent and accountable democratic governance in Georgia.
GYLA provides free legal assistance and representation to individuals on civil, criminal, and administrative law matters, and conducts strategic litigation in national courts and before the European Court of Human Rights. Davit is also a Lecturer of Public International Law at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA).
David Smith is an environmental regulatory specialist who leads the Legal Department in the Office of Environmental Enforcement at the Irish Environmental Protection Agency. He is also a Board Member of the European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE), a network founded to promote the enforcement of environmental criminal law by supporting the operational work of environmental prosecutors. David Smith is also a Vice-Chair of the ENPE Pollution Working Group, which was established to explore the various issues experienced by prosecutors arising from non-compliance with industrial emissions and other major accident hazard laws across Europe.
Dobrosav Milovanović is a full professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade, where he teaches Administrative Law, Administrative Procedural Law, Public Administration and Administration and Regulatory Reform. In addition to academic work, he worked as a President of the Securities Commission, Vice President of the Government’s Council for Regulatory Reform, Deputy Minister for Economic Relations with Foreign Countries, a member of the Government Coordination Body for e-government and a member of the Government Coordination Body for Harmonization of Special Laws with the Law on General Administrative Procedure.
He participated in the drafting of several regulations and strategic documents, including drafts of the Law on General Administrative Procedure and the Law on Inspection Surveillance.
Vuk Cucić is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade, where he teaches Administrative Law, Administrative Procedural Law and Judicial Control of Administration in Comparative Law. From 2012 to 2014, he was a special adviser to the Minister of Justice and State Administration in charge of state administration, and in 2014 he was engaged by the World Bank and the Ministry of Justice to prepare analyzes and draft regulations for the introduction of a two-level administrative judiciary in Serbia.
He participated in the drafting of several regulations and strategic documents, including drafts of the Law on General Administrative Procedure and the Law on Inspection Surveillance.
Michael Faure obtained an LL.M. from the University of Chicago Law School and a Doctor Iuris from the Albert Ludwigs Universität Freiburg im Breisgau. Michael is a professor of international and comparative environmental law at Maastricht University and a professor of comparative private law. In addition, he is the academic director of the Ius Commune Research School and a member of the board of directors of Ectil.
Since the first of February 2008, he has been a professor of comparative private law and economics at the Rotterdam Institute of Law & Economics (RILE) of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and academic director of the European Doctorate in Law and Economics (EDLE) programme. Since 1982 he has been an attorney at the Antwerp Bar.
Antonio Vercher Noguera is the Prosecutor of the Coordinating Chamber of the Environment for the State Attorney General’s Office of Spain. Antonio is also a Board Member of the European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE). He graduated from the Faculty of Law and acquired LL.M. in Environmental Crimes at Harvard University.
He acquired a PhD in International Terrorism at the Trinity College, University of Cambridge. He has extensive experience in working in the Public Prosecution Service within the Ministry of Justice, as an expert within the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Council of Europe, European Commission.
Nedžad Baković is a Judge of a Basic Court in Kiseljak, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo, where he also acquired a Magister Degree and PhD on the topic of Criminal and Commercial aspects of the operation of legal persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina and comparative law.
He is a regular lecturer at the Judges and Prosecutors Education Center from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a certified lecturer at the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is a Board Member of the Association of Judges of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is also an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law in Sarajevo.
Ljubica Vukčević is a lawyer with years of professional experience in litigation and experience in representing domestic and foreign clients in the field of corporate and commercial law. She also has experience in international law, as an associate at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Netherlands. Ljubica has been a member of the RERI team since 2020, as Senior Legal Adviser. During her work at RERI, she specialized in the area of criminal-legal protection in the environment, with a particular focus on the environmental criminal responsibility of legal entities.
Željka Leljak Gracin is a law graduate working in Green Action, an environmental civil society organization from Croatia with headquarters in Zagreb, for over 18 years. As part of her professional engagement, she monitors the development of the environmental and nature protection regulatory framework in Croatia, harmonizing that area with European legislation and practice and its implementation.
Her work in Green Action includes providing free legal support to other civil society organizations and activists, particularly in the area of access to information and public participation in environmental issues. She is a chair of the network of environmental lawyers Justice and Environment since 2020. She is a member of the Human Rights Council of the Ombudsman and an external member of the Environmental and Nature Protection Committee of the Croatian Parliament.
Vasiliki (Vicky) Karageorgou studied Law at the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, after which she obtained a Master’ s degree in Public Law and a PhD in Environmental Law from the University of Cologne. She worked as a Legal Advisor to the Deputy Minister for Environment and as a Consultant to the United Nations Environment Programme-Mediterranean Action Plan, and as a Senior Investigator in the Greek Ombudsman. She is Associate Professor of EU Administrative Law and EU Environmental Law in the Department of International, European and Area Studies of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens. Her research interests focus on EU and National Environmental Law in interrelation with the International Environmental Law and specific aspects of EU Administrative Law.
She is author of four monographs and many articles on issues concerning procedural environmental rights, water protection and the instruments of environmental legislation. She is a Member of the Avosetta Group of the EU Environmental Law Professors and General Secretary of the Board of the Greek Association of Environmental Law.
Nikola Kitarović is a Judge of the Administrative Court in Belgrade. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, where he also acquired the Magister degree in 1989. He has worked at the First Basic Court in Belgrade and the Higher Court. He taught at the Advanced School of Internal Affairs and worked as a Research Associate at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade.
He became a judge of the First Basic Court in Belgrade in 1992. Since 2014, he has served as a judge at the Administrative Court in Belgrade. He is also a Board Member of the Association of Judges, Serbia. He has (co-)authored many articles, publications and advisory reports published in the Supreme Court’s Bulletin of Court Practice and other scientific magazines.
Jovan Rajić is an attorney at law with more than a decade of professional experience. He is the Founder and President of the Board at RERI. He worked in the real estate, energy, infrastructure, and environmental departments of leading law firms in Serbia and advised some of the pioneering renewable energy projects in Serbia and Montenegro. He is an expert in energy and environmental law, with a particular focus on EU law, and he was engaged in projects directed to provide compliance with domestic regulations from energy and environmental sectors with the EU acquis.
With the idea of fostering the protection of public interest in energy transition and environmental protection through legal mechanisms, Jovan founded RERI in 2017. He is the author of many articles and publications on domestic and European energy law. Jovan was one of the founding members of the Serbian Energy Law Association. He is also a member of the Belgrade and Serbian Bar since 2014.
Aleksandra Bujaroska is an Environmental Lawyer with over a decade of experience in dealing with compliance, monitoring, and implementation of acquis on the environment, in particular on climate topics, environmental impact assessment, strategic environmental assessment, environmental liability, and nature protection. She is the author of several legal texts on this topic and a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. Since 2020 Bujaroska works as Environmental Expert in the Legal Unit of the Energy Community Secretariat, the only permanently acting institution of the Energy Community responsible for supporting the dayto-day activities of the Energy Community and monitoring the implementation of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community.
Hristina Vojvodić is a Senior Legal Advisor in the field of Energy and Climate. Her expertise is focused on implementing the EU acquis, particularly on implementation of the Green Agenda for Western Balkans and Paris Agreement. She has been part of the RERI team since 2019, where she is mainly responsible for monitoring foreign investments in Serbia and the operation of large polluters. She is experienced in environmental impact assessment procedures, permitting procedures, as well as inspection surveillance procedures. She lectured numerous trainings in the field of access to information, public participation, and access to justice in environmental matters. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade and she is the author of several academic papers in the field of environmental protection and commercial law.
MODERATORS
Alenka Lena Klopčić
Communication Consultant
Damjan Bogunović
ESG Manager, PwC Serbia