Ioana Maria Costea, PhD

Opening speech

Moderator of the main panel, Ioana Maria Costea is an Associate Professor and the Dean of the Faculty of Law of “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania. She holds a PhD from the same academic institution and teaches Financial Law to second year undergraduates students, as well as Financial and Tax Litigation and European Fiscality to master’s students. Along with her teaching career, Ioana also authored numerous studies, ranging from monographs and chapters in books to articles published in internationally recognized journals and papers published in conference proceedings. Furthermore, she is a lawyer in Iasi Bar Association.

Keynote Speakers

(in alphabetical order)

Lenuţa Alboaie, PhD

Another Edge, A New Beginning

Lenuţa Alboaie is a Professor at the Faculty of Computer Science of “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania, teaching Cloud Computing, Concurrent and Distributed Computing and Computer Networks. She makes scientific contributions to research domains such as distributed systems (cloud computing), trust and reputation in social networks and semantic Web. Her research results were published in more than 50 publications (books or journals and volumes of national/international conferences). Moreover, she is a member of many international and national program committees of well-known organizations or scientific events. Her organizational skills and capabilities were enhanced by her experience as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science. Over the last ten years she has built a direct and stable connection between the academic and the business environment. She also coordinates or is involved in events such as: IT Summer Internships Program (http://profs.info.uaic.ro/~stagiidepractica), ITC2FII (http://profs.info.uaic.ro/~itc2fii) or BringITOn (http://bringiton.info.uaic.ro). She is the Director of the PrivateSky project (European Regional Development Fund, 2017-2021), which focuses on experimental development in public-private partnership for local cloud platforms with advanced data protection features.

Silvia Lucia Cristea, PhD

Teaching Law through an Online Platform. A Temporary Solution or a Lex Ferenda Proposal?

Silvia Lucia Cristea is a Professor of Business Law and, most recently, of Civil Law, at the University of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania. Since 2010, she has been collaborating as an associate researcher at the Legal Research Institute of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest. Silvia was employed by the same institute for two years, as an assistant researcher, during which she had the chance to attend the courses of the Institute of Comparative Law in Strasbourg, the first cycle in Trier (Germany) and the second cycle in Trapani (Italy). Since 1993, Silvia has been teaching at the University of Economic Studies in Bucharest, in the Law Department, beginning as an assistant professor before progressing the steps to becoming a professor. Along with her teaching career, Silvia has published over 115 studies and scientific articles in the areas of commercial law, international trade law and business law, and more than 20 monographs, university courses and handouts, including "Commercial Law" (co-author), "Business Law" (sole author), "Company Law" (co-author), "Financing Techniques in Business Law" (coordinator), "Business Law - 3rd Edition- Revised and Supplemented" (sole author), "Cambia în relațiile comerciale internaționale. Abordare de drept comparat/Bill of exchange in international trade relations. A comparative law approach"- bilingual edition.

Şerban Diaconescu, PhD

Non-Patrimonial Means of Protecting Personality Rights in the Virtual Environment. Unity in Diversity?

Şerban Diaconescu is an Associate Professor of Law and the Dean of the Faculty of Law of Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He holds a PhD in Law from the same academic institution and has completed professional development programs at the Faculty of Law of Paris II University, Panthéon-Assas, as well as in the Leonardo da Vinci Programme in Florence, Italy. Within the National Institute for Training and Professional Development of Lawyers – Cluj Territorial Center, Şerban is a trainer, coordinator of the Civil Law Department and member of the scientific board. He is also a lawyer, a counselor in the Cluj Bar Association and an arbitrator listed with the Court of Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Cluj.

Mateja Durovic, PhD

Regulatory Challenges of the Online Platforms

Mateja Durovic is a Reader in Contract and Commercial Law and Deputy Director of the Centre for Technology, Ethics, Law and Society at King’s College London. Prior to this, he was an Assistant Professor (2015‐2017) at the School of Law, City University of Hong Kong. Mateja holds a PhD and an LLM degree from the European University Institute, Italy, an LLM degree from the University of Cambridge, UK, and an LLB degree from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. He was a Post‐Doc Research Associate at the EUI, Italy (2014-2015), Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School, USA (2011), and at the Max Planck Institute of Private International and Comparative Law, Hamburg, Germany (2010). Mateja worked for the Legal Service of the European Commission, as well as a consultant for the European Commission, BEUC and the United Nations. His work was published in leading law journals (European Review of Private Law, European Review of Contract Law, Journal of Consumer Policy) and by most prominent publishers (Oxford University Press, Hart Publishing). He is a member of the European Law Institute, Society of Legal Scholars and Society for European Contract Law.

