The European Class Actions Forum 2024

Miguel Sousa Ferro is an academic and a lawyer with over nearly 20 years’ experience in EU, Competition and Regulatory law. He is a leading expert in Portugal on collective redress and Antitrust law, with special focus on private enforcement and consumer protection.

Miguel’s career took him through law firms in Brussels – Cleary Gottlieb, Uría – and Lisbon – Vieira de Almeida, Sérvulo, Paz Ferreira – and through the General Court of the European Union.

Miguel filed the first ever opt-out class action in Portugal to defend consumers for an Antitrust infringement, in 2015, and has been / is lead counsel in more than 10 class actions filed before the Competition Court under the new Antitrust Private Enforcement Act.

As an academic, Miguel is a Professor at the University of Lisbon Law School, where he has lectured since 2008. He has also lectured at the Universities of Toulouse, Bialystok and East Timor, at the College of Europe, and at Universidade Europeia (Portugal). He is Co-Director of the Portuguese Competition & Regulation Journal, and has published 7 monographs and over 100 papers in national and international journals. His most recent books are “Research Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law in the EU” (Edward Elgar), “The EU Antitrust Damages Directive: Transposition in the Member States” (Oxford University Press), and “Market Definition in EU Competition Law” (Edward Elgar).

Miguel has authored numerous Legal Opinions on Competition Law and EU Law for courts and arbitrations, in Portugal, France and in the Netherlands.

Miguel is also a Judge at the European Nuclear Energy Tribunal (2020/2024).

Maria José is an Associate Professor at the University of Paris-Saclay and lectures at University 1 Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, University 2 Panthéon-Assas, amongst other international universities and training schools for lawyers and judges. Her main areas of research are: Consumer Law, International Contracts and Comparative Procedural Law. She is also the author of numerous publications written in English, French and Spanish. She also founded the Observatory of group actions in France, has been a lawyer at the Bar of Buenos Aires and is now admitted to the Paris Bar. 

Holding the first European professorship in collective redress since 2007, Ianika is a pioneer in the field. She combines academia with practice and is internationally recognised for her knowledge of strategies for resolving cross-border mass disputes, using innovative litigation and alternative dispute resolution approaches.

She was a partner with a large litigation boutique where she was member of the Financial and Commercial Litigation practice group and has also worked in-house for two publicly listed litigation funders. Having assisted corporate clients, claim vehicles, litigation funders, governmental and non-profit organisations, ‘bookbuild’ entities, case originators, Dutch and foreign legal counsel on all aspects of mass claim dispute resolution, Ianika is a ‘mass claims all-rounder’ who is sought after for legal opinions and the structuring and implementation of creative litigation strategies in multi-jurisdictional disputes, particularly in the areas of investor protection, competition, data privacy, product liability and consumer law. Additionally, Ianika assists high-net-worth individuals, family businesses, corporate clients and foreign law firms with litigation project management in complex high-profile commercial disputes, involving the use of PR and litigation financing. She has also a keen interest in multi-jurisdictional asset tracing and enforcement.

Vikram Kumar analyzes economic and statistical issues arising in antitrust and competition, product liability, and life sciences matters. He has developed theoretical and numerical models to analyze large, complex datasets in a variety of contexts, and has designed and implemented large-scale market surveys. Dr. Kumar leads teams to support clients and testifying experts in all stages of litigation and regulatory matters. He has consulted on matters before the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, the European Commission, the Competition Commission of South Africa, and several U.S. courts.

And I’m going to use the biography on your Dentons page, reading as follows:
Michele Carpagnano is a partner in Dentons' Rome office and the head of the Italian Competition and Antitrust practice.

He teaches Competition Law at Trento University Faculty of Law (Italy).

Michele provides national and multinational companies with legal advice and judicial assistance in all aspects of Italian, Spanish and EU Competition Law, Foreign Investment Screening Laws, Consumer Law, State aid Law, Merger Control, antitrust issues related to tender procedures (bid rigging) and markets regulations.

He represents national and multinational companies as well as public institutions in administrative proceedings before the Italian Competition Authority and Administrative Courts.

He also represents clients in Competition / Consumer laws litigation - both single and class actions claims - before Italian Courts.

Michele assists clients in the design and implementation of tailored Antitrust and Consumer Law compliance programs.

He advised local, national and EU Institutions on legislative / regulatory proposals related to Competition and Consumer laws.

​Anette Bordes was in-house counsel to TNT Post Group and served as general counsel to Dutch telecom company KPN. In 2012, she was elevated to ​the bench in The Hague District Court’s civil and commercial division, and has worked in that division since that time, currently serving as a Senior Judge in that Court.

Recognised as a leading expert for insurance and reinsurance, Henning Schaloske maintains a broad practice focusing on complex claims, reinsurance and regulatory advice and heads Clyde & Co’s German and Continental European insurance practice as European Board Chair and member of the firm’s Global Insurance Executive.

Liam Colley heads Cornerstone Research’s European competition practice. Mr. Colley is a testifying economics expert specializing in competition, antitrust damages, and economic regulation issues. He has more than twenty-five years of experience as a consultant and testifying expert. His experience includes multiple high-profile matters before U.K. and European Union courts and competition regulators. Citing the “unassailable quality of his work,” Who’s Who Legal has named Mr. Colley a leading competition economist, as well as a Thought Leader and Global Leader in the competition field.

Jaime is a Partner in the litigation, ADR and arbitration practice.

Jaime joined Herbert Smith Freehills on September 2011 from another leading international law firm. He specialises in banking litigation and insolvency law.

He also has wide experience in general civil litigation; in advising clients in sanctioning proceedings before regulatory bodies (CNMV and Bank of Spain); and in commercial and investment arbitration (SCC, ICC, CIADI and ICSID among others).

Andrea specialises in litigation and arbitration. She represents clients in complex litigation proceedings, often cross-border cases, and in national and international arbitration proceedings. She also acts as arbitrator. She focuses on disputes related to M&A transactions, joint ventures, banking & finance and has large expertise in all kinds of collective proceedings.

Bastiaan works in high profile multi-jurisdictional litigation and corporate governance cases. His clients include private equity firms and funds, listed corporates and their Dutch based subsidiaries, investment firms, corporate service providers, and international joint ventures.

Practicing in the area of commercial litigation and international arbitration, Ozan Akyurek assists large French and international companies in disputes related to product liability, industrial risks, post-acquisition disputes, and business torts. Ozan also has substantive experience in insurance, aviation, and information technology (IT) law.

Ozan is active in diverse industry sectors, including energy, aviation, automotive, IT, transportation, and logistics, as well as steel and retail. He is particularly involved in the aviation and airline industries and has represented major manufacturers and airline companies in aviation litigation.

Ozan also has substantial internal investigation and compliance experience. He recently acted on behalf of a leading chemical company and a U.S. pharmaceutical company in Turkey in conducting investigations focused on anticorruption matters. His experience also includes a criminal investigation related to alleged credit card fraud committed by the employees of a leading U.S. company in Morocco.

In 2012, Ozan was seconded to the Firm's Pittsburgh Office. During his secondment, he acquired substantial experience in product liability, insurance, and aviation law. In particular, he was part of the team representing The Sherwin-Williams Company in lead paint and pigment cases.

Ozan has authored articles on litigation and regulatory matters, such as product liability and aviation law. His articles are published in French economic and legal publications. He also is a lecturer in international business law at the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense.

Ronnie Barnes heads Cornerstone Research’s international arbitration and litigation practice. Dr. Barnes is an expert in accounting, damages, and valuation. He specializes in cases that raise complex valuation issues, including the estimation of the cost of capital, the determination of country risk premia, and the valuation of complex financial instruments such as derivatives and structured finance products. Who’s Who Legal has recognized Dr. Barnes as a leading expert witness in legal arbitration and a Global Leader in assessing the quantum of damages in the financial advisory and valuation field.

Miguel Ángel Cepero joined Uría Menendez in 2012 and he is Counsel of the firm since 2023. Between September 2019 and March 2020, Miguel Ángel was seconded to the Disputes and Investigations department of Slaughter & May in London.

Miguel Ángel has over 10 years of experience advising multinational companies of several industries (financial institutions, telecommunications, real estate and infrastructure) in judicial and arbitration proceedings.

Miguel Ángel’s practice on business law matters encompasses the following main areas: judicial procedures on financial products, individual and collective action on general conditions of contract and consumer law, procedures of challenge of corporate agreements and corporate conflicts, legal proceedings on civil liability and contractual disputes, bankruptcy proceedings at all stages, judicial procedures on intellectual property and unfair competition, legal proceedings on compulsory enforcement of judicial and non-judicial entitlements.

Heading Houthoff's Litigation Team, Albert has market-leading experience in a wide range of complex, multiparty cross-border disputes. He acts as defence counsel for corporate and financial institutions with a particular focus on class action litigation, mass claim settlements and follow-on civil litigation. He is admitted to the bar as Supreme Court lawyer.

Marc Barennes is a partner with Geradin Partners. 

Marc benefits from a unique 360-degree experience in competition litigation and counseling. Over the past 20plus years, he has been a European Commission official (DG COMP), a référendaire (Senior Court Advisor) with the General Court of the European Union, the executive director of a European competition claim aggregator based in Luxembourg, as well as a competition lawyer based in Paris and Brussels. 

As a case and policy officer with DG Competition (2001 and 2003 to 2006), Marc led dawn raids, largely contributed to the development of leniency applications, carried out investigations (RFI and interviews), drafted a Statement of Objections and a fining decision. He also contributed to the drafting of several Commission policy instruments and internal guidelines. 

Rhonson’s research interests focus on collective redress, private international law and international commercial arbitration. Rhonson also holds a long-standing interest in matters relating to regional integration and dispute resolution in the English-speaking Caribbean and other small states. His external appointments include a Research Fellowship in Collective Redress and International Alternative Dispute Resolution at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) and Adjunct Professorship at FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany. He is also involved in the Collective Redress project based at BIICL. Rhonson has participated in a number of research projects in various capacities for external organisations such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in the Caribbean (OHADAC) and the EU Commission. Rhonson’s research has also been supported by internal and external research funding, including from the  ESRC and the EU Commission. Rhonson frequently presents papers in his areas of research at academic conferences and specialist expert panels.

Sarah-Jane Dobson is a partner in the London office - dual qualified in England and Wales and Australia. She is an international products lawyer.

Sarah-Jane acts on regulatory, litigious and policy matters across the full product life cycle in respect of product safety, compliance and product liability issues. 

Her practice is focused on multi-jurisdictional matters for corporate clients across a range of sectors including automotive products, chemicals, consumer goods, cosmetics, food (including novel foods) and beverages, industrial and life sciences products (including in respect of clinical trials, pharmaceuticals and medical devices).

In product safety, she advises on global product launches and market entry due diligence, regulatory challenges and enforcement, regulatory compliance and global product recalls. She has been involved in some of the most prominent international product safety matters, including handling the largest global product recalls (190+ jurisdictions), product compliance queries (for 193+ jurisdictions), product launches (50+ countries), acting in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and representing a company in respect of a prominent unprecedented criminal investigation under product safety laws in the EU.

Koen Rutten is one of the founding partners of Finch Dispute Resolution. He is a corporate and financial litigation specialist. Koen has extensive practical experience acting in class actions and collective claims before the Dutch courts. He acts mainly on the plaintiff side. Koen specializes in securities litigation and is acting on behalf of investors in high-profile cases including class actions. He specializes in antitrust cases, but also in consumer related matter. His work covers all industries, but mainly his focus is on banking, telecom and the energy. He advises litigation funders worldwide on the funding of class actions in the Netherlands and is involved in setting up foundation structures to facilitate such class actions or collective claims.

