Presentation of the Members

Marc van der Woude
Marc van der Woude
President
Biography and career

Born 1960 in Gorredijk (Netherlands), Marc van der Woude completed his first years of study at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (University of Groningen, Netherlands), where he obtained a law degree in 1983. He continued his studies at the College of Europe (Belgium) until 1984.

Following his studies, he was very actively involved in teaching and research at the College of Europe, where he was an assistant lecturer until 1986. He went on to become a lecturer at Universiteit Leiden (Leiden University, Netherlands) from 1986 to 1987. Throughout his career, he has remained in education and was awarded the chair of Professor of Law at Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands) from 2000. An author of numerous publications, he has contributed to the development of competition law, as evidenced by several reference works on the subject.

Alongside his university commitments, Mr van der Woude practised law. From 1987 to 1989, he worked for the Commission of the European Communities, where he was a rapporteur in the Directorate-General for Competition. He then joined the Court of Justice of the European Communities and worked as a legal secretary to the judges Thymen Koopmans and Paul Joan George Kapteyn from 1989 to 1992. The European Commission appointed him as an administrator in the Coordination Unit of the Directorate-General for Competition, a post which he held from 1992 to 1993 before becoming a member of the Commission’s legal service from 1993 to 1995. From 1995, he became a member of the Brussels Bar (Belgium), where his litigation work focused on competition law.

Mr van der Woude was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 13 September 2010. His peers elected him as President of Chamber on 18 September 2013 and as Vice-President on 20 September 2016. On 27 September 2019, he was elected as President of the General Court and has served in that capacity since then.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the Europäische Rechtsakademie (ERA) Trier (Academy of European Law, Trier, Germany)
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the Toulouse School of Economics executive education program in antitrust (Toulouse School of Economics, France)
  • Member of the Board of Trustees of the Europa Instituut de Leiden
  • Member of the editorial committee of Sociaal Economische Wetgeving
  • Member of the scientific committee of Revue Concurrences
Savvas S. Papasavvas
Savvas S. Papasavvas
Vice-President
Biography and career

Born in 1969 in Nicosia (Cyprus), Savvas S. Papasavvas studied at the Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece) where he obtained the equivalent of a master’s degree in law (Ptychion) in 1991. He completed postgraduate studies at the University of Paris II (France), which awarded him a diploma of advanced studies in public law in 1992. In 1995, after completing his doctoral studies at the University of Aix-Marseille III (France), he obtained the title of Doctor of Law.

Admitted to the Cyprus Bar and a member of the Nicosia Bar since 1993, Mr Papasavvas continued his career as a lawyer until his appointment to the General Court in 2004.

He has also been involved in teaching at the Panepistímio Kýprou (University of Cyprus), as a lecturer from 1997 to 2002, before being elected as a senior lecturer in constitutional law from 2002 to 2004.

Mr Papasavvas was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 12 May 2004 where he was also President of Chamber for two consecutive terms, from 15 September 2010 to 25 September 2016. He was elected Vice-President of the General Court by his peers on 27 September 2019 and serves at the General Court in that capacity.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Founding member of the European Law Institute
  • Member of the European Public Law Organisation (EPLO)
  • Member of the Societas Iuris Publici Europaei
  • Founding member of the Kypriakó Somateío Dikaíou Enérgeias
  • Member of the scientific committee of the journal Dikaiómata tou Anthrópou
  • Member of the honorary committee of the Hellenic Culture in Luxembourg Association
Dean Spielmann
Dean Spielmann
President of the First Chamber
Biography and career

Born in 1962 in Luxembourg (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), Mr Dean Spielmann graduated in law in 1988 from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) before continuing his studies at the Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), where he obtained the title of Master of Laws in 1990.

He practised as a lawyer at the Luxembourg Bar from 1989 to 2004 and also pursued an academic career in teaching criminal law, human rights law and procedural law before the European Court of Human Rights, amongst other subjects. From 1991 to 1997, he held the position of research assistant at the Catholic University of Louvain and of associate lecturer at the University of Luxembourg from 1996 to 2006. Between 1997 and 2009, he was also a lecturer at the Université Nancy II (France) and, in 2017 and 2018, he taught at the Institut d'études politiques, Paris (France).

In addition, he is the author of numerous publications and articles and a member of scientific editorial committees of several legal journals.

In 2000, he served as a member of the Advisory Commission on Human Rights in Luxembourg, within which he serveduntil 2004. In addition, between 2002 and 2004, he was a member of the committees for human rights and criminal law of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), but also of the European Union Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights.

Appointed as a Judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (France) in 2004, he successively became Section President in 2011, Vice-President in 2012, then President between 2012 and 2015.

Mr Spielmann was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 13 April 2016 and has held the position of President of Chamber since 30 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Board of the Luxembourg Division of the Association Henri Capitant des amis de la culture juridique française
  • Member of the Honorary Board of the Fondation René Cassin – International Institute of Human Rights
  • Member of the management board of the Observatoire luxembourgeois de droit européen (OLDE)
  • Co-founder and co-director of the Annales du droit luxembourgeois
  • Member of the editorial board of the Revue de droit pénal et de criminologie
  • Member of the advisory board of the European Review of Private Law
  • Member of the editorial board of the Droit des affaires – Het Ondernemingsrecht (DAOR)
  • Member of the scientific committee of the Annuaire international des droits de l’homme
  • Member of the scientific committee of the Revue trimestrielle des droits de l’homme
  • Member of the advisory curatorium of the German-language collection of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (N.P. Engel Verlag)
  • Member of the editorial board of the Kritische Vierteljahresschrift für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft
  • Member of the advisory board of the Revista do Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos
  • Member of the advisory board of the Journal of the faculty of law of the Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA)
  • Member of the scientific committee of the Journal européen des droits de l’homme
  • Member of the advisory board of the ‘The ECHR Law Review’, University of Liverpool
  • Member of the Grand-Ducal Institute, Moral and Political Science Section (Luxembourg)
  • Member of the Cambridge Society of Luxembourg
  • Member of the Oxford and Cambridge Club (London)
  • Member of the Herbert Howells Society
  • Member of the Royal College of Organists
Honorary titles and awards
  • Doctor honoris causa, Yerevani Petakan Hamalsaran (2013)
  • Honorary Professor, University College London (University of London) (2013)
  • Honorary Bencher of Gray’s Inn, London (2013)
  • Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge (2013)
  • Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of Saint Agatha (San Marino) (2014)
  • Commander of the Legion of Honour, France (2015)
  • Commander of the Order of Merit, Luxembourg (2015)
  • Doctor honoris causa, Universitatea din București (University of Bucharest) (2015)
  • Docteur honoris causa, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai (University of Cluij-Napoca) (2015)
  • Docteur honoris causa (Hon. LL.D.), University College London (University of London) (2016)
Anna Marcoulli
Anna Marcoulli
President of the Second Chamber
Biography and career

Ms Anna Marcoulli was born in 1974 in Nicosia (Cyprus); she graduated in law from the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom) in 1995 and obtained a Master of Laws from the University of Bristol (United Kingdom) in 1996.

She was admitted to the Cyprus Bar in 1997 and joined the Legal Service of the Republic of Cyprus as a member of the European Union Section of the Legal Service, where she worked from 1998 to 2008.

In 2005, she began working at the Court of Justice of the European Communities as a seconded national expert in the Research and Documentation Division and held that position until 2007. She then joined the Legal Service of the European Commission from 2008 to 2016. In 2012, she participated in the management of the tasks carried out by the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, holding the position of Legal Adviser.

Ms Marcoulli was appointed as a Judge at the General Court of the European Union on 13 April 2016. She was elected President of Chamber by her peers on 30 September 2019 and has held that position since that date.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Founding member of the Kypriakó Somateío Dikaíou Enérgeias
Fredrik Schalin
Fredrik Schalin
President of the Third Chamber
Biography and career

Born in 1964 in Stockholm (Sweden), Mr Fredrik Schalin obtained, in 1991, a degree in law from the Stockholms universitet (University of Stockholm, Sweden) and, in 1990, a degree in law, followed, in 1994, by a postgraduate degree in Community and European law from the université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, France).

He started his professional career as a Legal Secretary at the Södertälje tingsrätt (Södertälje District Court, Sweden) from 1991 to 1993 and then at the Svea hovrätt (Court of Appeal sitting in Stockholm, Sweden) from 1994 to 1995. He served as a judge at the Gotlands tingsrätt (Gotland District Court, Sweden) and at the Norrtälje tingsrätt (Norrtälje District Court, Sweden) from 1995 to 1996, as well as at the Svea hovrätt from 1996 to 1997.

In 1997, he worked an assistant secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the Swedish Ministry of Finance, before being appointed as Legal Adviser for European Affairs at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999.

He joined the Court of Justice as a Legal Secretary to Judge Hans Ragnemalm in 1998 and then served as a Legal Secretary to Judge Stig von Bahr from 1999 to 2006.

Upon return to his home country, Mr Schalin worked, from 2006 to 2008, as a lawyer and, following his admission to the Stockholm Bar in 2008, as an advocate. In 2009, he returned to the judiciary as a judge and then as President of Chamber at the Södertörns tingsrätt (Södertörn District Court, Sweden), where he served until 2016.

He also taught as a lecturer at the Stockholms universitet from 2006 to 2008 and, since 2011, at the Domstolsakademin (Swedish Judicial Training Academy).

Mr Schalin was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 8 June 2016 and has served as President of Chamber since 19 September 2022.

Ricardo da Silva Passos
Ricardo da Silva Passos
President of the Fourth Chamber
Biography and career

Born 1953 in Lisbon (Portugal), Ricardo da Silva Passos obtained a law degree at the Universidade Clássica de Lisboa (Classical University of Lisbon, Portugal) in 1975 and a diploma of advanced studies at the université de Strasbourg (University of Strasbourg, France) in 1978. He then completed his studies at Harvard University, USA, where he obtained a Master of Laws in 1984.

He spent one year as a Deputy Public Prosecutor (subdelegado do procurador da República) at the Tribunal Judicial da Comarca de Cascais (District Court, Cascais, Portugal) from 1975 before working as a lawyer in the Secretariat of the European Commission of Human Rights (Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France) from 1978 to 1986. In 1986, he joined the Court of Justice as a legal secretary to Judge José Carlos de Carvalho Moitinho de Almeida.

He was Head of Division in the Secretariat of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens’ Rights of the European Parliament from 1988 to 1999 and, subsequently, Head of Unit in the Legal Service of that institution between 1999 and 2010. He was then Director of Institutional and Parliamentary Affairs in that service from 2010 to 2016. In 2002, he was appointed as a member of the Secretariat of the Convention on the Future of Europe.

Mr da Silva Passos was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 19 September 2016 and was elected by his peers as President of Chamber on 30 September 2019.

Jesper Svenningsen
Jesper Svenningsen
President of the Fifth Chamber
Biography and career

Born in 1966 in Aalborg, Denmark, Jesper Svenningsen studied law at Aarhus Universitet (University of Aarhus, Denmark), at the end of which he obtained the juridisk kandidateksamen  in 1989.

After leaving university, he began his professional career as a trainee lawyer at Kammeradvokaten (a Copenhagen-based law firm acting as legal advisor to the Danish Government), and then became a Legal Secretary to Advocate General Claus Gulmann at the Court of Justice from 1991 to 1993. He worked again at the Kammeradvokaten law firm from 1993 to 1995, during which time he was called to the Bar in Denmark, and granted a right of audience before the Landsret (High Court, Denmark). During that time he also taught at Københavns Universitet (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) as a lecturer in EU law.

Between 1995 and 1999, he was a senior lecturer and then acting director at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Luxembourg, except for in 1997 when he interrupted the exercise of those duties for a period in Brussels at a Danish law firm. In 1999 he joined the legal department of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Surveillance Authority (ESA) and, in 2000, the services of the Court of Justice of the European Union as a lawyer-linguist. In addition to the latter position, in 2003 he returned to his role as aLegal Secretary to Claus Gulmann, who had become a judge at the Court of Justice. From 2006 to 2013, he was a Legal Secretary to Judge Lars Bay Larsen at the Court of Justice.

Mr Svenningsen was appointed a judge of the Civil Service Tribunal on 7 October 2013 and served on that Tribunal until its dissolution on 1 September 2016. He was appointed a judge at the General Court of the European Union on 19 September 2016 and was elected President of Chamber by his peers on 30 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Dansk Forening for Europaret
Maria José Costeira
Maria José Costeira
President of the Sixth Chamber
Biography and career

Born 1967 in Porto (Portugal), Maria José Costeira graduated in law from the Faculty of Law of the Universidade de Coimbra (University of Coimbra, Portugal) in 1991 and pursued postgraduate studies in intellectual property law at the Faculty of Law of the Universidade de Lisboa (University of Lisbon, Portugal) in 2001.

A trainee lawyer at the Coimbra Bar (Portugal) from 1991 to 1992, she joined the Centro de Estudos Judiciários (National School for the Judiciary, Portugal) as a judicial trainee in 1992. Appointed as a judge in 1995, she served at the Tribunal Judicial da Comarca de Cascais (District Court, Cascais, Portugal), the Tribunal Judicial da Comarca de Ferreira do Zêzere (District Court, Ferreira do Zêzere, Portugal) and the Tribunal da Pequena Instância Criminal de Lisboa (Criminal Court, Lisbon, Portugal) from 1995 to 1997, at the Tribunal do Comércio da Comarca de Lisboa (Commercial Court, Lisbon, Portugal) from 1999 to 2016, and at the Tribunal da Relação de Coimbra (Court of Appeal, Coimbra, Portugal) in 2016. Her activities within the judiciary were not limited to handling cases and she was also involved in representing the judiciary in her capacity as Secretary-General of the Association of Portuguese Judges from 2012 to 2015 and, subsequently, as President of that association until 2016.

Since 2003, Ms Costeira has taught intellectual property law, competition law and commercial law as a visiting professor at the faculties of law of the Universidade de Lisboa, the Universidade de Coimbra, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (New University of Lisbon, Portugal) and the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Catholic University of Portugal, Portugal), at the Escola de Direito da Universidade do Minho (School of Law of the University of Minho, Portugal) and at the Centro de Estudos Judiciários.

Ms Costeira was appointed as a Judge at the General Court of the European Union on 19 September 2016 and was elected by her peers as President of Chamber on 30 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the editorial committee of Revista de Propriedade Intelectual
  • Member of the editorial committee of a legal newsletter published with the Centro de Estudos Judiciários
Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk
Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk
President of the Seventh Chamber
Biography and career

Born in 1976 in Gdańsk (Poland), Ms Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk obtained her law degree from the Uniwersytet Gdański (University of Gdańsk, Poland) in 1999 and her diploma of advanced studies from the University of Social Sciences of Toulouse (France) in 2000. She continued her studies at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium) and obtained a Master of Laws in European Law in 2002. In 2004, she defended her thesis before the Polish Academy of Sciences and was awarded the title of Doctor of Laws.

From 2002 to 2010, she taught in Warsaw, Poland, at the Centre for Europe at Uniwersytet Warszawski (University of Warsaw) as well as at Wyższa Szkoła Prawa i Administracji (University of Law and Administration). From 2006 to 2014, along with her teaching activity, she was engaged in research work as a senior lecturer (2006) and then as an associate professor (2014) at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She also gave courses on international law and European Union law from 2010 to 2016, as a lecturer at the Politechnika Gdańska (Gdansk Technical University, Poland) and as a visiting professor the French universities Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas and Nice Sophia Antipolis and at the University of Luxembourg.

She is the author of numerous publications in the field of European law and participates in drafting several legal works, including as a co-editor.

Ms Kowalik-Bańczyk was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 19 September 2016 and has served as President of Chamber since 19 September 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Co-editor or member of the scientific board of the legal journals Europejski Przegląd Sądowy, Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, Media Laws and iKAR
  • Member of the advisory board of the new review of the Balkan Yearbook of International and European Law
  • Member of the steering committee of the Master in European Law (first year) at the University of Luxembourg
  • Member of the Polish branch of the International Federation of European Law (FIDE), the Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA) and the International Law Association (ILA)
Alexander Kornezov
Alexander Kornezov
President of the Eighth Chamber
Biography and career

Born in 1978 in Yambol (Bulgaria), Mr Alexander Kornezov obtained a degree in law from the Sofiyski universitet Sveti Kliment Ohridski (Sofia University 'St Kliment Ohridski’, Bulgaria) in 2002 and a Master of Laws in European law from the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium) in 2004. He pursued doctoral studies in law at the Balgarska Akademia na naukite (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), where he defended his thesis in 2008.

From 2004 to 2006, he was a lawyer at the Brussels Bar (Belgium), where he practised in a law firm. In 2007, he joined the Court of Justice and served as a Legal Secretary to Judge Alexander Arabadjiev until 2016.

Mr Kornezov has also been involved in teaching as a senior lecturer in EU procedural law at the Universitet za natzionalno i svetovno stopanstvo (University of National and World Economy, Bulgaria) from 2008 to 2012 and at the Sofiyski universitet Sveti Kliment Ohridski from 2010 to 2013. From 2014 to 2016, he was Associate Professor of EU Law and International Private Law at the Balgarska Akademia na naukite. Since 2020, he has been teaching EU public procurement law at the University of Luxembourg. His extensive work in EU law has also led him to give lectures at numerous universities in different Member States. He is an author of numerous publications and works on EU law.

Mr Kornezov was a Judge at the Civil Service Tribunal between 13 April 2016 and 31 August 2016. He was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 19 September 2016 and has served as President of Chamber since 30 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Founding member and member of the board of directors of the Balgarska asotsiatsia za evopeysko pravo
  • Editor-in-chief of the European law journal Evropeiski praven pregled
Laurent Truchot
Laurent Truchot
President of the Ninth Chamber
Biography and career

Born in 1962 in Paris, France, Mr Laurent Truchot studied at the Institut d'études politiques (IEP) in Paris (France), from which he graduated in 1984. He then joined the École nationale de la magistrature (National School for the Judiciary, Bordeaux, France) from 1986 to 1988.

His professional career began at the Tribunal de grande instance de Marseille (Regional Court, Marseille, France), where he served as a judge from 1988 to 1990. From 1990 to 1992, he then worked as a law officer in the Direction des affaires civiles et du sceau du ministère de la Justice français (Civil Affairs and Seals Directorate at the French Ministry of Justice). Between 1992 and 1994, he was deputy section head, then section head, in the Directorate-General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control at the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry. In 1994, he was appointed technical adviser to the French Minister for Justice, a position which he held until 1995, before being appointed judge at the Tribunal de grande instance de Nîmes (Regional Court, Nîmes, France), where he served from 1995 to 1996.

Mr Truchot entered the service of the Court of Justice as Legal Secretary to Advocate General Philippe Léger from 1996 to 2001. He then joined the Cour de cassation (Court of Cassation, Paris, France) as an Auxilliary Judge between 2001 and 2007.

He was a judge at the General Court from 2007 to 2013, where he also served as President of the Chamber from 2010 to 2013.

Upon his return to France in 2013, he was appointed as a judge at the Cour de cassation (Court of Cassation, Paris), a position he held until 2019.

Mr Truchot was re-appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019 and has served as President of Chamber since 19 September 2022.

Ornella Porchia
Ornella Porchia
President of the Tenth Chamber
Biography and career

Born in 1966 in Chivasso (Italy), Ms Ornella Porchia obtained a degree in law from the Università degli Studi di Torino (University of Turin, Italy) in 1991 and a research doctorate in law from the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi (Bocconi University, Milan, Italy) in 1996.

She started her professional career in 1994 as a lawyer admitted to  the Turin Bar and then joined the Università degli Studi di Torino as an assistant professor from 1997 to 2002, where she was also, from 2002 to 2007, Associate Professor of International Law and, since 2007, Professor of EU Law.

Between 2010 and 2014, she was a member of the Research Department of the Corte costituzionale (Constitutional Court, Italy). From 2014 to 2019, she worked a legal adviser to the Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union. Her research work in EU and international law was the subject of numerous publications.

Ms Porchia was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019 and has served as President of Chamber since 19 September 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the scientific committee of the journals Il diritto dell'economia and Studi sull'integrazione europea
  • Member of the European Law Institute (member of the Advisory Committee of the ‘Common Constitutional Traditions in Europe’ project)
  • Member of the Associazione Italiana degli Studiosi di diritto dell'Unione europea (AISDUE)
  • Member of the Società italiana di diritto internazionale (SIDI)
  • Member (socio corrispondente) of the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino
Marc Jaeger
Marc Jaeger
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1954 in Luxembourg (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), Mr Marc Jaeger obtained a master’s degree in law from the université Robert Schuman (Robert Schuman University) in Strasbourg (France) in 1979 and continued his studies at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium), where he obtained a Master of Laws in European Law in 1980.

Admitted to the Luxembourg Bar in 1981, Mr Jaeger practised as a lawyer until 1983. He then became an attaché de justice delegated to the office of the Public Attorney of Luxembourg and held that position for one year before being appointed as a judge at the Tribunal d'arrondissement de Luxembourg (Luxembourg District Court) from 1984 to 1986.

He began his career at the Court of Justice as a Legal Secretary to Advocate General Jean Mischo, with whom he worked from 1986 to 1988, before joining the cabinet of Judge G. Federico Mancini from 1988 to 1996.

In addition to his judicial duties, Mr Jaeger has been teaching as a lecturer at the University of Luxembourg since 2003 as well as, since 2015, at the Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (Free International University of Social Studies ‘Guido Carli’, Italy). From 2001 to 2018, he was President of the Institut Universitaire International Luxembourg (Luxembourg International University Institute, IUIL) and, from 2011 to 2016, President of the Board of Governors at the University of Luxembourg.

Mr Jaeger was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 11 July 1996, where he served as President of Chamber from 10 September 2004 to 31 August 2007. Elected by his peers as President of the General Court, he held that office for four successive terms from 17 September 2007 to 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Founding member and President of the Luxembourg Observatory of European Law (OLDE)
  • Member of the Societas Iuris Publici Europaei e.V. (SIPE)
  • Member of the editorial committee of the Revue européenne de droit de la consommation (REDC)
  • Member of the steering committee of the Diritto e Politiche dell'Unione Europea (DPUE)
  • Member of the scientific committee of the Studi sull'Integrazione Europea (SIE)
  • Member of the editorial committee of the Revue critique trimestrielle de jurisprudence et de législation (KritV – CritQ – RCrit)
  • Member of the scientific board of the Revista Română de Drept European (RRDE)
  • Member of the management board of the Fondation Kräizbierg (Luxembourg)
  • President of the Fondation ADIPH (Luxembourg)
  • Member of the Conseil des Sages of the Luxembourg School of Religion & Society (LSRS)
Honorary titles and awards
  • Knight of the Order of the Oak Crown of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (1999)
  • Officer of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (2004)
  • Cavaliere di Gran Croce ordine al Merito della Repubblica italiana (2009)
  • Knight of the Legion of Honour (France) (2010)
  • Dottore in Giurisprudenza Honoris Causa, Università degli Studi del Sannio (Benevento, Italy) (2013)
  • Honorary Bencher, Middle Temple (London, UK) (2016)
Heikki Kanninen
Heikki Kanninen
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1952 in Helsinki (Finland), Mr Heikki Kanninen obtained a bachelor's degree in economics from the Helsingin kauppakorkeakoulu (Helsinki School of Economics, Finland) in 1976 and a master's degree in law from the Faculty of Law of the Helsingin yliopisto (University of Helsinki, Finland) in 1978. In 1988, he completed his studies at the University of Helsinki with a postgraduate degree in law.

Mr Kanninen started his professional career in 1978 as a legal secretary at the Korkein hallinto-oikeus (Supreme Administrative Court, Finland). He then became General Secretary at the Hallinnon oikeusturvakomitea (Committee for Reform of Legal Protection in Public Administration, Finland), established by the Finnish Government.

He returned to the Korkein hallinto-oikeus in 1981, where he served as a principal administrator until 1984, before being appointed as General Secretary at the Hallintolainkäyttökomitea (Committee for Reform of Administrative Litigation, Finland) from 1984 to 1985. Between 1986 and 1993, he worked at the Legislative Drafting Department at the Finnish Ministry of Justice as an advisor -. From 1991 to 1993, he was also a member of the Turvapaikkalautakunta (Asylum Appeal Board, Finland). In 1993, he worked as a researcher at the Helsingin yliopiston kansainvälisen talousoikeuden instituutti (Institute of International Economic Law of the University of Helsinki).

Later in 1993, he was appointed as Assistant Registrar at the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Court (Geneva, Switzerland), where he served until 1995. He then worked at the Court of Justice of the European Communities as a Legal Secretary to Judge Leif Sevón from 1995 to 1998.

Upon return to Finland, he was a judge at the Korkein hallinto-oikeus from 1998 to 2005. He was also involved in the work of the Committee on the Development of the Finnish Courts, where he was Vice-Chairman from 2001 to 2003.

Mr Kanninen was a Judge at the European Union Civil Service Tribunal from 6 October 2005 to 6 October 2009 and served as President of Chamber from 1 October 2008 to 6 October 2009. On 7 October 2009, he was appointed as a Judge at the General Court. He was President of Chamber from 23 November 2011 to 16 September 2013. His peers elected him as Vice-President of the General Court from 17 September 2013 to 19 September 2016. Alongside those posts, he presided over one of the chambers at the General Court. He was re-elected by his peers as President of Chamber at that court on 21 September 2016 and, again, on 30 September 2019 and served in that capacity until 19 September 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the 2027 Congress of the International Federation of European Law (FIDE)
  • Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law
  • Member of the Société de législation comparée
Honorary titles and awards
  • Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunnan komentajamerkki (Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland) (2007)
  • Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun I luokan komentajamerkki (Commander, First Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland) (2022)
Juraj Schwarcz
Juraj Schwarcz
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1952 in Košice (Slovakia), Juraj Schwarcz obtained a Master of Laws in 1975 and a Doctor of Laws at the Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave (Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia) in 1979.

He began his professional career as a company lawyer from 1975 to 1990 and joined the judiciary of his home country in 1991 as registrar responsible for the commercial register at the Mestský súd v Košiciach (City Court, Košice, Slovakia). The following year, he was appointed as a judge at that court. Between 1992 and 2009, he was also a judge at the Krajský súd v Košiciach (Regional Court, Košice, Slovakia), where he was President of Chamber from 1994 to 2009. Between 2005 and 2009, he was head of the Commercial Law Division. In 2004, he spent a year as a temporary judge in the Commercial Law Division of the Najvyšší súd Slovenskej republiky (Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic).

He was an external member of the Commercial and Business Law Department of Univerzita Pavla Jozefa Šafárika v Košiciach (Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia) from 1997 to 2009 and a member of the teaching staff of the Justičná akadémia Slovenskej republiky (Judicial Academy of the Slovak Republic) from 2005 to 2009.

Mr Schwarcz was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 7 October 2009.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Societas Iuris Publici Europaei e. V. (SIPE)
Mariyana Kancheva
Mariyana Kancheva
Judge
Biography and career

Ms Mariyana Kancheva was born in 1958 in Tryavna (Bulgaria); she holds a master’s degree in law obtained in 1984 and awarded by the Sofiyski universitet ‘Sveti Kliment Ohridski’ (University of Sophia ‘Saint Clement of Ohrid’, Bulgaria). She also holds an additional master’s degree in European law obtained in 2009 and awarded by the Institute for European Studies at the Université libre de Bruxelles (Free University of Brussels, Belgium).

She began her career as a trainee judge from 1985 to 1986 at the Sofiyski Okrazhen Sad (Regional Court, Sofia, Bulgaria). She worked as a legal adviser from 1986 to 1988 and then as a lawyer at the Sofia Bar (Bulgaria) until 2011 and in Brussels (Belgium) from 2007 to 2011. Between 1992 and 1994, Ms Kancheva held the position of Director-General of the Services Office for the Diplomatic Corps at the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Throughout her career, she also specialised in several fields including intellectual property law (registered as an intellectual property representative with the Patentno Vedomstvo na Republika Bulgaria (Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria)) and economic law (registered as a representative for bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings with the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice).

In addition, she is an arbitrator for the resolution of commercial disputes in Bulgaria. As a legal adviser to the Bulgarian Parliament, she participates in drafting various legislative texts. She is the author of several publications in the field of European law. Moreover, Ms Kancheva has participated in many national and international seminars, fora and conferences.

Ms Kancheva was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 19 September 2011.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the European Women Lawyers Association (EWLA)
  • Member of the Association Femmes d’Europe
  • Honorary member of the Asoziaziya na zhenite advokati
  • Member of the Academy of European Law (ERA)
Honorary titles and awards
  • ‘Silver Plaque’, an award representing the highest distinction of the Bar of the Republic of Bulgaria, awarded by the Sofia Bar Council (2014)
  • National Justice Prize ‘Thémis’, award given in the category ‘Justice without Borders’ (2017)
  • 15-year Jubilee Medal from the Fondatsia ‘Tsentar za obuchenie na advokati Krastyu Tsontchev’ (‘Kratsyu Tsontchev Lawyer Training Centre’ Foundation) recognising her ‘remarkable contribution as a Lecturer to improving the qualifications of Bulgarian lawyers’ (2020)
  • National Justice Prize ‘Thémis’, special award given in the category ‘Euro-integration and cooperation’ (2020)
Eugène Buttigieg
Eugène Buttigieg
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1961 in Sliema (Malta), Eugène Buttigieg studied law at the Università ta’ Malta (University of Malta), where he obtained a doctorate in law (LL.D) in 1986. He obtained a Master of Laws in European Legal Studies at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) in 1991 and a Ph.D. at the University of London (United Kingdom) in 2004.

Admitted as a lawyer in Malta since 1987, he began his professional career in the Maltese Ministry of Justice, in which he held the post of legal officer from 1987 to 1990. He then worked as a senior legal officer in the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1994.

From 1994, Mr Buttigieg was mainly involved in teaching, working as a lecturer at the Università ta’ Malta from 1994 to 2001, as a senior lecturer at that university from 2001 to 2006 and from 2007 as an Associate Professor. In 2009, he was awarded a Jean Monnet Chair in EU law and was promoted to Professor in 2019. He has also been a visiting professor of competition law at Queen Mary University of London (United Kingdom). Mr Buttigieg is an author of numerous publications in the fields of EU law and competition law.

 He was a member of the Copyright Board (Malta) from 1994 to 2005 and a legal advisor on EU law, competition law, intellectual property law and consumer law in the private sector between 1994 and 2012. He also served as legal advisor in the Maltese Ministry of the Economy and the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority from 2000 to 2012. In addition, he was a member of the Malta Resources Authority from 2001 to 2009.

Mr Buttigieg was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 8 October 2012.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Co-founder and vice-president of the Maltese Association for European Law
Vesna Tomljenović
Vesna Tomljenović
Judge
Biography and career

Ms Vesna Tomljenović was born in 1956 in Rijeka (Croatia); she graduated in law from the Sveučilište u Rijeci (University of Rijeka) in 1984, then was awarded an LLM in 1996 and a doctorate in law in 1996 from the Sveučilište u Zagrebu (University of Zagreb, Croatia). She was admitted to the Croatian Bar in 1982.

Between 2005 and 2013, she coordinated the specialised higher studies programme ‘Law of European Integration’ at the Sveučilište u Rijeci (University of Rijeka). Between 2005 and 2013, she was the Chair of International Law and Private European Law at that university. In 2003, she was a visiting professor at Tulane University Law School (United States) in the context of the Fullbright programme. She is a registered arbitrator with the Stalno arbitražno sudište Hrvatske gospodarske komore (Permanent Arbitration Court of the Chamber of Commerce, Croatia).

From 2005 to 2013 she headed the working group of the negotiation team for the Republic of Croatia, in charge of Chapter 28 of the acquis communautaire (Consumer and Health Protection). She has been the President of the Hrvatska udruga za poredbeno pravo (Croatian Comparative Law Association) since 2006.

Ms Tomljenović was appointed as a Judge at the General Court of the European Union on 4 July 2013. She was elected President of Chamber by her peers on 21 September 2016 and 30 September 2019 and acted in that capacity until 19 September 2022.

Stéphane Gervasoni
Stéphane Gervasoni
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1967 in Voiron (France), Stéphane Gervasoni graduated from the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) de Grenoble (Grenoble Institute of Political Studies, France) in 1988 and from the École nationale d’administration (ENA) (National School of Administration, France) in 1993 (Léon Gambetta graduation class).

He began his professional career in 1993 as a junior officer at the Conseil d’État (Council of State, Paris, France), where he subsequently became a master of petitions from 1996 (holding that office until 2008, the year in which he was appointed as a conseiller d’État (Councillor of State)). In the former role, he was a Judge-Rapporteur in the Litigation Division until 1997 and, in the latter role, a member of the Social Affairs Division (from 1996 to 1997). At the same time, he was a commissaire du gouvernement (Government commissioner) in the Special Committee on Pensions from 1994 to 1996 – a committee which was, at the time, temporarily attached to the Conseil d’État – and a legal adviser to the French Ministry of the Civil Service and to the City of Paris from 1995 to 1997.

In 1997, Mr Gervasoni joined the Prefecture of the Département of the Yonne (France) as Secretary-General, a position which he combined with that of Sub-Prefect of the District of Auxerre until 1999. He then joined the Prefecture of the Département of Savoie (France), where he held the office of Secretary-General and that of Sub-Prefect of the District of Chambéry (France) from 1999 to 2001.

The duties that Mr Gervasoni performed in the Conseil d’État and in public administration led him to the Court of Justice of the European Communities, where he was a legal secretary to Judge Jean-Pierre Puissochet from 2001 to 2005. He was appointed as a Judge at the European Union Civil Service Tribunal on 5 October 2005, the date on which that newly created court was established. He served at that Court until 6 October 2011, including as President of Chamber between 6 October 2008 and 6 October 2011.

Returning to the Conseil d’État, Mr Gervasoni was Deputy President of the Eighth Chamber of the Litigation Division from 2011 to 2013.

He has also been involved in teaching, holding the post of senior lecturer at the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies, France) from 1993 to 1995 and at the University of Luxembourg since 2016. In addition, he was a full member of the Appeals Board of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) from 2001 to 2005 and a member of the Appeals Board of the European Space Agency (ESA) from 2011 to 2013.

Mr Gervasoni was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 16 September 2013. He was elected twice by his peers as President of Chamber, an office that he held from 21 September 2016 to 19 September 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the students’ association of the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) de Grenoble
  • Member of the association of students and alumni of the École nationale d’administration (ENA)
  • Member of the association of members of the Conseil d’État
  • Member of the Société de Législation Comparée (Society of Comparative Legislation)
  • Member of the scientific committee of Revue universelle des droits de l’Homme
Honorary titles and awards
  • Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur (awarded by decree of the President of the French Republic) (2012)
Lauri Madise
Lauri Madise
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1974 in Tartu (Estonia), Lauri Madise obtained a law degree at Tartu Ülikool (University of Tartu, Estonia) in 1998 and at the université de Poitiers (University of Poitiers, France) in 1995.

He began his professional career as an adviser in the Estonian Ministry of Justice from 1995 to 1999 before serving as head of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Committee of the Estonian Parliament from 1999 to 2002.

In 2002, Mr Madise joined the judiciary of his home country as a judge at the Tallinna Ringkonnakohus (Court of Appeal, Tallinn, Estonia). In 2005, he was also appointed as a member of the Judges’ Examination Commission and participated in legislative work in the fields of constitutional and administrative law.

Mr Madise was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 23 October 2013.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Estonian Association of Judges
Nina Półtorak
Nina Półtorak
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1971 in Poland, Ms Nina Półtorak graduated in law in 1995 and, in 2001, defended her doctoral thesis in law at the Uniwersytet Jagielloński (Jagiellonian University of Kraków, Poland). In 2011, she was awarded the title of Habilitated Doctor in Legal Science.

Admitted to the Bar of the Polish legal counsel in 2000, she worked in that capacity from 2000 to 2012 with several law firms, providing her expertise in Polish law and in EU law and representing clients before the highest courts. In 2012, she joined the Polish judiciary as a judge at the Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny w Krakowie (Regional Administrative Court, Kraków) and, in 2014, she was seconded to the Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny (Supreme Administrative Court, Poland). Between 2013 and 2016, she was appointed as Director of the EU Law Department of the Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny.

Ms Półtorak also continued her academic career as lecturer from 1995 to 2003, before becoming, from 2003 to 2013, Associate Professor in the EU Law Department at the Uniwersytet Jagielloński, where she carried out academic research and taught, inter alia, EU constitutional and administrative law and supervised master’s and doctoral theses. In addition, she directed Postgraduate Study Programmes in EU law at the Uniwersytet Jagielloński from 2006 to 2016. She also dedicated herself to legal research and joined Oxford University (United Kingdom) as Visiting Scholar’ in 1998 and the European University Institute of Florence (Italy) in 2005. She is the author of numerous publications in EU law and has lectured as Professor in the EU Law Department at the Uniwersytet Jagielloński since 2013.

Ms Półtorak was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 13 April 2016.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Polskie Stowarzyszenie Prawa Europejskiego
  • Member of the Research Network on EU Administrative Law ‘ReNEUAL’
  • Member of the editorial committee of the legal journal Europejski Przegląd Sądowy
  • Member of the editorial committee of the legal journal Państwo i Prawo
  • Member of the programme committee of the legal journal The Polish Review of International and European Law
Honorary titles and awards
  • Award from the Polish Prime Minister for an outstanding doctoral thesis (2002)
  • Distinction in the national legal journal Państwo i Prawo competition for best doctoral thesis (2002)
  • Fundacja Promocji Prawa Europejskiego prize for the book Odpowiedzialność odszkodowawcza państwa w prawie Wspólnot Europejskich (2003)
  • Legal journal Dziennik Gazeta Prawna competition award for the best advisors in tax disputes (2009)
  • Uniwersytet Jagielloński Chancellor’s award for outstanding academic work (2011)
  • Award from the Minister of Science and Higher Education (Poland) (2012)
  • National legal journal Państwo i Prawo competition award for best habilitation thesis (2013)
Inga Reine
Inga Reine
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1975 in Rīga (Latvia), Ms Inga Reine obtained a degree in law from the Latvijas Universitātē (University of Latvia) in 1996 and a master's degree from the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) (Italy) in 1998.

She started her professional career as a lawyer at the Latvian National Human Rights Office from 1995 to 1999, before joining the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as an adviser in the mission in Kosovo from 1999 to 2002 and in the mission in Montenegro from 2002 to 2003.

Between 2003 and 2012, she continued her career as a lawyer at the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and represented the Latvian government at international human-rights organisations. During that period, she was also appointed as a member of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) of the Council of Europe.

In 2012, Ms Reine was appointed as a head of division at the Permanent Representation of Latvia to the European Union in Brussels, a post which she held until 2015. She also served there as a legal adviser from 2012 to 2016.

Ms Reine was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 8 June 2016.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Arbitrator at the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
Honorary titles and awards
  • Atzinības krusts (IV. šķira) (2011)
Paul Nihoul
Paul Nihoul
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1963 in Brussels (Belgium), Mr Paul Nihoul obtained a degree in law from the Université catholique de Louvain (University of Louvain, Belgium) in 1988 and a Master of Laws from Harvard University (USA) in 1989. He pursued doctoral studies in law at the Université catholique de Louvain, where he defended his thesis in 1998. In 1984, he also obtained a degree in philology and philosophy from that university.

Admitted to the New York Bar (USA) in 1990, he practised as an Attorney and Counselor at Law. Upon return to Europe, he joined the Court of Justice of the European Communities, from 1991 to 1995, as a Legal Secretary to Judge René Joliet and then to Judge John Murray.

Between 1995 and 1999, he pursued an academic career as a researcher at the Université catholique de Louvain, before being appointed as a lecturer and then as a professor at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (University of Groningen, Netherlands) from 1999 to 2010 and at the Université catholique de Louvain since 2001. He was Director of the Centre for Consumer Law at the Université catholique de Louvain between 2001 and 2016. At the same time, he was elected, at the same university, as President of the Organisation for Academic Staff between 2004 and 2006 and President of the Institute of Legal Studies from 2012 to 2015. Mr Nihoul held, from 1999 to 2009, a Jean Monnet Chair awarded to him by the European Research Council. He taught at the université Paris-Dauphine (Paris Dauphine University, France) as a visiting professor from 2013 to 2016. From 2010 to 2011, he was a Fulbright scholar at the American University (Washington DC, USA). He chaired the Academic Society for Competition Law (Ascola) from 2013 to 2016.

Mr Nihoul was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 19 September 2016.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Academia Europeae
  • Member of the Executive Board of the Academic Society for Competition Law (Ascola)
  • Chief editor and, since his appointment at the General Court, member of the editorial board of a number of legal journals: Journal of European Competition Law and Practice, Journal de droit européen, European Journal of Consumer Law
  • Member of the editorial board of the following legal journals: Les Cahiers du juriste, Market and Competition Law Review
  • Director of the Europe collection, Larcier
Honorary titles and awards
  • Prix d’excellence, Wallonie-Bruxelles International (2010-2011)
  • Prix de la Communauté française, Brussels, 1984, for the best dissertation in philology
Ulf Öberg
Ulf Öberg
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1966 in Stockholm (Sweden), Mr Ulf Öberg graduated in law at the Stockholms universitet (University of Stockholm, Sweden) in 1991. He continued his studies at the Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, France), where he obtained a postgraduate diploma in common market law in 1992. In 1993, he graduated from the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) of Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies, France) in international relations.

He began his professional career as a researcher at the Swedish Defence Research Agency in 1992 and 1994 and participated, from 1993 to 1994, in the training programme for Swedish civil servants.

From 1994 to 1995, he was a legal adviser for European affairs at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then joined the Court of Justice as a Legal Secretary to Judge Hans Ragnemalm from 1995 to 2000.

Back in Sweden, Mr Öberg began an academic career as a researcher and lecturer at Stockholms universitet. He founded his own law firm and worked as a lawyer at Sveriges advokatsamfund (Swedish Bar Association) from 2006 to 2016.

Mr Öberg was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 19 September 2016.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the jury and teaches constitutional law at the Sveriges advokatsamfund in the context of training to be admitted to the Bar to carry out the profession of ‘advokat’
  • Member of the Centre d'étude et de prospective stratégique (CEPS) (Paris, France)
  • Participant in the work of the Mentor Group’s Forum for EU-US Legal-Economic Affairs (Boston, United States)
Colm Mac Eochaidh
Colm Mac Eochaidh
Judge
Biography and career

Mr Colm Mac Eochaidh was born in 1963 in Dublin; he graduated in law from University College Dublin, National University of Ireland in 1984.

In 1987, he was admitted to the Irish Bar with the Honorable Society of King’s Inns Dublin and began his career by working as a European Officer at the Law Society of England and Wales from 1988 to 1990. In addition, he represented the Law Society and the Law Society of Scotland at the institutions of the European Communities in Brussels from 1990 to 1993.

Between 1993 and 2009, he practised as a Barrister at the Irish Bar, then subsequently as Senior Counsel from 2009.

In addition, he was a lecturer in competition law at the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, Dublin, from 1993 to 1999, and subsequently lectured at the China-EU School of Law of the Zhōngguó Zhèngfǎ Dàxué (China).

In 2012, he was appointed as a judge at the High Court (Ireland) and served as President of the Immigration and Asylum Division between 2014 and 2017.

Mr Mac Eochaidh was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 8 June 2017.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Vice-president of the Irish Centre for European Law
  • Bencher of the Honorable Society of King’s Inns
Geert De Baere
Geert De Baere
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1979 in Antwerp (Belgium), Mr Geert De Baere graduated in law from the Universiteit Antwerpen (University of Antwerp, Belgium) in 2002 and obtained a Master of Laws at King’s College of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) in 2003. He completed his studies with a doctorate in law at King’s College of the University of Cambridge, where he defended his thesis in 2007. As part of his doctorate, he was Visiting Research Fellow at the Columbia Law School of Columbia University (United States) in 2005.

After completing his doctorate, he joined the Universiteit Antwerpen as Postdoctoral Research Associate, a university to which he was affiliated from 2007 to 2009.

In 2009, he joined the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium) to teach EU and international law, which he then taught as lecturer from 2010 to 2014 and as Associate Professor since 2015.

Between 2007 and 2009, Mr De Baere served as a Legal Secretary at the Court of Justice for Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston, then, from 2016 to 2017, for Judge Alexandra (Sacha) Prechal.

He was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 4 October 2017, and has served as President of Chamber from 8 October 2021 to 19 September 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the International Advisory Board of the Jean Monnet Network ‘EU-China Legal and Judicial Cooperation (EUPLANT)’ of the Queen Mary University of London
  • Member of the editorial committee of Europe and the World: A Law Review
  • Editor of the annotations of the case-law of the Columbia Journal of European Law
  • Member of the Academic review board of the Cambridge International Law Journal
  • Member of the editorial committee of the Oxford Reports on International Law in EU Courts
Ramona Frendo
Ramona Frendo
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1971 in Malta and a native of Żejtun (Malta), Ramona Frendo obtained a law degree at the Università ta’Malta (University of Malta) in 1993 and a doctorate in law at that university in 1995. She continued her studies at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), which awarded her an M.Phil. in criminology in 1996. In 2018, she completed her university education with a postgraduate degree in European law at King’s College London (United Kingdom).

Ms Frendo began her career as a lawyer at the Maltese bar, a profession she exercised from 1996 to 2019. Her multidisciplinary knowledge also led her to work as a legal advisor in the Maltese Ministry of Social Protection from 1997 to 1998 and as a legal expert at the courts of Valetta (Malta) between 1997 and 2019 and in a number of insurance companies from 2006 to 2019.

She was a member of the national panel of arbitrators of Malta from 2006 to 2019 and of the Employment Commission of Malta from 2009 to 2019. She was a member of the National Family Commission (Malta) from 2012 to 2013 – the year in which she also served on the Commission for the Holistic Reform of the Justice System (Malta) – and, subsequently, a member of the Law Commission (Malta) between 2014 and 2016. After being appointed by the Maltese Government as a special advisor to the Visa Working Party of the Council of the European Union in 2016, she was Chairwoman of that working party during the Maltese Presidency of the Council in the first half of 2017.

Ms Frendo was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 20 March 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the association Friends of ERA
  • Member of the Cambridge Society of Luxembourg
  • Member of the Association of European Data Protection Judges
Tuula Riitta Pynnä
Tuula Riitta Pynnä
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1958 in Turku (Finland), Ms Tuula Riitta Pynnä obtained a master’s degree in law degree from the Turun yliopisto (University of Turku, Finland) in 1981 and a master’s degree in law degree from the Universität Trier (University of Trier, Germany) in 1993. The European Institute of Public Administration, in partnership with the université Nancy 2 (Nancy 2 University, France) and the Aristotélio Panepistímio Thessaloníkis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), awarded her the Master of European Legal Studies in 1994.

In 1981, she started her professional career and worked as a lecturer at the Turun yliopisto until 1982. She then joined the Finnish judiciary, serving as an acting judge at the Porin raastuvanoikeus (District Court, Pori, Finland) from 1982 to 1983. She was appointed as a section head at the Porin poliisilaitos, väestökirjatoimiston johtaja (Population Office, Finland) for two years, before returning to her role as a judge. In 1984, she was a legal secretary and acting judge at the Ulvilan Kihlakunnanoikeus (District Court, Ulvila, Finland) for one year. From 1985 to 1995, she served first as an acting judge and then as a judge at the Tampereen raastuvanoikeus (District Court, Tampere, Finland) as well as at the Pirkanmaan käräjäoikeus (District Court, Pirkanmaa, Finland).

Between 1996 and 2005, Ms Pynnä worked at the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Head of Unit for EU Litigation and as a legal adviser, representing Finland in cases before the Court of Justice of the European Communities. She was appointed as Head of the Finnish Delegation on the Council of the European Communities’ Working Party on the ‘Court of Justice’ and was also a member of the ‘Friends of the Presidency’ Group with regard to the reform of the Community judicial system in the Treaty of Nice.

