Speakers
at The ODR Forum 2024
Raman Aggarwal
Mr. Raman Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Jupitice Justice Technologies in India, is a Justice Futurist. Through Jupitice, he is advancing Access to Justice, spearheading innovative JusTech (Justice Technology) solutions to enable the justice delivery institutions such as Judiciary, Quasi-Judicial Bodies, Police and ADR Centres to deliver justice online efficiently and bridge the widening justice gap. Through Jupitice’s technology, he is also democratising the Alternative Dispute Resolution System globally.
Ligia Catherine Arias-Barrera
Ligia Catherine Arias Barrera is a Professor of Financial Law at the Externado University of Colombia, holding a Ph.D. from the University of Warwick. She is also an author, with books on financial regulation recognized by BookAuthority. Currently, she serves as the CEO at Financial Services Consulting LLP (United Kingdom) and is a member of the Sustainable Finance Working Group of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Additionally, she has been appointed to various expert and consultancy roles globally, including at the European Commission, the International Finance Corporation, and the International Monetary Fund.
Robert Bergman
I have a total of 55 years of experience in decision sciences, software engineering, business strategy simulation, defense, Scenario Planning, System Dynamics Modeling, Artificial Intelligence, and market research. Mr. Bergman's background and years of experience applying quantitative decision methodologies at Intel to improve international standards, negotiations, and strategic business decisions bring a unique perspective to mediating disputes.
NextLevel Mediation: Software as a service company providing mediators with the tools they need to resolve disputes quickly and efficiently. Our cloud-based system uses superior decision analytics and artificial intelligence to help mediators move their clients toward critical thinking and away from emotional decision-making. We understand the complexities of the process and the importance of providing solutions that yield the best results
Simon Boehme
Simon is a legal tech entrepreneur. He is currently COO of BillingNav, the leading tech-enabled medical balance billing solution for self-funded employer health plan participants. Previously, Simon was Vice President of Partnerships at Legaler and President of Legaler Aid. He recently served on the State Bar of California’s Access Through Innovation of Legal Services (ATILS) Task Force. Formerly he was Head of Operations and Chief of Staff, Trust & Safety at Lime. Simon also co-founded Disputly (formerly LegalWin). Earlier, he founded Magnify, a contract company summarizing the terms and conditions of popular websites (acquired). Simon advises multiple legal tech companies and the Legal Tech Fund. Simon was a member of the Accord Project Dispute Resolution Working Group (building guidelines and open source code for smart legal contracts). He was also appointed by the Obama Administration to serve on the U.S. Department of Education's National Advisory Committee for Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). He served on NACIQI from 2013 to 2019. As a mediator, he previously led efforts to build the first San Francisco online dispute resolution system for landlord-tenant disputes. He is a Truman Scholar, Coca-Cola Scholar, and Bezos Scholar. Simon studied at Cornell University (BS in Industrial and Labor Relations) and was a Mitchell Scholar at Maynooth University in Ireland (MA in Mediation and Conflict Intervention). In 2010, he led his hometown high school to win the first Race to the Top Commencement Challenge, resulting in President Barack Obama speaking at graduation (the first sitting President to do so). He currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Petra Burčíková
Petra Burčíková is a lawyer and international development consultant with a focus on human rights law, access to justice, strategic planning, and gender equality. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with a diverse range of governmental, non-governmental, and international organizations in Europe, Africa, and Asia. She is passionate about finding creative solutions to tackle old problems in innovative ways.
Tiffany Byrd Cook
My journey in dispute resolution is an unconventional one. As a former international ballerina, I thrived in diverse environments, building relationships and overcoming cultural barriers as I worked and collaborated with over 30 nationalities! This passion for cross-cultural communication and cultural diplomacy led me to be named Honorary Youth Ambassador to Brno, Czech Republic, and spearhead sister city cultural exchanges between Dallas, TX, and Brno. This experience ultimately led me to retire from ballet and pursue a degree in diplomacy at Oxford University. However, in retrospect, I was frustrated by a lack of focus on conflict resolution skills, the very tools, in my opinion, needed for effective diplomacy.