Daniela Ghicajanu, JD

A Clash of Titans - Crypto Assets Facing the European Union. Challenges and Opportunities for Regulators and Investors

Daniela Ghicajanu is an international legal professional focusing on financial services and investment issues, from policy and regulatory to dispute resolution. She has a particular interest in crypto/digital regulatory, how FinTech will develop globally, as well as in different sustainability issues.

Daniela was involved in complex litigation cases before the ECJ and in regulatory investigations, as part of the Legal Service of the EU securities regulator, as well as of the European Commission. Being involved in two EU institutions, Daniela covered complex regulatory issues in financial regulation, dispute resolution, investment law and state aid. Currently, Daniela provides expert advice in EU financial services and regulatory as part of a highly reputed business advisory company. Daniela acquired knowledge in tax law and policy and she uses this expertise to provide comprehensive technical advice. Daniela is part of the 2020-2021 Mario Soares promotion - LL.M in EU legal studies at the College of Europe. She holds a JD and a Master in Laws from Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She is an EU regulatory aficionada. Daniela is fluent in Romanian, English, French and Spanish.

Eleni Kaprou, PhD

New Challenges for the EU Online Marketplace

Eleni Kaprou is a Lecturer in Commercial Law at the Law School of Brunel University London, UK. She has been holding the position since 2018, after finishing her PhD at Nottingham University where she was awarded the 2018 DJ Harris award for the best thesis in law. Eleni’s interests lay in European private law and in particular European consumer law.

Alexandru Stănescu, JD

The 4th Industrial Revolution – New Economic Models from Gig & Circular Economies to Decentralization. Rules and Policies for this New Digital World. European and US Perspectives

Alex Stănescu is a lawyer focusing on commercial and corporate aspects of tech, especially fintech, deep tech - such as blockchain & crypto and cybersecurity. He is also involved in alternative dispute resolution investment and commercial international arbitration. He is a board member of ThinkBlockTank and President of the Spanish Club of Arbitration - Romania. He was the Chief Legal Officer of GIN Platform, the first automatized masternodes enabler for more than 100 blockchains. Alexandru also worked as a visiting lawyer in the London office of a global US law firm. He was employed by the World Bank in Trade and Competitiveness, covering competition, institutional change management, insolvency and ease of doing business policies. He clerked for the European Court of Justice and for the European Investment Bank. Alexandru was a Fulbright scholar and Wien Corporate Responsibility Fellow at Columbia Law School. He holds a trilingual MBA from Deusto University, Bilbao, Spain and an LLM and JD from University of Bucharest, Romania. Alexandru is fluent in Romanian, English, French, Spanish and Italian.

Charles Szymanski, JD

Algorithms and Labor Law

Charles Szymanski is a professor of law at the Faculty of Law of Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania. He also serves as a visiting professor at the University of Trento and as an adjunct professor at Michigan State University, College of Law, and has lectured at over 20 universities in Europe, Asia and North America. Charles specializes in comparative labor law and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). A licensed attorney in the United States (Michigan), he previously held the position of chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. Charles is currently an arbitrator listed with the Vilnius Arbitration Association in Lithuania. He is the author of numerous publications in the field of labor law and ADR, and a frequent speaker on these subjects at conferences.

Carmen Tamara Ungureanu, PhD

The Ubiquity of Law in Cyberspace - Short Introduction to the Topic of the 4th Edition of the Conference

Carmen Tamara Ungureanu is a Professor of International Commercial Law and European Private International Law at the Faculty of Law of “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, Romania. She is a doctoral supervisor in International Commercial Law and the Director of the Doctoral School of the Faculty of Law. Carmen holds a PhD in Private International Law from “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi. She joined the teaching staff of the Faculty of Law in 1994 and has completed all stages of her academic career at the same university. Carmen’s work was published at prestigious national publishing houses and in nationally recognized law journals. She is an expert in Romania’s Commission, Working Group III UNCITRAL since 2017 and a member of the UNIDROIT Governing Council, Rome, Italy since 2019. Carmen is also a member of the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL).