Before becoming Director of the Legal Transition Programme, which is the EBRD’s initiative to help its countries of operations upgrade their legal framework for business, Michel worked for almost three years as counsel in the banking operations section. There he was responsible for legal aspects of various investments of the Bank, with a particular focus on SME financing.
Michel has practiced as a commercial lawyer in Geneva, Moscow and London. While in private practice, Michel acted as Swiss correspondent for various legal publications and has also published a number of articles on Swiss and Russian legal matters. Michel, who is a Swiss national, received his Masters Degree in Law from the University of California at Berkeley and also was a visiting scholar at Moscow State University.

Roland Friedrich is Director of Programs at IDLO (International Development Law Organization). Before joining IDLO in 2020, he was Chief of Analysis at UNSMIL (United Nations Support Mission in Libya), heading the Joint Analysis Hub which assists the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya in policy and strategy development. From 2014 to 2017, Roland was Senior Political Officer at UNSMIL covering political-military affairs, security sector reform, rule of law, armed groups, counter-terrorism, and stabilization. Roland was deeply involved in the Skhirat peace process, where he focused on security and ceasefire arrangements for the Libyan Political Agreement. Before joining the UN in 2013, Roland was Head of Office for the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) in the Palestinian Territories where he managed a multi-million-dollar security sector reform and rule of law portfolio (2005-2013). He also worked as a research analyst with the Middle East Conflict Management Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London (2004-2005). He holds an MA in Political Science, International Law and Spanish (Bonn University), an MSc in Middle East Politics (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) and an Executive MBA (University of Cambridge). Roland has written extensively on conflict management, security sector governance/reform and the rule of law, with a focus on the Arab Region. He is a fluent Arabic speaker and a reserve officer with the German Armed Forces.

Moderator of the panel

Veronica Baradautanu, is a Principal Counsel, in the Legal Transition Team, in the legal department of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and is based in London. Veronica leads the Dispute Resolution and Enforcement area within the team, delivering technical assistance projects on court reform, trainings for judges, mediation reform and bailiff service reform. Her projects cover various jurisdictions, including Armenia, Moldova, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Serbia, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and other countries of EBRD operations. Veronica is a qualified New York Attorney and has an LLM from the University of Connecticut School of Law, USA. Before joining the EBRD she worked in the policy department of the Moldovan National Commission for Financial Markets and practiced as a lawyer within a leading Moldovan law firm. Veronica also worked as an International Expert on World Bank, EBRD and IFC technical assistance projects in the areas of insolvency, secured transactions, judiciary, enforcement regimes, company law and corporate governance of banks.

Moderator of the panel

As the regional program manager for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Margarita Meldon oversees a programming portfolio which expands from Montenegro to Mongolia, and is focused on such key aspects of the Rule of Law, as justice sector reform and good governance, access to justice and public services, commercial law reform, and anti-corruption. In this capacity, Margarita represents IDLO’s vis-à-vis our institutional stakeholders, UN and IFIs, governments, academia, civil society and the private sector. Margarita’s academic background is in international law, and in addition to having lectured on international relations, she is an author and commentator on justice and the Rule of Law.

Leonardo D’Urso is a full-time mediator, co-founder and CEO of ADR Center, Adjunct Professor at Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University (Malibu-CA, USA), expert on mediation at CEPEJ/Council of Europe and member of the Board of Director of the Weinstein International Foundation – Mediating a Better Future. With more than 22 years’ experience in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), he has mediated over 1.700 national and international complex civil and commercial mediations, workplace disputes and facilitated various public dialogue processes. In the field of consulting, his current focus is developing ADR strategic policies for Governments, Ministries of Justice and large organizations and drafting effective legislative frameworks to increase the recourse to mediation and the quality of mediation services.

Constantin-Adi Gavrilă is a well-known international mediator with 20 years of extensive experience in the field of mediation. Adi’s clients, individuals, companies, public institutions, governments and international organizations appreciate his rigorous, but gentle and honest style, complemented by his mediation approach that considers the cultural parameters of each participant. Adi is based in Romania, is the co-founder and General Manager of the Craiova Mediation Center Association, and is working extensively with ADR Center as Senior Mediation and ADR Expert, training mediators and advising governments and other clients in their efforts to promote and implement mediation. He sits in the panel of Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (IFC/MIGA - World Bank) and other accountability mechanisms of development banks for which he designs and facilitates dialogue processes related to the environmental and social impacts of bank-developed projects.

He served as Co-Chair of the Independent Standards Commission convened by the International Mediation Institute (IMI) for ten years between 2007 and 2017. In 2020, Adi was selected for his mediation expertise by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), Council of Europe, to provide intellectual services related to the field of mediation in the implementation of CEPEJ cooperation programs. In his career, Adi worked in 30 countries all over the world and trained more than 1500 mediators, trainers, mediation advocates, referrals and other influencers, such as policy makers or academics. He received his PhD from University of Craiova with emphasis on “Mediation and access to justice”. Among other awards, he was honoured with the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) International Development Committee’s 2009 Outstanding Leadership Award for outstanding contributions to the international conflict resolution.

For over two decades with CEDR, Andy has been helping people engage better in conflict, negotiation or put in place better conflict resolution systems.

He has led many consultancy and capacity building projects with international agencies on civil justice reform and business stability initiatives, providing technical assistance and delivering mediation, conflict management and negotiation training in 41 countries. He has trained well over 2000 mediators from all walks of life and has mediated or intervened in hundreds of conflicts and legal disputes.

Derived from his professional experience of 15 years as an architect in private practice before joining CEDR, he was noted for mediating in conflicts relating to planning and infrastructure development. He was the lead mediator in the then Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions pilot scheme for planning appeal and enforcement cases and has also mediated public rights of way disputes for The Planning Inspectorate.

Andy has authored a number of advisory publications on behalf of CEDR. These include chapters in How to Master Negotiation (Bloomsbury, 2015), Effective Conflict Management (ICSA Publishing, 2013), CEDR’s ADR Guide for Public Authorities, ADR Guide for Local Authorities in Public Private Partnerships, CEDR Rules for Adjudication and Dispute Resolution Procedure for PFI and Long Term Contracts (which formed the basis of government guidance) and Guidance for Collaborative Working (within organisations). He has also authored the International Finance Corporation’s Construction Mediator Guide and the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Good Practice Guide to Mediation.

Andy has undertaken specialist facilitation training by the Massachusetts based, Public Conversations Project, he is a certified Henley Business School coach and holds a Doctorate of Professional Studies in Commercial Mediation Development.

Judith Knieper is a legal officer at the Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in Vienna.
Until her appointment to the secretariat, she had been working in South East Europe from 1998 -2013 for numerous donors/organizations, e.g. OSCE, CoE, Worldbank and GIZ, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, the German international cooperation.
She obtained both Legal State Exams in Frankfurt, Germany as well as her PhD and is also qualified and certified as a Mediator.

Ivana Ninčić Österle is a lawyer (Belgrade/Serbian Bar Association) and registered mediator as well as public policy consultant for judicial reform, specializing in mediation and judicial efficiency. She began her legal practice in a prominent commercial law firm based in Belgrade and has since focused on alternative dispute resolution. She has received mediation and mediation system design training both in Serbia and internationally (SIDRA, UC Hastings Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution of Pepperdine University). As Weinstein JAMS International Fellow (2017) and Weinstein International Senior Fellow she has greatly benefited from the mentorship and mediation practice experience of eminent JAMS mediators. She has been engaged as a consultant on several projects supporting the Ministry of Justice of Serbia in efforts towards EU integration, specifically working on devising a more sustainable mediation system, drafting of relevant legislation as well as active promotion of mediation, including through the drafting of the platform for the signing of the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (the "Singapore Convention on Mediation") and participating in the signing ceremony. She is a member of the European Commission for Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) representing Serbia and has served as a member of the CEPEJ Working Group on the Evaluation of Judicial Systems as well as a jury member for the European Crystal Scales of Justice.

Ljubomir Petruljeskov is a Program Lead at International Development Law Organization and Weinstein JAMS International fellow, he is based in Rome and Chisinau. He have MBA degree from UBI Belgium. Ljubomir is responsible for IDLO projects in the Eastern Europe and he is managing Moldova country Office. With more than twenty years of project management experience and ten years as a mediator he leads on projects covering different jurisdictions, including Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and other countries of IDLO operations.