Antonio Campinos

António Campinos took over as President of OHIM on 1 October 2010. A 43 year-old Portuguese national, after studying law at the University of Montpellier he worked in the Court of First Instance and then in banking before moving to the public sector, becoming head of the National Institute of Industrial Property in Portugal in 2005. Mr Campinos has been closely associated with OHIM for a number of years and is a former Chairman of the Administrative Board where he strongly advocated greater openness and transparency, including the involvement of user groups as observers.

Beate Schmidt

Beate Schmidt studied law and began her professional career as judge and public prosecutor at the District Court and Regional Court in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. From 1986 to 1994 she was a civil servant in the Federal Ministry of Justice, where she was a desk officer for copyright matters and later on worked in the Human Resources Department and for 4 years as personal assistant to the State Secretary. From 1995 on she was appointed as a member of a board of appeal for trademarks of the Federal Patent Court. Two years later she took a position in Human Resources with the German Patent and Trademark Office, where she became 2000 the first female Head of the Trademark and Designs Department and as such deputy member of the Administrative Board of OHIM, Alicante. From August 2006 to April 2011 Beate Schmidt was Director of Trademark and Cancellation Department and after reorganisation Director of Cancellation and Litigation department of OHIM. In May 2011 the Minister of Justice appointed her President of the Federal Patent Court in Munich. Currently she is as well Presiding Judge of the 1st Board of the Court, which is a patent nullity board.

Mihály Ficsor

Mihály Ficsor is Vice-President of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO). He started his career in 1988 at the HIPO, then he served as Head of the European Community Law Department in the Ministry of Justice between 1995-1999 and took part in the negotiations on Hungary's accession to the EU. He represents Hungary in various European and international bodies. He was Chairman of the Committee on Patent Law in the EPO between 1 July 2005 and 31 December 2010. Since 1 January 2011, he is Chairman of the Administrative Board of the OHIM. Recently, he has also been elected Chair of the WIPO Working Group on the Development of the Lisbon System.

Patricia García-Escudero

Patricia García-Escudero es Licenciada en Ciencias Biológicas por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y pertenece a la Escala de Titulados Superiores de Organismos Autónomos del Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo, especialidad Propiedad Industrial.

Ha desarrollado toda su carrera profesional en la Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas, en la que ingresó en 1987 como funcionaria de carrera y en la que ha sido jefa de servicio de Difusión, jefa del Área de Difusión e Información, consejera técnica en el Departamento de Patentes e Información Tecnológica y jefa del Área de Difusión, Comunicación y Relación con la Empresa. Hasta la fecha de su nombramiento como Directora General de la OEPM, era Subdirectora General de Coordinación Jurídica y Relaciones Internacionales en la Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas.

Diana Wallis

Qualified solicitor with more than 15 year experience of cross border litigation. Former Member of the European Parliament 1999-2012; deeply engaged in legislative dossiers relating to mediation. Qualified CEDR mediator and Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Director of the International Mediation Institute and member of the Civil Mediation Council's Government Affair's Committee. President of the European Law Institute.

Cecilia Wikström

She became a member of the European Parliament in 2009, and currently holds the position as a full member and ALDE coordinator in the Committee on Legal Affairs and as a full member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. She is also a member of the parliament's advisory committee on the code of conduct of members. She is part of the delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for (relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia,) the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

Cecilia Wikström received her Master of theology degree at the Department of Theology at Uppsala University in 1993. She has had various positions in the Church of Sweden, such as Parish Pastor, Student Pastor at Uppsala univeristy, Pastor for Prisoners and Cathedral Canon of the Uppsala Cathedral. Since 2001 she is the owner and executive Director of Wikström Consulting LTD. Between 2002 and 2009 Wikström was a Member of the Swedish Parliament for the Swedish Liberal Party. She was then Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Member of the Committee on Foreign Affaires. Cecilia has written and published several books and has held various positions in national and regional boards, such as Uppsala University's Board, the Swedish Unesco Board, the Police Board as well as the Board of Prince Eugens Waldemarsudde museum.

Giuseppe De Palo

Giuseppe De Palo is President of ADR Center - member of JAMS International, the largest private mediation firm in continental Europe. A full-time mediator since 1998, he has contributed to the resolution of over 400 complex commercial disputes. An International Professor of Alternative Dispute Resolution Law and Practice at Hamline University School of Law (St. Paul, USA), Giuseppe De Palo's latest book is "EU Mediation Law and Practice", co-edited with Mary Trevor and published by Oxford University Press (November 2012). Over the last ten years, he has been the team leader of several multi-million Euro projects -- funded by the World Bank, the European Commission and the Inter-American Development Bank -- to promote mediation in four different continents. Most recently, he has presented the results of a study on the status of mediation in the EU in front of the EU Parliament.

Ignacio de Castro

Ignacio de Castro is a Spanish lawyer and an English solicitor. Ignacio holds an LL.M. degree from King's College London. Before joining WIPO in 2002, he was on the legal staff at the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva and, prior to that, practiced in London with the law firms Baker & McKenzie and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in the areas of international arbitration and litigation.

Steve Probert

Stephen Probert is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of
Engineering & Technology. He joined the UK Patent Office in 1990 after several years in the automotive electronics industry.
Stephen has been an Inter Partes Hearing Officer since 1996, first in the Trade Marks Registry and subsequently in the Patents Directorate.  He also held Ex Parte patent hearings in the field of computer program applications between 1999 and 2007.
Stephen first trained as a mediator with WIPO in Geneva in 1997, and then with CEDR in 2006, and has been part of the  UK IPO's Mediation Service from its launch in April 2006. He has mediated in dozens of cases, mostly intellectual property, but also including boundary disputes, employment, housing and international shipping contracts.

Stephen Probert BEng MEng CEng FIET

Joana Borralho de Gouveia

Joana was born in Lisbon, Portugal, on 5 July 1974, and graduated in Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in 1998. She completed a Post-Graduation Course in Forensics and Legal Counsel of Companies at the Portuguese Catholic University (2003) and attended the Postgraduate studies in Information Society Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (2000).After completing the internship with the Portuguese Bar Association (1998-2000), she held various positions in the area of Sports Law: Legal Advisor of the Minister of Youth and Sports (XIV Constitutional Portuguese Government); Director of the Legal Department of Portugal 2004 – Company for the Supervision and Monitoring of the Building of Stadiums and other Infrastructures for the Final Stage of the European Football Championship 2004, S.A., (2001-2005) and Legal Counsel of the Chairman of the Portuguese Sport Institute, I.P., of the National Anti-Doping Council and of the National Council Against Violence in Sports (2005-2009). She was a partner of Law Firm Fátima A. Rodrigues, Joana Borralho de Gouveia & Associates.In March 2009, she was invited to be a Member of the Board of ARBITRARE, responsible for the Legal Department. In July 2012, she was elected Chairman of the Board of ARBITRARE, her current position.

Sam Granata

Description soon

Dr. Carsten Albrecht

Dr. Albrecht has been an attorney since 1985. He has extensive experience in strategic advice to national and, in particular, to international clients in the fields of trademarks, company names, domains and other intellectual property rights. One of his core activities is the prosecution, management, defense and enforcement of well-known brands, also in court proceedings. His strategic advice also covers the commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights, e.g., in transactions and as securities for loans. Dr. Albrecht's broad experience further includes negotiating and drafting trademark settlement agreements and license agreements. He supports his clients in the strategic acquisition of trademarks and other intellectual property rights. In addition to the enforcement and defense of trademarks and other intellectual property rights in court, Dr. Albrecht focuses with an increasing degree on out-of-court settlements by mediation or by other means of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). He is a trained mediator, a member of INTA´s Trademark Mediator Network which he chaired for 4 years and currently chairs the ADR Committee of INTA.
Dr. Albrecht is a partner of the German law firm FPS Fritze Wicke Seelig since 2008. Before joining FPS he was an attorney at international firm Droste/Lovells from 1985 to 2008. He studied in Hamburg and received his doctorate at the University of Hamburg in 1988; he wrote his dissertation on the law of associations.
Memberships: INTA International Trademark Association and holds functions in the leadership of INTA

Dr. Carsten Albrecht

Dr. Albrecht has been an attorney since 1985. He has extensive experience in strategic advice to national and, in particular, to international clients in the fields of trademarks, company names, domains and other intellectual property rights. One of his core activities is the prosecution, management, defense and enforcement of well-known brands, also in court proceedings. His strategic advice also covers the commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights, e.g., in transactions and as securities for loans. Dr. Albrecht's broad experience further includes negotiating and drafting trademark settlement agreements and license agreements. He supports his clients in the strategic acquisition of trademarks and other intellectual property rights. In addition to the enforcement and defense of trademarks and other intellectual property rights in court, Dr. Albrecht focuses with an increasing degree on out-of-court settlements by mediation or by other means of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). He is a trained mediator, a member of INTA´s Trademark Mediator Network which he chaired for 4 years and currently chairs the ADR Committee of INTA.
Dr. Albrecht is a partner of the German law firm FPS Fritze Wicke Seelig since 2008. Before joining FPS he was an attorney at international firm Droste/Lovells from 1985 to 2008. He studied in Hamburg and received his doctorate at the University of Hamburg in 1988; he wrote his dissertation on the law of associations.
Memberships: INTA International Trademark Association and holds functions in the leadership of INTA

Fabio Angelini

Fabio holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, a Master in European Law, Summa cum laude in 1989 from the European Studies Institute "Alcide De Gasperi", in Rome and a JD, Summa cum laude from the University of Rome "La Sapienza".

Fabio is an attorney with de Simone & Partners, Rome Italy since 2007. He counsels U.S., Italian and international clients in all aspects of trade mark law, as well as conducting searches and filing applications, oppositions and appeals and developing implementing and executing strategies in prosecution and enforcement of trade mark portfolios, contract drafting and advising in patent litigation and licensing matters. Prior to that, he was Senior Attorney at Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, where he managed the legal risk in the adoption, protection, and licensing of Intel's trade marks, names, brands and slogans to a group of business units, ensuring appropriate world-wide IP protection. Fabio was also a partner with a IP law firm in Rome, where he worked in international practice focusing on the management and enforcement of intellectual property rights at the national and Community level, including trade mark patent, copyright and domain name disputes before Italian, EU and arbitration courts.

Fabio is also a Panellist at the World Intellectual Property Organization where he adjudicates domain name disputes under the ICANN UDRP. Fabio is admitted to the New York State Bar, Italian Bar, and is a European Trade Mark and Design Attorney.

Dr. jur. Th. M. Margellos

Dr. Jur. Théophile Margellos  is the Chairperson of the First (Trade Marks) and Third (Designs) Boards of Appeal and is coordinator of the OHIM Mediation team. Mr Margellos is accredited mediator by CIArb and CEDR. He studied law at the Universities of Athens (GR), Strasbourg (FR) and Freiburg i. Br. (DE). He has successively worked as attorney at law specialised in IP and as referendaire in the EU Court of Justice (Luxembourg) and has been member of the legal service of the European Commission. He has also been law professor at the Jules Verne University in Amiens, France.

Jeremy Phillips

With a degree from Cambridge and a doctorate from Kent, Jeremy Phillips was set for an academic career. He taught law at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Durham and the University of London before entering the world of commerce as a publisher and conference organiser. Subsequently Jeremy has been Intellectual Property Consultant to law firms Slaughter and May (1994 to 2007) and Olswang (2007 to date).  He is founder editor of the European Trade Mark Reports and the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, and Social Media Coordinator for MARQUES. His main love, intellectual property blogging, started with the foundation of the IPKat weblog in 2003

Jeremy Phillips

With a degree from Cambridge and a doctorate from Kent, Jeremy Phillips was set for an academic career. He taught law at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Durham and the University of London before entering the world of commerce as a publisher and conference organiser. Subsequently Jeremy has been Intellectual Property Consultant to law firms Slaughter and May (1994 to 2007) and Olswang (2007 to date).  He is founder editor of the European Trade Mark Reports and the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, and Social Media Coordinator for MARQUES. His main love, intellectual property blogging, started with the foundation of the IPKat weblog in 2003

Michael Fysh

A Brief Career History
Michael Fysh was born in the USA where his early education was undertaken. His later education was undertaken in England. He is a British national. After a year at Grenoble University (France), he read Natural Sciences (Chemistry) at Oxford (BA 1962, MA 1969). He is fluent in French.

Mediation

In 2010, Michael Fysh retired as both as a Judge and as Chair of the UK Copyright Tribunal - though he remains a Deputy Judge. He is now engaged in mediation and opinion work having re-joined his former Chambers  for these purposes, together with academic, lecturing and court work overseas – principally in the field of Intellectual Property.

Michael Fysh became an accredited CEDR mediator in 2011 and has also attended the WIPO mediation course in Geneva. In July 2011, he was appointed President of the UK Chapter of GEMME , the international association of judges and retired judges who are interested in promoting mediation as a means of dispute resolution. In April 2012, he was elected to the Board of GEMME.