Disenchanted, I stumbled upon a mediation and dispute resolution class during a master's program at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas). It was a revelation! It brought together my experiences in navigating cultural complexities and my desire to find and facilitate solutions that work for everyone. Since then, I have delved into the world of mediation, fascinated by its potential to bridge divides stemming from conflict.
I have grown increasingly interested in AI's potential impact on dispute resolution. As a student and mediator-in-training, I am eager to learn from the brightest minds in the industry about the ethical considerations and potential benefits of technology, like AI, in (online) dispute resolution.
I am incredibly honored to be a student panelist at this prestigious conference. The opportunity to discuss these critical issues with such a distinguished group is a privilege.
Federica Casarosa
Federica Casarosa developed a rich experience in training for legal professionals through her role as scientific coordinator in several Training projects leaded by the Centre for Judicial Cooperation (ACTIONES, e-NACT, JUDCOOP). Federica holds a bachelor’s degree in Private Law (University of Pisa, 2001), a PhD in Law (European University Institute, 2008). She has worked as a consultant for FAO and as a Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. Her works appeared on several Italian and international journals, such as the European Review of Private Law, the Journal of Internet Law, and Diritto dell’Informazione e dell’Informatica.
Scott Cooper
Scott's career has focused largely on consumer protection, global rulemaking and internet governance (privacy, e-commerce, connectivity, ODR, etc.). These issues have shown up in many configurations at US Commerce Dept., US Congress, Hewlett-Packard and at ANSI and ISO.
Pablo Cortes
Pablo is a Civil Justice professor at Leicester Law School, specializing in dispute resolution, with a focus on ADR and ODR. He holds a position as an arbitrator-adjudicator at CEDR and has published three books on technology's role in dispute resolution. Currently, he is working on a monograph for Cambridge University Press about dispute processes and co-editing a volume on digital courts for Oxford University Press. Pablo also co-edits the journal "Mediation: Theory and Practice" and "Amicus Curiae." Additionally, Pablo has contributed as a consultant on several projects, notably aiding the European Commission in developing legislative proposals for the ADR Directive and the ODR Regulation.
Chris Draper
Chris Draper, Ph.D., P.E., is a technologist whose career has focused on how to reduce the risk of humans interacting with advanced technologies. He currently leads teams focusing on compliance and dispute resolution technologies, is a published author on various AI implementation topics, and is an NCTDR Fellow.
Yulia Dziavun
The main activity is focused on representation of interests, legal support of individuals and legal entities in civil, commercial and administrative cases. In particular, in cases related to: making payments for products, goods and services; contractual and non-contractual legal relations; conclusion, amendment and termination of commercial contracts; invalidation of commercial contracts or their individual parts; compensation for material and moral damages; recognition of property rights and other real rights; and exercise of corporate rights.
Eva Fialová
Eva is an attorney at PRK Partners where her practice focuses on information technology law. She specifically has years of experience in personal data protection, eCommerce, software law, and the legal aspects of autonomous systems, which she also lectures and writes abouts.
Besides her work as an attorney, Eva is also a scholar at the Institute of State and Law at the Czech Academy of Sciences, participating in expert commissions and advisory groups. Eva is also a member of the Committee on Human Rights and Modern Technologies of the Czech Government Council for Human Rights, the Association for the Protection of Personal Data, and other professional groups.
Marco Giacalone
Marco is a Research Professor at the Private and Economic Law Department (PREC) and Co-Director of the Research Group on Digitalisation and Access to Justice (DIKE) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He has been involved in several collaborative research projects (co-) funded by the European Union. His work analyses the transformations of law in the field of Access to Justice with a special focus on the fields of Private International Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), consumers law and the application of economic principles into the field of law. His research combines approaches from legal theory, empirical and multidisciplinary studies.
Ayllen Gil Seaton
Dr. Ayllen Gil Seaton is a Lecturer in Procedural Law at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Barcelona. She has taught Procedural Law and Arbitration at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona. She obtained her Law degree in Chile, where she also taught Procedural Law at Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile. She holds a Master’s degree in Legal Sciences from the UPF, and a PhD in Law (Cum Laude) from the same university. Her thesis examined arbitration as an efficient mechanism for the resolution of Intellectual Property disputes and was published by Wolters Kluwer (2020) (Arbitraje y Propiedad Industrial).
She is a member of The International Association of Procedural Law and The Association of Procedural Law Professors of Spanish Universities and a member of the Editorial Boards of the IDP (Revista de Internet, Derecho y Política).
Dr. Gil Seaton is the author of numerous publications in the field of Arbitration and has contributed to conferences and seminars on Procedural Law, Arbitration, and Alternative Dispute Resolution. In recent years, her research has focused on the analysis of the use of technology in dispute resolution mechanisms, focused on the improvement access to justice.
Dr. Gil Seaton is a qualified Chilean lawyer and is admitted to the bar of Chile. She has worked advising companies in maritime and international trade, and corporate and business areas, both in and out of court.
Simon Goodrich
Simon Goodrich is Co-Founder of Portable, a purpose-driven digital design agency with a mission to address social need and policy failure in the community using human-centred design and technology. It delivers technology-based and design-thinking informed solutions and innovation in the form of useful, accessible products and services which place the user experience at their centre. Portable is a team of 60 based around Australia, working across the impact areas of justice, health, mental health and government.
Simon is a Senior Honorary Fellow at Melbourne School of Government and Melbourne Law School, where he also lectures masters students on Innovation and Design. He is Australian Ambassador for the New York-based International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, dubbed the Oscars for Online.
He is a fellow of the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre at Victoria University, a leading justice innovation body and is a past National President of AIMIA, at the time the peak digital body in Australia.
Anastasiia Grabovska
Candidate of Juridical Sciences (Ph. D.), Head of the sector of analytical assistance of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. Lecturer at the National School of Judges of Ukraine, Higher school of advocacy. Areas of scientific work: problems of justice, civil law, civil process, economic law, economic process.
Oxana Grabovska
Doctor of Law, Associated Professor, Professor of Department of Civil Procedure, Educational and Scientific Institute of Law Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University participate in working groups of Verkhovna Rada Legal Policy Committee on issues of:
- Digitization of justice and related legal institutions in Ukraine.
- Optimization of the Economic Procedure Code of Ukraine and the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine.
- Questions regarding the processing of proposals and the settlement of problematic issues related to the realization by citizens of Ukraine of rights that arose in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
Luz Helena Hanauer
Dr. Luz Helena Hanauer holds a PhD in International Economic Law from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff at Anura Partners SA (Pty) Ltd, a Boutique Strategy Consultancy. Dr. Hanauer has served as as the Executive Director of the WDB Trust, a Public Benefit Organization which enables platforms for financial inclusion in South Africa, predominantly through Microfinance, Training and Social Development support; She is fluent in Spanish, English, and French and has a thorough knowledge of the cultural, historical, policy, and societal landscape of South Africa. Luz Helena is interested in Global South issues, Social Impact, Trade and Investment, Sustainable Development, Governance, Economics, and Law.
Yoshihisa Hayakawa
Yoshihisa Hayakawa serves as a professor of law at Rikkyo University, Tokyo. He also teaches and researches in a number of foreign universities including Columbia University, Cornell University, QM College of University of London and Australian National University. He also serves as a partner at Uryu & Itoga, Tokyo. He serves as a counsel in many cases of transnational litigation and international commercial arbitration as well as serving as an arbitrator in many arbitration cases. He also serves as a representative from Japan for a number of inter-governmental organizations including UNCITRAL, APEC (ODR Project), ISO (ODR Project) and the Hague Conference on PIL. And he serves as President of Sport Law Commission of UIA, Japanese Member for Commission on Arbitration and ADR of ICC, Japanese Member of Users Council of SIAC and Arbitrator for Court of Arbitration for Sport. He also serves as Chair of IT/ODR Section of Japan Federation of Bar Associations. Open presentation here.
Sara Hourani
Dr Sara Hourani is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Middlesex University London. She also holds a Visiting Lectureship at the School of Law, Aix-Marseille University (France). Her research focuses on the interface between international commercial arbitration and new technologies, which spans digital dispute resolution and ODR. She has provided consultancies on the topic to bodies such as the UNCITRAL, the UK Parliament, the UK Ministry of Justice and the UK Law Commission and also sits as a MENA sub-committee member of the Greener Arbitrations Campaign where her work consists of working on an analysis of the digitalisation of international arbitration.
Cemre C. Kadıoğlu Kumtepe
Cemre graduated from Bilkent University with an LLB degree. She holds an LLM degree from Georgetown University in International Business and Economic Law. She completed internships at arbitration institutions, international organizations, and law firms. She worked as a lawyer in Istanbul, specializing in arbitration and other civil law disputes. She is a member of New York State Bar and Istanbul Bar. She is an accredited mediator in Turkiye. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Leicester.
Ethan Katsh
Ethan Katsh je považován za zakladatele oboru ODR. Je autorem několika knih o ODR (viz Digitální spravedlnost: Technologie a internet sporů (2017)) a právu a technologiích obecně. Je emeritním profesorem právních studií na University of Massachusetts a konzultoval ODR pro veřejný a soukromý sektor. Další podrobnosti jsou dostupné zde.
Jasbendar Kaur
Jasbendar Kaur was appointed as a District Judge at the State Courts of Singapore in 2005. She has previously served a Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Counsel with the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore and as Director of the Legal Department in the Ministry of Manpower. From 2005 to 2019, she presided over criminal cases and served in the Registrar’s Office, and she has been part of the Community Courts & Tribunals Cluster (CCTC) that oversees community, relationship and small value disputes since 2019. In her capacity as the Deputy Principal District Judge, she currently assists to manage the CCTC that consists of the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT), Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT), Small Claims Tribunals (SCT), Protection from Harassment Court (PHC) and the Magistrate’s Complaints Registry. The CCTC was established in 2014 as part of the State Courts’ community justice strategy to introduce simpler, less expensive, and quicker proceedings for community and relational disputes where mediation plays a critical role to advance access to justice and to facilitate early resolution of disputes and/or the granting of protection. Being a Product Owner of the Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS), the electronic online case filing and management system developed for the community courts and tribunals, she is one of the key contributors in the development of the overall strategy/policies to ensure access to e-services that are able to meet the needs of the court users and the operational requirements of CCTC, for both now and in the future.
Yordanka Ivanova
Yordanka Ivanova is a Legal and Policy Officer in the European Commission (DG CNECT, A2) in the unit responsible for Artificial Intelligence Police Development and Coordination. She is a member of the legal team who has drafted the Commission proposal for a Regulation on AI and followed the negotiations with the European Parliament and the Council. After the successful completion of the negotiations, Yordanka is currently involved in the preparation for the future implementation of the AI Act and follows as well relevant international initiatives in the context of Council of Europe, OECD and UN.
Laura Kistemaker
Laura Kistemaker is co-founder and COO of Justice42. Justice42 is an ODR company that developed the online divorce platform Uitelkaar.nl. Previously, Laura worked at The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law. There she was involved in Uitelkaar.nl’s predecessor Rechtwijzer and in various other innovative legal projects. Laura has been a driving force behind legal tech integration into the justice system, and bringing online dispute resolution to the market for 10 years. Her company has enabled thousands of couples to navigate their divorce in a modern, less burdensome, and less costly way – from the initial stage all the way to the end of formalisation in court. Laura strongly believes in ODR with all the right balances: between technology and personal care, between do-it-yourself and professional support, and between standardised technology and tailored services.
Alon Klement
Professor of Law at Tel-Aviv University. His research focuses on Class actions and Aggregate litigation, as well as on ADR, Civil Procedure and Private International Law. He has published numerous papers, in English and Hebrew, in which he uses economic theory to examine fundamental questions regarding dispute resolution mechanism design, especially in aggregate litigation. He is currently working on comparative and normative aspects of global complex litigation, and the litigation exposure of algorithmic decisions. Futher detail is accessible at https://www.alon-klement-en.sites.tau.ac.il/.
Tetiana Kravchenko
Postgraduate student at Taras Shevchenko national university of Kyiv, Postgraduate student at Charles university of Czech Republic. Active participation in ODR projects in the Czech Republic and EU; preparatory discussion about introducing online courts in Ukraine; participation in a project on open digital mapping of standard ODR processes.
Andrej Krištofík
Andrej Krištofík is a PhD candiate at the Institute of Law and Technology of Masaryk University, where he focuses his research on the possibilities of using Artificial Intelligence for automating the decision-making processes of public bodies. Besides law and technology he focuses on fundamental rights and legal theory and as a part-time researcher at the Faculty of Informatics he has been a part of research projects with focus on online courts and cybersecurity.
Sidharth Kapoor
Sidharth Kapoor is an India qualified lawyer with a passion for integrating law and technology. He works in the Public Policy and Strategy wing of Presolv360, a leading ODR platform. Sidharth actively promotes ODR as an effective solution for enhancing access to justice in India and holds an LLM in International Arbitration. As a legal tech innovator and writer, Sidharth contributes op-eds and articles on law, legal-tech, and related topics to esteemed publications like The Hindu, Business Standard, Bar & Bench, Live Law, and Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
Vaibhavi Khuthia
Vaibhavi Khuthia is a mediator based in Mumbai, specializing in resolving conflicts peacefully. She holds a Master's degree in Mediation and Conflict Resolution from Maharashtra National Law University. Currently, she works as the Manager and Head of the Mediation wing at Presolv360, a leading ODR platform based in Mumbai. Vaibhavi is dedicated to assisting individuals and organizations in finding amicable solutions to their disputes. Her dedication to integrating ODR into mediation, to help others navigate conflicts amicably, underscores her passion for fostering harmony and justice within communities.
Zbynek Loebl
Zbynek has managed the first e-justice projects in the Czech Republic, including a project on the preparation of the first online civil court or the project for introduction of online dispute resolution (ODR) into administrative process of resolving traffic fines cases. Zbynek has also initiated EU-funded project Scheme, finalized in early 2024. He also introduced an international concept of decentralized open-source ODR called Open ODR and personalized e-justice ODR forms.
Zbynek was founder of Youstice, a pioneering company for cross-border consumer ODR. Zbynek also managed an international team which implemented ODR for .eu-related disputes.
Zbynek is a fellow of The National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution (NCTDR) and founding member of International Council for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR).
Zbynek is an author of a book Designing Online Courts (The Future Of Justice Is Open To All), Kluwer Law International, 2019 and co-author of a book in Czech language Online soudnictví v České republice, Wolters Kluwer, 2021.
Pavel Loutocký
Pavel Loutocký is a post-doctorate researcher and head of the section at the CERIT, Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, post-doctorate researcher Faculty of Law, Masaryk University and a lecturer within the Cyber Security study programme at Brno University of Technology. He participated in a number of national and international research and delivered lectures concerning online dispute resolution, electronic identification and documents, online consumer protection, cybersecurity, cybercrime, online platforms, or eJustice & eGovernment. Since 2012, he has been a regular member of selected working groups within the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). He is also an external lecturer at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany.
Nicolás Lozada
CEO and founder of CREO (a financial inclusion platform) and Redek (the first Colombian startup of Digital Justice and Online Dispute Resolution. Nicolás is a TechnoEnthusiast and assiduous preacher of ODR. Nicolás is a lawyer with master’s degrees in International Law and Globalization from New York University and the National University of Singapore. He is a professor, lecturer and consultant in ODR, legaltech, arbitration, international business and international investment. Nicolás is also a fellow of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution (NCTDR) and arbitrator of the APEC e-Bram panel on online dispute resolution.
Martin Maisner
Martin Maisner is a specialist in the field of information technology, cybersecurity, alternative dispute resolution, sports law, Compliance and contract law.
Since 1990, he has been actively engaged in the law of information technology and participated in not only the formation of several legal theories, relating to specific areas of information technology law (outsourcing, comprehensive cybersecurity), but also in the creation of the legal environment and business practices in related industries both in the Czech Republic and internationally. He provides comprehensive legal advice to both suppliers of technology and customers, and also in some instances to candidates for public procurement regarding the preparation of their tenders.
He is actively engaged in significant publishing activities in the field of IT law, as well as in the area of arbitration and does so in the form of legal monographia, commentaries on the law or professional articles in various specialized journals.
Michal Matějka
Michal Matějka is a Partner at PRK Partners specialising in IT law, intellectual and industrial property law, commercial contract law, international trade and related dispute resolution.
Michal has extensive experience in representing global and multinational clients in judicial, contractual and regulatory matters. He regularly lectures on ICT and intellectual property law at the Faculty of Information Technology of Czech Technical University (ČVUT) and the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague. Michal is an expert for domain dispute resolution in UDRP proceedings and .cz domain disputes and the author of various scholarly publications and articles in specialist periodicals on topics in his practice areas.
Valeriu Mina
Valeriu Mina is a seasoned pleading lawyer with a career spanning 18 years. He is a Partner with NNDKP and a member of the firm’s Dispute Resolution team. He focuses his practice on FIDIC contracts, complex disputes related to major infrastructure projects (motorways, railways, water treatment and purification stations) financed by European funds, litigation cases related to the preparation of projects and feasibility studies for such large infrastructure projects, arbitration procedures, complex insolvency matters, labor disputes, contractual liability disputes, real estate litigation, issues governing criminal cases, administrative disputes in relation to competition law, enforcement proceedings. In the past years Valeriu has gained significant experience in online arbitration proceedings along with a keen understanding of how AI can be leveraged in litigation.
Irina Ogorodnicova
Candidate of Law, more than 10 years of scientific activity, thesis topic: "Administrative liability for tax offenses". Head of tax disputes practice at CROWE MIKHAILENKO. Founder of the first Entrepreneurship Support Center "I-SMART" in Irpin, whose activities are aimed at supporting small and medium-sized businesses. President of the public organization "Project Office" I-SMART".
Federico Olsen
Federico Olsen is a lawyer from Universidad Externado de Colombia and Legal Officer at Redek, the first corporation to implement online dispute resolution platforms in Colombia. From this position, he has participated in the creation and management of various legal and academic projects. This includes coordinating the creation of academic conferences on digital justice, proposing work and developing academic material related to online arbitration, conciliation, and artificial intelligence.
Orna Rabinovich-Einy
Orna Rabinovich-Einy is a law professor at the University of Haifa. Her areas of expertise are online dispute resolution (ODR), alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and civil procedure, with research focusing on the impact of technology on dispute resolution, the relationship between formal and informal justice systems, and dispute resolution system design. She has published widely in these areas, including a book (co-authored with Professor Ethan Katsh) entitled "Digital Justice: Technology and the Internet of Disputes," published by Oxford University Press. She was recently awarded a European Council Research (ERC) grant on "The ‘Vanishing Third Party’: Access to Justice, Procedural Justice and Substantive Justice in the Age of Dispute Resolution Automation."
Daniel Rainey
Daniel Rainey is a Fellow of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution (NCTDR), Vice President of the International Counsel for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR), and one of the editors-in-chief of the International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution (IJODR).
Fernando Esteban de la Rosa
Fernando Esteban de la Rosa is Professor of Private International Law, Scientific Director of the Digital Society Research Excellence Unit: Security and Protection of Rights (University of Granada), Associate member of the Hispanic Portuguese American Philippine Institute of International Law and Principal Researcher of various projects financed by the Spanish Agency for Research in the field of Consumer ODR.
Richard Rogers
Richard Rogers has worked in the administrative justice sector since 1996. From 2015 to 2022, Richard was the first Registrar and Executive Director of British Columbia’s online dispute resolution body, the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT). He also was acting Chair of the CRT during 2022. More recently, Richard was Executive Director and led a transformation initiative at the British Columbia Residential Tenancy Branch. Currently, Richard is leading a project to implement a new agency to regulate short-term rentals in the province.
Graham Ross
UK lawyer/mediator and, for 23yrs, writer, advisor, teacher, developer, presenter , and conference organiser on ODR.
Graham is a Fellow of The National Center For Technology and Dispute Resolution at University of Massachusetts (Amherst), an Official Observer to the Council of Europe’s European Cyberjustice Network, former Board Member of ICODR, co-author of two key Reports ( on ODR and ADR) for the UK Civil Justice Council, author of a Report for USAID on introducing ODR to the courts in Ukraine as well as advisor on ODR to courts in 5 other countries and to The Council of Europe. Graham is advisor to Smartsettle Resolutions Inc, developers of AI powered ODR tools, Smartsettle ONE ( visual blind bidding) and Smartsettle Infinity (anonymous negotiation in complex multi-issue/ multi party disputes).
Jaromir Savelka
Jaromir Savelka is a Researcher Associate at the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and a member of the Technology for Effective and Efficient Learning (TEEL) Lab at CMU. Dr.Savelka focuses on applications of machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) in domains essential to a fair and responsible society, particularly education and law. He is passionate about exploring cost-effective ways to support legal professionals in analyzing large collections of legal documents, with the aim of democratizing access to sophisticated ML tools.
Avneek Kaur Sethi
Ms. Avneek Kaur Sethi is a distinguished academic with a Bachelor of Arts in Law with Honors and a Master of Laws from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi. Additionally, she holds a PG Diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution from NALSAR, Hyderabad India, and has completed a 40-hour Mediation Training Programme. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. focusing on 'ODR Service Providers in India' at the Department of Laws, GNDU, Amritsar, India. With over a decade of teaching experience, Ms. Sethi serves as an Assistant Professor at VSLLS, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies-TC, GGSIPU New Delhi, India. Her primary areas of expertise encompass Alternative Dispute Resolution and Jurisprudence.
Caroline Sheppard OBE
A barrister by background, throughout her career Caroline has been a digital champion, instrumental in driving the user-centric approach to dispute resolution. In her past role as Chief Adjudicator of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal she took the leading role in the development of the tribunal’s award-winning online appeals system, described by Professor Richard Susskind, as “the longest standing online public dispute resolution system” having been developed “under the inspiring leadership of Caroline Sheppard”.
The digital system, developed at significantly little cost, immediately resulted in increased workloads and accelerated outcomes, and by incorporating leading edge digital communication channels to enrich the user experience and satisfaction of both parties, delivered greater accessibility and transparency.
Caroline continues to advise on dispute resolution. She is currently Chair of the Administrative Justice Council working party reviewing the impact of His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service digital reforms for tribunal users.
She is a Member of the Administrative Justice Council, and is on the Council of ‘JUSTICE’, the all-party law reform and human rights NGO. She has a keen interest in special needs education and for many years was Chair of the Trustees the largest special educational needs provider in Europe, specialising in education for children and young people with autism and visual impairment.
Caroline was awarded an OBE in the summer of 2017, having received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the parking and traffic industry.
Talia Schwartz
Talia is a post-doctoral researcher at Haifa University Law School, Dispute Resolution Automation Lab (DRA) and a lecturer at Berkeley Legal studies (Responsible AI course). Talia's interests are at the intersection of law, technology and society and among her past works are the use of social media by crime victims and bystandards as a self-help mechanism, empirical study of social media users’ awareness of IP rights in uploaded content to social media platforms (co-authored) and NLP project for generating legal citation recommendation engine (co-authored). In her current research position, Talia studies perceptions towards automation in the legal domain, and particularly dispute resolution context. She previously received her JSD from UC Berkeley School of Law and LL.B from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and worked at Google Israel legal team and LawGeex (contract automation startup).
Václav Stupka
Václav Stupka is focused on the area of cybersecurity and information technology law, with a deep-seated commitment to advancing the field through both academic and practical avenues. Serving as the Deputy Director of the CyberSecurity hub and a researcher and lecturer at Masaryk university, his work spans the coordination and leadership of national and international research projects, skills development, and the fostering of collaborative networks in cybersecurity. His expertise is not confined to academia, he has a wealth of experience from his roles in the practical implementation of cybersecurity solutions in sectors and advisory groups. His research interests are primarily focused on ICT law, data protection, cybercrime, and cybersecurity, Mr. Stupka is also an author and co-author of numerous scholarly publications and has played a key role in organizing professional events that address the legal aspects of information technologies and cybersecturity.
Margarita Tuch
Margarita Tuch is a legal and policy officer in the DG Justice and Consumers of the European Commission, where she discovered the European ODR Platform in 2017. An intrapreneur with the track record in capacity building, process design and strategic litigation, she is now focusing on digital enforcement of consumer law and digitalisation of ADR processes. Based in Brussels, Margarita is an Estonian native who also worked in Western Balkans and internationally.
Mayu Watanabe
Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Mayu Watanabe is a Specially Appointed Associate Professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. She is part of the Academy for Leadership program and teaches negotiation and mediation to science and engineering students. Her research interest is dispute system design and mainly focuses on the social implementation of ODR within Japanese society. She is a founding member of JODR (Japan Association for Online Dispute Resolution) and also a member of the ODR promotion group for the Ministry of Justice. She is a principal author of the ODR research paper published by the government in 2023.
Leah Wing
Dr. Leah Wing is Director of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution (NCTDR) and Senior Lecturer II, Legal Studies Program, Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. She is co-founder and serves on the Board of the International Council for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR) and co-led the development of the NCTDR-ICODR ODR Standards. Leah served as a researcher on early experiments in online dispute resolution and her present research projects focus on ODR ethics and AI and technology and disaster response. She serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution and Conflict Resolution Quarterly. As a trainer and consultant, Leah has worked with hundreds of agencies and organizations both in the U.S. and internationally.
Petros Zourdoumis
Petros Zourdoumis is a practicing mediator & negotiator specializing on disputes in the commercial & banking sector and on the use of ODR and has a background in law and economics. He is the owner of ADR point (www.adrpoint.com) which is an official EU ADR body under the ADR Directive, a mediation & negotiation hub, a founding member of the ADR Travel-Net, the seat of the IMI QAP for mediators and ODR and a regional center for providing ODR technology solutions (www.adr4all.com). He is a Fellow at the National Center for Technology & Dispute Resolution (USA), M;ember of the ICODR, President of the Association of Greek Mediators, Founder of ODReurope, Member of the Registry of Financial Experts of the General Secretariat of the Private Debt Settlement of the Ministry of Finance, ex Member of the Central Mediation Committee of the Greek Ministry of Justice and member of the Working Group of the Greek Ministry of Commerce & Development for the reform of the ADR Directive.