Chris Chorba is co-chair of the firm’s Class Actions Practice Group.  He specializes in defending class actions and complex litigation.  He has substantial experience across a broad range of complex commercial matters at the trial and appellate level in California and throughout the country, and in multi-district litigation (MDLs).  His litigation and counseling experience includes work for companies in every industry—including automotive, beauty / cosmetic, consumer products, education, entertainment, financial services, food and beverage, health care, insurance, life sciences, retail, social media, sports and gaming, technology, telecommunications, and utility / energy. Chris is a nationally recognized expert in defending class actions, including claims involving California’s Unfair Competition and False Advertising Laws (Business & Professions Code § 17200 and § 17500), the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (California Civil Code § 1750 et seq.), the Lanham Act, and the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. His representative class and representative actions include the following:

Anca Cojoc consults on antitrust and competition matters, with a focus on competition litigation, investigations, and mergers. Dr. Cojoc has substantial expertise in implementing applied econometric and statistical models to competition economics, damages, and regulatory issues. She has worked on damages litigation before the UK High Court, as well as competition matters—including several Phase II investigations—before the European Commission, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and other authorities.

Dr. Cojoc has more than a decade of experience leading teams in both consulting and regulatory settings. In these contexts, she has addressed competition issues related to anticompetitive behavior, market definition, barriers to entry, exclusive contracts, and vertical restraints. In antitrust litigation matters, she has assessed liability and estimated damages. The global W@Competition platform has recognized Dr. Cojoc in its “30 in their 30s” Notable Women Competition Professionals survey.

Rita is a partner and co-head of the Dispute Resolution practice, specialising in corporate and financial litigation. She has 20 years’ experience, focusing primarily on advising clients, mainly banks, in legal actions relating to financial instruments issued or sold through financial intermediation, civil liability of directors and corporate disputes.

Rita has worked on cases of great significance and complexity, representing leading Portuguese and international banks.

She has a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon.

Having extensive litigation experience, Rogier specializes in representing parties before the Netherlands courts in various complex (mass) litigation matters such as cartel damages actions and supervisory liability claims.

Prior to joining Hausfeld, Rogier co-founded the litigation boutique firm Zippro Meijer with a focus on plaintiff litigation in the Netherlands. The firm was recommended three years in a row by Global Competition Review (GCR) as the only Dutch law firm at the EU Claimants Bar. The firm continues its litigation practice as Hausfeld Advocaten in Amsterdam.

Flip Wijers is a founding partner of Lemstra Van der Korst. He specializes in corporate law, financial litigation and class actions. He represents the interests of leading corporations in complex inquiry proceedings and civil litigation. Flip frequently advises and litigates a broad spectrum of financial disputes, which involve credit default, duty of care and derivatives disputes. Flip regularly represents clients in international corporate and commercial cases. Flip co-heads the firm’s class action practice and represents clients in collective actions, collective damages claims (WAMCA) and collective settlement act cases (WCAM).

Jeroen heads Stibbe's International Litigation Group. His experience of acting as a defence counsel in cross-border litigation is unrivaled. Jeroen’s main areas of specialization are: tort law, collective redress, competition damages litigation, contractual disputes and insurance litigation.

Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., chair of Duane Morris’ Workplace Class Action group, has nearly four decades’ experience of practicing law and has defended some of the most significant bet-the-company cases ever filed against corporate America. Mr. Maatman has represented companies, executive teams and boards across the country in class action litigation, ranging in size from thousands to hundreds of thousands of claims by employees. Among his accomplishments, he defended and defeated the largest systemic enforcement action ever brought in the history of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the first Attorney General prosecution of a Wall Street company for workplace discrimination and harassment, and the largest wage & hour class and collective actions ever brought in Florida and New York. While he is known to be a fierce litigator, he also helps his clients anticipate large-scale litigations risks before they happen to prevent issues that could turn into litigation. Mr. Maatman pioneered the process of conducting employment-practices audits to assist employers in structuring effective and practical personnel policies and protocols. Profiled in The Wall Street Journal, these audits are designed to minimize the incidence of employment-related class action litigation and to maximize management discretion and workplace productivity. He has served as a legal commentator on PBS, NPR, MSNBC, CNBC and U.S. talk radio, and his comments have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Business Insurance, USA Today, Fortune and Forbes.

Sonja is a member of the Firm's Global Commercial Litigation Practice based in Frankfurt. She advises national and multinational clients on complex national and cross-border commercial disputes with a particular focus on financial services, real estate private equity and consumer & retail litigation as well as technology, internet, and social media law litigation.

Sonja has extensive experience in handling litigations in court in connection with securities, financial market instruments, corporate and real estate law. She is a proven expert in the field of collective redress and handled a various numbers of mass proceedings for the financial industry and for internet and social media providers. Furthermore, Sonja supports clients in complex disputes relating to liability issues (including managing directors' liability), shareholder activism and post-M&A matters. In the context of M&A transactions she advises clients on liability and litigation risks. Sonja has also a strong expertise in negotiating complex agreements and assists her clients in the pre-trial stadium.

Sonja further advises her clients in ESG litigation and liability topics in particular with a focus to human rights due diligence, supply chain and climate change disputes. She regularly speaks at conferences and client seminars on ESG-topics in particular in the financial and the consumer & retail industry.

Mr. WAM (Wenceslaus) Rupert studied Dutch law at Utrecht University and international law at the University of Rome, La Sapienza. In 1995 he obtained his doctorate in private law and international law.

Wence has been a lawyer since 1995 and has been with Stadermann Luiten Advocaten since May 1, 2003. He has been a partner since January 1, 2005. Wence specializes in liability and insurance law. He advises and litigates on policy matters, directors' liability, product liability, professional liability and related matters.

Wence has registered the following legal area in the register of legal areas of the Dutch Bar Association: contract law. Based on this registration, he is obliged to obtain ten training points within this legal area every calendar year in accordance with the standards of the Dutch Bar Association.

Carlijn van Rest is a partner in the firm’s Amsterdam office and focuses on collective actions and other complex commercial litigation. She is a litigator at heart and has extensive experience in resolving cross border disputes. Ms. van Rest also represents clients in arbitration and related enforcement procedures and has extensive experience in financial services litigation.

Before joining Scott+Scott, she spent more than 10 years working at Hogan Lovells International LLP.

Marie-Hélène is a commercial litigation partner with special interest in insolvency law, the energy sector and arbitration.

Marie-Hélène has a broad background in commercial litigation. She handles complex civil disputes, often in an international context. Marie-Hélène has particular expertise in specialist areas such as securities and insolvency law and the associated liabilities, such as directors' and auditors' liability. In 2013 she completed the postgraduate Grotius specialization course Financing, Securities and Insolvency Law cum laude. Marie-Hélène publishes and teaches in these areas of law. She was the principal teacher for the course Financing, Securities and Insolvency Law at the Netherlands Bar Association.

Lara brings more than 15 years of experience to her role as Executive Vice President of Compliance and Settlement Fund Accounting. She is responsible for strategic growth and guidance in both tax compliance and settlement fund accounting. In the last five years, Lara and her team have overseen the distribution of more than 7,700 class distributions, representing over 31 million payments disbursing more than $17Billion in assets. As digital disbursements continue to grow, this team has helped facilitate more than 70 class distributions for more than 2 million claimants across a variety of digital distribution platforms; such as PayPal, Venmo, Zello, Amazon and Interac.

Valérie represents Dutch and international (Energy) corporate clients in arbitration and litigation in their cross-border joint venture disputes and in disputes relating to international commercial contracts (for example EPC contracts for infrastructure projects). Valérie advises on ESG topics.

Gerard is a partner in our Litigation and Dispute Resolution department.

Gerard has considerable experience of all aspects of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution. His particular areas of expertise are Data Privacy, Data Protection, Landlord and Tenant Law and Insolvency.

Gerard has unrivalled experience in Landlord and Tenant Disputes and advises many of the largest Landlords in the Country in respect of all litigation and dispute resolution matters.

Gerard has considerable experience of Arbitration and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

In addition, Gerard advises Insolvency Practitioners in relation to Liquidations and Receiverships and regularly advises other interested parties in the Insolvency process, including, Directors, Shareholders and Creditors.

Gerard also advises Financial Institutions in relation to Debt Recovery.

Fred joined Edwin Coe in October 2018 and is a Senior Associate in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution team. He was previously an Associate in Gall Legge Grant Zwack LLP’s Civil Litigation department and is a Canadian-qualified lawyer.

Fred is experienced in commercial and civil litigation, having appeared before all levels of court in British Columbia and in administrative tribunals.

In addition to a Canadian law degree, Fred holds an LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he received the Otto Kahn Freund Prize for Best Performance in Labour, Family, Conflict of Laws, Comparative and European Law.

Kate brings over a decade of professional experience to her role as Vice President where she develops legal and administrative solutions for complex global settlements. Kate also designs and implements program strategies while contributing to operational process improvements to provide effective solutions to meet our global client project needs. Throughout her years of experience in the class action industry, Kate has worked on several high-profile cases including the Fortis Settlement (Europe), the Steinhoff Global Settlement (Europe/South Africa), VW Settlement (Canada), Lehman Brothers Securities Litigation, Merkin Settlement, and WaMu TIA Settlement.

Henner Schläfke specialises in disputes in connection with antitrust damages claims and heads Noerr’s class action and mass claims practice. Henner has extensive litigation experience both in antitrust matters and in other highly contentious proceedings. Henner has been pleading antitrust cases in specialized courts and Courts of Appeal and has extensive knowledge of all relevant forums. Henner defends companies against follow-on claims in leading cases and has set up structured projects for companies claiming damages. Henner regularly publishes on private enforcement of European law and collective redress. He is the editor of a chapter on international private enforcement of the Digital Markets Act in a leading handbook for practitioners.

Daan Lunsingh Scheurleer specialises in complex international litigation and dispute resolution with a focus on class actions. He frequently represents issuers, financial institutions, audit firms and companies as defence counsel in class action and multiparty litigation, relating to securities, prospectus liability, fraud, financial products, auditor liability and cartel damage claims, including the private international law aspects of those matters.

Tim is an expert in helping clients to resolve high profile, complex commercial disputes and contentious regulatory issues. He has a broad ranging practice but has a particular focus on competition litigation and defending class and group actions.  

Tim’s significant commercial litigation experience is across a number of sectors, including the banking, automotive, energy, tech and pharmaceutical sectors. Tim has also acted for clients in high profile public inquiries, defending clients against court proceedings brought by regulators, and in insolvency litigation. 

Bart-Adriaan de Ruijter is Partner Corporate Litigation at CMS. Bart-Adriaan specialises in corporate and commercial litigation. 

Bart-Adriaan focuses on the representation and advice of companies and/or its management board, supervisory board or shareholder(s) in complex litigation and crisis situations (often involving multiple jurisdictions). His expertise entails (M&A)transaction-related disputes, Enterprise Chamber proceedings, shareholder & joint-venture disputes/activism, (director’s)liability claims, international attachment/execution disputes and conflicts in relation to insolvency/restructuring. Bart-Adriaan is also passionate about and experienced in ESG and climate change & energy related disputes. He is member of the global ESG Task Force of CMS.

Pepijn is a partner at Brinkhof and specializes in competition law, EU law and regulated markets. He represents national and international clients before the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), the European Commission and Dutch and European judges. Pepijn has litigated and argued in a large number of cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Matthew Amey is the director of specialist litigation insurance broker, TheJudge, and a co-founder of litigation fund, Erso Capital. Recognised as a top industry expert and innovator in the area of litigation finance, Matthew has been at the cutting edge of developments in litigation insurance and funding for nearly 25 years. He began his career as a litigation insurance underwriter before moving on to lead the team at TheJudge in 2005, going on to co-found Erso Capital in 2020. He is recognised by both clients and other industry professionals for his innovative thinking and creativity in arranging complex insurance and funding deals. Matthew has brokered some of the largest litigation insurance policies ever written for some of the most complex commercial disputes. He has a wealth of experience arranging insurance and funding for multi-claimant and group actions, which frequently involve tailoring the solutions to meet the needs of potentially diverse subgroups of claimants. In addition to regularly appearing at conferences and on panels to discuss litigation finance, Matthew has authored dozens of articles for legal publications and is regularly called upon by the legal and national press for expert commentary.

Sabrina is a partner in the class action litigation group.  Since 2006, her practice has focused on complex litigation, including class actions, multi-party litigation and mass torts involving products liability, consumer protection and social justice issues.  Sabrina has significant experience prosecuting a variety of both domestic and multijurisdictional class actions including cases against the pharmaceutical, medical device, and auto industries. 

Sabrina has appeared at various levels of Court, in numerous jurisdictions across Canada and has assisted in international cases.  

In addition to her practice, Sabrina is a contributing author to the Butterworths’ Class Law and Practice – a seminal text on class action law in Canada and has written and presented on class action-related topics.  

Sabrina is a member of the Advocates Society, the Canadian Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, and The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100. 

Outside of her practice, Sabrina is committed to the preservation and promotion of arts and culture, having served as both chair and as a member of various boards of directors of local not-for-profit organizations.  

Paul Karlsgodt serves as the leader of BakerHostetler’s Privacy and Digital Risk Class Action and Litigation team. He is an international thought leader in class action defense with more than 20 years of experience defending hundreds of consumer class actions.

Paul has significant experience defending class actions in the complex and cutting-edge area of data privacy on behalf of companies and organizations in a variety of industries. He has served as lead counsel for defendants in class action litigation arising out of data breach incidents of all sizes, and affecting numerous industries and governmental entities. He also defends clients in other privacy class actions arising out of corporate digital advertising and customer data collection practices, as well as class actions seeking the recovery of statutory damages.

Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., chair of Duane Morris’ Workplace Class Action group, has nearly four decades’ experience of practicing law and has defended some of the most significant bet-the-company cases ever filed against corporate America. Mr. Maatman has represented companies, executive teams and boards across the country in class action litigation, ranging in size from thousands to hundreds of thousands of claims by employees. Among his accomplishments, he defended and defeated the largest systemic enforcement action ever brought in the history of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the first Attorney General prosecution of a Wall Street company for workplace discrimination and harassment, and the largest wage & hour class and collective actions ever brought in Florida and New York. While he is known to be a fierce litigator, he also helps his clients anticipate large-scale litigations risks before they happen to prevent issues that could turn into litigation. Mr. Maatman pioneered the process of conducting employment-practices audits to assist employers in structuring effective and practical personnel policies and protocols. Profiled in The Wall Street Journal, these audits are designed to minimize the incidence of employment-related class action litigation and to maximize management discretion and workplace productivity. He has served as a legal commentator on PBS, NPR, MSNBC, CNBC and U.S. talk radio, and his comments have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Business Insurance, USA Today, Fortune and Forbes.

Matthew Reach’s dispute resolution practice covers a broad range of commercial (business and finance related) litigation and high-value, complex securities group actions and financial services claims. Matthew is also well versed in the use of various alternative dispute resolution procedures, such as mediation.

He acts for international companies, pension and hedge funds, UK corporates, SMEs and high-net-worth individuals with claims in the High Court, Court of Appeal and various arbitral institutions. Matthew’s work often includes a cross-border element.

He is regarded as an expert user of third-party litigation funding, legal costs insurance and no-win no-fee style engagements. Matthew is adept at helping his clients turn their litigation risks into contingent assets.

Matthew joined Fox Williams in 2022 after seven years at Keystone Law. Previously, Matthew worked in-house as Head of Legal for a third-party litigation funder where he was instrumental in placing funding and insurance for high-profile claims some of the UK’s largest financial institutions.

Simon P. Walsh is special counsel in Cadwalader’s Global Litigation Group.

Simon focuses on high value international commercial arbitration and complex cross-border litigation and has acted for clients in the telecom, private equity, financial, maritime, offshore, power and aviation sectors. Simon has acted on some of the world’s largest international arbitration disputes in the telecoms sector.