Mark Appel

Mark Appel is Senior Vice President of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). ICDR is the international division of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the world's largest provider of private dispute prevention, conflict management and dispute resolution services, education, and training since 1926. A member of the Association's senior management team, Mr. Appel is charged with primary responsibility for ICDR operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. During his 30+ years of global dispute resolution experience, Mr. Appel has managed virtually every aspect of AAA administrative, education and outreach services.

Mark Appelh

Mark Appel is Senior Vice President of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). ICDR is the international division of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the world's largest provider of private dispute prevention, conflict management and dispute resolution services, education, and training since 1926. A member of the Association's senior management team, Mr. Appel is charged with primary responsibility for ICDR operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. During his 30+ years of global dispute resolution experience, Mr. Appel has managed virtually every aspect of AAA administrative, education and outreach services.

Amanda Bucklow

Mrs Bucklow was originally destined for a career as corporate counsel. In 1981 she joined CRA/RTZ and her interest quickly developed in the metals trading side of the business. Her experiences in corporate life and her commitment to great 'deals' and even better commercial relationships lead her to professionalise her skills as a commercial mediator. As one of the pioneers of commercial mediation in the UK, she has maintained an independent mediation practice for more than 20 years and has mediated well over 1000 disputes across many sectors including IP, copyright, patents and technology.

James Nurton

James Nurton is managing editor of the publication Managing IP. He studied history and trained as a journalist before joining Managing IP in 1996. He manages an editorial team in London, New York and Hong Kong, which is responsible for publishing the monthly magazine Managing IP, regular supplements, the annual IP Handbook Directory, the website managingip.com and various newspapers published at conferences such as INTA, AIPPI and AIPLA. Managing IP also hosts webseminars and conferences around the world.

In addition, James is a member of the MARQUES Communications and Membership Team, working on the monthly MARQUES newsletter, contributes a regular interview to OHIM's Alicante News newsletter and was formerly a member of INTA's Online Resources Committee. He regularly speaks and moderates discussions at IP-related events around the world, and also tweets on IP issues at @managingip.

Richard A. Mac Bride

Richard Mac Bride graduated from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley in 1998. At the same time he obtained a Masters in Business Administration from the University of California. He worked as an attorney at the Law Firm of Squire Sanders & Dempsey in San Francisco from 1998 to 2003. Since 2003, Richard Mac Bride has had his own law firm, focusing on a variety of civil transactional and litigation matters. He is a member of the panel of mediators for the Superior Court of California. He is the legal counsel for the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. Since 2004, he has been the executive director of the UAIPIT Project (University of Alicante Intellectual Property and Information Technology Project) at the law school in Alicante, Spain.
Richard Mac Bride has participated in numerous mediations both as a mediator and as legal counsel to litigating parties.

Aurélia Marie

Aurélia Marie is a French industrial property attorney and a European trademark and design attorney.
She is graduated in Business Law in 1985 and post-graduated in international contract law and practice in 1986 from the University of Paris X. She is also qualified to practice as a barrister post-graduated in industrial property law.
She began her career in the agreements and IP department of a large industrial business. She then practised as an attorney-at-law in an IP law firm, before joining Cabinet Beau de Loménie in 1993. She became a partner in 2003.
She specializes in trademarks, domain names, designs, copyright, and related matter such as unfair competition or advertising regulations. She is also experienced in litigation and in conducting due diligence reviews of trademark and design portfolios.
She is also President of the International Relations committee of CNCPI and
President of the French Group of AIPPI.

Aurélia Marie

Aurélia Marie is a French industrial property attorney and a European trademark and design attorney.
She is graduated in Business Law in 1985 and post-graduated in international contract law and practice in 1986 from the University of Paris X. She is also qualified to practice as a barrister post-graduated in industrial property law.
She began her career in the agreements and IP department of a large industrial business. She then practised as an attorney-at-law in an IP law firm, before joining Cabinet Beau de Loménie in 1993. She became a partner in 2003.
She specializes in trademarks, domain names, designs, copyright, and related matter such as unfair competition or advertising regulations. She is also experienced in litigation and in conducting due diligence reviews of trademark and design portfolios.
She is also President of the International Relations committee of CNCPI and
President of the French Group of AIPPI.

Torsten Frey

Degrees in law (University of Heidelberg) and in economics (Free University Berlin). European Commission since 2007, working on intellectual property rights, standardization, competition and better regulation for the Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry.

Isabelle Leroux

She concentrates on intellectual property law (patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights). She advises her clients on any issues relating to IP, in particular she has extensive experience in coordinating international intellectual property litigation in Europe and worldwide but her experience also includes advisory (licensing including know-how, trade secrets and R&D, Trademark and Domain name clearances / Filing programme, IP Due Diligence / Audit, IP rights financial evaluation and tax issues, Copyright issues, Comparative advertising, etc.).

Michèle Weil-Guthmann

A French and Swiss national, qualified lawyer and honorary judge, Michèle has held various positions as member of the judiciary, inter alia at the French Ministry of Justice where she was in charge of legislative reforms on business law, and Vice-President at the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance. Later a diplomat, she served as legal advisor to the Permanent Representation of France to the UN in Geneva, representing France in many multilateral negotiations, e.g. the Gulf War UNCC. Finally, as Senior Director of the Director General's Office at WIPO in Geneva, she was involved in most strategic discussions regarding Intellectual Property and the Organization at large.  She is now a graduate mediator, a trainer as well as an arbitrator accredited by many Mediation and Arbitration Centers, and a sworn mediator in Switzerland. She is also the CEB's Ombudsman, and the Secretary General of the European association of judges for mediation

Philip Harris

SPECIALISMS:   
A civil litigation solicitor with rights of audience in the High Court.  A Mediator, Chartered Arbitrator and an Adjudicator on six National Adjudication Panels dealing with intellectual property, building disputes, contract based claims, property disputes, professional negligence, partnership disputes.
DATE OF BIRTH:                07.06.1958
Accredited by CEDR.  A mediator on 6 panels including the Law Society list, the Institute of Chemical Engineers' and the Royal Institute of British Architects' lists. From 2000 a partner at Wright Hassall Solicitors in Leamington Spa.  Became a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 1994 and obtained rights of audience in the High Court in the same year.  Achieved Panel Membership to six Adjudication Panels in 1988.
OVERVIEW OF EXPERIENCE: Extensive experience in negotiating settlements in intellectual property disputes, contract based claims, professional negligence and partnership disputes. 
MEDIATION EXPERIENCE: Involved in over 92 mediations in the civil/commercial sector.  All but four matters mediated have settled. Mediations have included: Intellectual Property, Building and Construction, Cleaning Contracts, Surveyors' negligence disputes, Boundary and neighbour disputes, Partnership disputes, Tenancy disputes, Retail Management, Employment

Jeremy Lack

Bar Admissions: UK: English Barrister (Middle Temple, 1989); USA: New York State (1990), EDNY, SDNY, NDNY, CAFC (1990), United States Patent and Trademark Office (1991); Switzerland: Geneva State Bar Association (EU Lawyer, 2003).
Specializations: Conflict prevention & resolution negotiations, settlements and strategies; international transactions; Intellectual Property; life sciences; healthcare; consumer goods; construction/engineering; information & communications technology; Investor-State disputes; joint ventures; private equity; sports; family businesses; trusts & estates. ADR Associations: AAA, ASA, CEDR, CMAP, CPR, ECDR, Geneva State Council, Global InterMediation, HUM/CMA, IBMS, ICC, ICDR, INTA, IMI, JAMS International, Result ACB, Singapore Mediation Centre, SKWM/CSMC/SCCM, WIPO. ADR Focus Areas: All forms of Appropriate Dispute Resolution ("ADR", e.g., negotiations, mediations, conciliations, arbitrations, litigations) and ADR design processes (e.g., MED-ARB, MEDALOA, ADR hybrids). Accustomed to working with parties and counsel from civil law as well as common law jurisdictions, particularly in cross-border or cross-cultural disputes involving complex commercial matters.
Work Experience: Associate Attorney, Fish & Neave (US); International Attorney & IP Counsel, Becton Dickinson & Co (US & FR); CEO & General Counsel, NovImmune SA (CH); Director & General Counsel, Medabiotech SA (CH); Door Tenant, Quadrant Chambers (UK)*; Counsel, Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer LLP (US); Partner, ALTENBURGER legal + tax (CH); Part time faculty, Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL) (CH)*; Co-Founder & Director, Neuroawareness Consulting Services Inc. (US)*; Advisor to Charles Russell LLP (UK/CH)* * = current activity.

Daniel Stilitz

Daniel Stilitz QC is barrister practising at 11KBW Chambers in London.  He was called to the Bar in 1992 and took Silk in 2010.  He qualified as a mediator with CEDR in 1997, and now regularly mediates in commercial, employment and public law disputes. Prior to legal practice, Daniel studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and law at City University, London.

Angel Galgo Peco

Description soon.

Avi Schneebalg

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Thierry Bériault

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Vincent Tilman

Qualified in law from UCL (Belgium), Vincent Tilman has a complementary degree in Information Technology law and management from FUNDP (Belgium). He was accredited as a mediator by CEDR in 2004 and by the Belgian Federal Commission for Mediation and bMediation in 2013. Vincent was trained by bMediation in Brussels, the Center for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in London and the Harvard Law School in the United States.

Vincent is Senior Advisor at Eurochambres, Managing Director at ChamberSign, Member of the DTCE Board of Director and bMediation's Principle Advisor.

Vincent is and has been developing mediation expertise for over 15 years, particularly commercial disputes in an international environment. His most recent mediated disputes related to construction, real estate, Information technology and inheritance. Vincent's mediation style is calm and relaxed. He quickly builds trust with the parties both before and during the mediation. He always prepares well, communicating with the parties and their legal advisers pre-mediation, building rapport and answering any questions there may be about the process and how he manages the mediation. Taking a positive, constructive approach, Vincent is not afraid to test the parties in relation to their position and is highly innovative yet pragmatic and when considering possible solutions.

Vincent has delivered training in negotiation and conflict management in Belgium, Germany and Spain. More recently, Vincent has joined the bMediation training team with an advance mediation skills training programme focused on peer-to-peer practice.

Dermot McEvoy

Dermot has over 10 years experience acting as Mediator or mediator advocate; and has been involved in many disputes (70+) over that time. This is in addition to Dermot's 20 plus years experience acting as a commercial litigator. When acting as mediator Dermot is always conscious of the need to rely upon his core professional skills acquired as a litigator and the need to marry these skills with facilitative tools acquired as a mediator. He has found this an effective recipe to maximising the road to a successful outcome to mediation and commercial compromise. 
Dermot is an accredited CEDR mediator since January 2003. He is an active Council member of the ICMA. Dermot is also a former member of the Law Society of Ireland's Arbitration and Mediation Committee, and of the Litigation Committee.  Dermot also participated on a 2009 Litigation Task Force established by the Law Society of Ireland to examine the remit of mediation, arbitration and litigation in Ireland. Dermot has been a co-author and sub-committee participant (for the Law Society) on a Report commissioned to look at the existing rules in dispute resolution for Electronic Discovery in the Irish Courts.  Dermot is also an active speaker and regularly publishes articles on mediation. 

Mr Eirik Øverland,

Eirik has extensive experience within legal counseling for patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights, contract law, marketing law and competition law. He has worked with large corporations in the maritime and energy industry on issues such as Licensing, Technology Transfer, Research & Development, Design & Equipment Supply, Joint Ventures, Sub-contracting, Torts & Damages, drafting out various types of IPR related instruments and agreements.
The wide experience with IP-law makes Eirik a competent counselor on how to administer IP-rights from their development to the time of marketing, focusing amongst other on trade secrets and the protection of knowhow. He is further experienced in assisting in negotiations and is a Publically Licensed Legal Mediator in Norway.
Eirik has worked in the field of IPR since 2000 i.a. at the Norwegian Industrial Property Office, the District Attorney Office and as an attorney-at-law at Tandbergs Patentkontor AS. For a period he also worked as counsel for the Norwegian Association for Non-fictional Authors.

Eirik Øverland

Eirik has extensive experience within legal counseling for patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights, contract law, marketing law and competition law. He has worked with large corporations in the maritime and energy industry on issues such as Licensing, Technology Transfer, Research & Development, Design & Equipment Supply, Joint Ventures, Sub-contracting, Torts & Damages, drafting out various types of IPR related instruments and agreements.
The wide experience with IP-law makes Eirik a competent counselor on how to administer IP-rights from their development to the time of marketing, focusing amongst other on trade secrets and the protection of knowhow. He is further experienced in assisting in negotiations and is a Publically Licensed Legal Mediator in Norway.
Eirik has worked in the field of IPR since 2000 i.a. at the Norwegian Industrial Property Office, the District Attorney Office and as an attorney-at-law at Tandbergs Patentkontor AS. For a period he also worked as counsel for the Norwegian Association for Non-fictional Authors.

Prof. Dr. Carlos Esplugues

Doctor en Derecho por la Universidad de Valencia, Master of Science (Edinburg University, Reino Unido); Master of Law ( (Harvard Law School, Usa). Docente de Derecho Internacional Privado  en la Universidad de Valencia y de la Universidad de Castilla- La Mancha. Es Director del Departamento de Derecho Internacional en la Universidad de Valencia. En la actualidad es Árbitro de la corte de arbitraje de Valencia (España) y Consultor de la Comisión de Naciones Unidas para el Derecho del Comercio Internacional (CNUDMI/UNCITRAL).Ha sido ponente  Internacional para el II Encuentro Jurídico Brasilero realizado por la UNJPE y en las Jornadas de Aproximación al Arbitraje en Derecho Comercial Marítimo realizado por la Corte de Arbitraje de Valencia en España. Autor de diversos libros en materia de Derecho Internacional Privado, Compra-Venta Internacional, Quiebra internacional, participando a su vez en la como Director o Coordinador en la publicación de diferentes libros en Materia de Arbitraje, Derecho Internacional Privado, Comercio Internacional entre otros, y ha participado en una seria de  proyectos de I+D financiados en convocatorias públicas.

James South

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Jane Player

Jane Player has been mediating since 1992 and was privy to some of the first mediations in the UK having started her career at Turner Kenneth Brown which housed CEDR's first home. Jane has undertaken over 100 mediations as either lead or co-mediator whilst maintaining her position as Dispute Resolution Partner at King & Spalding International LLP in London.

Jane is a Dispute Resolution partner based in the London office of King & Spalding International LLP. Prior to joining King & Spalding in April 2012, Jane was co-head Head of International Dispute Resolution at the London law firm Bird & Bird, which she joined in November 2002. Before that she spent 10 years with DLA (the last 6 as Head of London Disputes) and 7 years with Turner Kenneth Brown having qualified as a solicitor in 1987. Jane has purposely kept her litigation practice wide as she enjoys the variety of content for her dispute resolution skills. Jane finds that these skills combined with the management skills that she has built up over 15 years of management in two law firms helps her to focus parties on end results rather than dwelling on what has already happened. Jane has mediated in time limited mediations as well as 2/3 day mediations where stamina and persistence are required.

João Negrão

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Francisco J. Fonseca Morillo

Head of the EU Representation in Spain since 2009. Before that, Director for Justice, Rights and Citizenship in Directorate-General Justice, Freedom and Security in the Commission (2004-09) and Deputy Head of Cabinet and Head of Cabinet of Mr. A. Vitorino, Commissioner in charge of Justice and Home Affairs (1999-04). Author of two books on Community law and a range of articles and papers on Community and Public International law.

Thomas Gaultier

Thomas Gaultier is the vice President of the Instituto de Certificação y Formação de Mediadores Lusófonos, in Lisbon, Portugal. He is a coordinator and trainer in private and public mediation, and a consultant in cross-cultural mediation and negotiation consultancy. He currently works as a lawyer in AAA Advogados in Lisbon, and has worked in the USA and France. He has been admitted to the New York Bar, and has studied in Texas and Paris.

Fabienne van der Vleugel

Fabienne van der Vleugel, with a background in top international law firms, is the founding managing partner of the law firm VDV Avocats, with a specific department dedicated to mediation since 2008 (VDV Mediation). Fabienne holds mediation accreditation in France (IEAM), Belgium (Belgian Federal Commission for civil and commercial matters and bMediation), Luxembourg (CCMC) and the UK (MCIArb), and is accredited to work in cross-border disputes. She has been invited to serve as a mediator and judge in the ICC International Commercial Mediation Competitions for the past three years running and was the co-coach of the French EFB team in 2014. She is a lawyer admitted to the Meaux, Brussels and New York State bars, and has studied at the University of Namur, Catholic University of Louvain, University of Seville and Georgetown University Law Centre (LLM 1995). Fabienne van der Vleugel has been published in various legal journals in Europe and the US on law and mediation practice. She is also teaching, notably business law and international commercial law, at the Universities of Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne and Marne la Vallée.