Simon has represented both claimants and defendants in the English high court and in arbitrations under the LCIA, ICC, AAA, UNCITRAL, ICSID, SIAC, LMAA and VIAC rules. Simon also has extensive experience of managing multi-jurisdictional litigation in the offshore courts in Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands as well as in Europe and Russia. Simon’s experience extends to restructuring and insolvency matters, and to regulatory and civil/criminal investigations under the U.K. Bribery Act and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Simon also has detailed knowledge of the enforcement and annulment of international arbitral awards and judgments. 

Simon has been recognised as a leading practitioner by Legal 500 UK and Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining Cadwalader, Simon was Senior Investment Officer with Woodsford Litigation Funding in London, where he was responsible for global litigation and arbitration investments. Simon had a particular focus on shareholder activism and group/representative litigation in England & Wales, such as claims brought under section 90 and 90A FSMA as well as collective actions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Prior to joining Woodsford, Simon was a senior associate in the international arbitration and litigation group of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP.

Simon is a solicitor, admitted in England & Wales, and has acted in matters before the English courts (including the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Privy Council) and has carried out advocacy before international tribunals. He holds a Masters Degree in International Trade and Maritime Law from the University of Southampton.

Sam is experienced in all forms of commercial litigation with an emphasis on antitrust/competition litigation, regulatory investigations (including cartel investigations) and public/administrative law. She has advised clients on investigations brought by the European Commission and CMA and has had senior secondments to clients and regulators including the former OFT, and as acting GC at a global insurance broker. In addition, Sam is a core member of the firm's Tech Group and has advised multiple clients on complex data related issues, including supporting clients with cyber crisis management and incident response, ICO investigations/enforcement and systems/controls reviews following a cyber event. 

At SÉRVULO since 2015, Alberto Saavedra is partner in the European and Competition department. 

He has vast experience in representing and advising international and domestic companies and public authorities in the areas of merger control, restrictive practices, market dominance, State aid and services of general economic interest, both at national and EU level. He also advises clients on EU law, in particular the Internal Market rules,  foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign subsidies. He also represents clients in Competition / Consumer laws litigation such as class actions claims before Portuguese Courts.

He has experience in a wide range of industries, such as banking, trade and distribution, construction and real estate, energy pharmaceutical, telecommunications and transports.

As an aide to the Secretary of State for the Treasury of the XIX Constitutional Government, he was responsible for matters related with privatisations, concessions, State-owned companies and implementation of the Economic and Financial Assistance Programme in close interaction with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (“troika”).

He concluded the LL.M – Master of Laws in European and Competition Law at University College London (UCL), in 2009; and obtained a graduate qualification in competition law from King's College London (University of London), in 2006.

Co-managing partner of our offices in the Netherlands and co-head of Bird & Bird's International Dispute Resolution practice group. I am a specialist in managing complex disputes in our sectors of focus, including all claims and insurance matters.

With my team I aim to be the best disputes adviser, from the initial piece of advice via the negotiation table to, if needs be, the Supreme Court. I am Co-Head of Bird & Bird's international Dispute Resolution group and I am Head of our International Insurance group.

NICOLAS J.S. LOCKHART’s practice covers public international law, with a focus on trade and environment, and EU law relating to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues.

With a broad understanding of sustainability policy, at both national and international level, Nic advises companies on the full breadth of ESG issues. Nic leads Sidley’s work assisting companies in addressing the wave of EU ESG legislation, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), the Deforestation Regulation, and the proposed Green Claims Directive. Nic counsels clients on ESG marketing communications in the face of growing regulatory and litigation risks. He also advises on the EU “Fit for 55” package, including the revised Emissions Trading System, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and ReFuel; and the EU circular economy package, which includes measures addressing batteries, eco-design, reuse, repair, packaging, and waste. Nic has contributed to two papers on the circular economy published by the World Economic Forum, linked here and here. Nic also advises and publishes on carbon pricing, including the use of carbon offsets (e.g., corporate strategy on the use of offsets; and issues arising under the Paris Agreement and CORSIA, an international aviation agreement on carbon pricing).