Ms Pynnä was appointed as a judge at the two supreme courts of Finland. In 2005, she was appointed as an acting judge and then, in 2006, as a judge at the Korkein hallinto-oikeus (Supreme Administrative Court, Finland). She subsequently served at the Korkein oikeus (Supreme Court, Finland) from 2012 to 2019. She was also a member of the Nasdaq OMX Helsinki Stock Exchange Disciplinary Committee (Finland) from 2015 to 2019 and a member of the Suomen Asianajajaliitto (Finnish Bar Association) Examination Committee from 2011 to 2019 that she chaired between 2013 and 2019.

Ms Pynnä was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Law, the Turun yliopisto
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the 2026 Congress of the International Federation of European Law (FIDE) which will take place in Helsinki
Honorary titles and awards
  • Medal of merit for 30 years of state service (2015)
  • Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (2019)
Johannes Christoph Laitenberger
Johannes Christoph Laitenberger
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1964 in Hamburg (Germany), Johannes Christoph Laitenberger studied law at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn, Germany). In 1990, he passed the first State examination in law in Germany.

He then worked in the Bundestag (German Parliament) in 1991 as a legal adviser in the administrative department.

He was a Rechtsreferendar (articled law clerk) in the district of the Oberlandesgericht Köln (Higher Regional Court, Cologne, Germany) from 1991 to 1994. In 1994, he passed the second State examination in law in Germany.

Between 1991 and 1995, he was also a part-time lecturer and researcher at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.

In 1995, he worked in a law firm, also on a part-time basis.

Admitted to practise as a lawyer in Germany, he was a legal counsel of a federation of undertakings in 1996 before joining the institutions of the European Union.

He was a member of the team of advisers of the Directorate for Administration and Protocol of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union from 1996 to 1999, the year in which he was appointed rapporteur in the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission.

He subsequently held several roles in which he worked directly with the Members of the Commission. He was a member of the cabinet of the European Commissioner, Viviane Reding, between 1999 and 2003 and head of that cabinet from 2003 to 2004. He was a member of the cabinet of José Manuel Barroso, President of the Commission, from 2004 to 2005. He was spokesman of the Commission and head of the Spokesperson’s Service of the Commission between 2005 and 2009. He returned to the cabinet of the President of the Commission as Head of Cabinet, a post which he held from 2009 to 2014.

He was appointed as Deputy Director-General of the Legal Service of the Commission in 2014 and was subsequently Director-General of the Directorate-General for Competition of the Commission from 2015 to 2019.

Mr Laitenberger was sworn in as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the editorial committee of Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht
  • Member of the scientific committee of Revue Concurrences
  • Member of the editorial committee of Neue Zeitschrift für Kartellrecht (NZK)
Honorary titles and awards
  • Grande-Oficial da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique, awarded by the President of the Portuguese Republic (2014)
Roberto Mastroianni
Roberto Mastroianni
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1964 in Cosenza (Italy), Roberto Mastroianni obtained a law degree at the Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence, Italy) in 1987 and a Master of Laws at the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law (USA) in 1990. He studied for a doctorate in law at the Università di Bologna (University of Bologna, Italy), where he defended his thesis in 1992. He then pursued postdoctoral studies at the université de Genève (University of Geneva, Switzerland) from 1992 to 1993, and at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands) and at New York Law School (USA) in 1993 and 1994.

Mr Mastroianni began his professional career as a researcher in international law at the Università degli Studi di Firenze from 1992 to 1997 before working at the Court of Justice as a legal secretary to Advocates General Giuseppe Tesauro and Antonio Saggio from 1997 to 2000.

He was subsequently a Professor of EU law at the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (University of Naples Federico II, Italy) from 2000 to 2019, during which period he published a large number of works. In addition, he taught EU law and European litigation as a visiting professor at université Paris 2 – Panthéon-Assas (University of Paris II, Panthéon-Assas, France) from 2011 to 2013. He also taught EU law at Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (Free International University of Social Studies Guido Carli, Italy) from 2013 to 2017. In 2015, he was appointed as a Professor of comparative competition law at the Sturm College of Law of the University of Denver (USA), where he taught until 2019.

Between 1993 and 2019, Mr Mastroianni was a lawyer authorised to plead before higher Italian courts. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of the Società Italiana di Diritto Internazionale (SIDI) (Italian Society of International Law) from 2013 to 2015 and of the Associazione Italiana Studiosi di Diritto dell’Unione Europea (AISDUE) (Italian Association of EU Law Scholars) from 2018 to 2021. In addition, he was an adviser on legislative matters in the Department of European Affairs of the Italian Government between 2015 and 2018.

Mr Mastroianni was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Associazione Italiana Studiosi di Diritto dell’Unione Europea (AISDUE)
  • Member of the Società Italiana di Diritto Internazionale (SIDI)
  • Member of the European Law Institute (ELI)
  • Member of the editorial committee or scientific committee of the legal journals Il Diritto dell’Unione Europea, Rivista italiana di diritto pubblico comunitario, Studi dell’integrazione europea, Diritto, mercato e tecnologia, Federalismi, The Journal of Media Law and Media Laws – Rivista di Diritto dei Media
  • Member of the committee evaluating candidates for accreditation as a university professor in EU law in Italy (2019-2021)
José Martín y Pérez de Nanclares
José Martín y Pérez de Nanclares
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1965 in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain), Mr José Martín y Pérez de Nanclares graduated in law from the Universidad de Salamanca (University of Salamanca, Spain) in 1988. From 1988 to 1989, he studied constitutional law at the Universität zu Köln (University of Cologne, Germany) and, in 1991, obtained a master’s degree in EU law at the Universität Saarbrücken (University of Saarbrücken, Germany). In 1994, he defended his doctorate thesis in law at the Universität Saarbrücken and the Universidad de Salamanca.

He dedicated himself to teaching international law and began his professional career at the Universidad de La Rioja (University of La Rioja, Spain) as senior lecturer from 1993 to 1996, then as professor from 1996 to 2001. In 1996, he was appointed Secretary General of the Universidad de La Rioja before becoming Vice-Rector for Research from 1996 to 2000, then Vice-Rector for International Relations from 2004 to 2008. Between 2001 and 2009, he was holder of the Chair of Public International Law, but also of the Jean Monnet Chair of EU Law. From 2009 to 2012, the Universidad de Salamanca appointed him to the Chair of Public International Law, which he was awarded again in 2018.

From 2012 to 2018, he was appointed Director of the Department of International Legal Affairs at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. In 2018, he spent a year as Director of the Office of the Presidency of the Consejo de Estado (Council of State, Spain).

Mr Martín y Pérez de Nanclares was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (The Hague, Netherlands)
  • Member of the advisory board of the Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht
  • Member of the executive board of the Spanish section of the International Federation for European Law (FIDE)
  • Member of the scientific committee of the Revista de Derecho comunitario europeo
  • Member of the advisory board of the Institut Barcelona d’estudis internacionals
  • Member of the editorial board of the journal Cuadernos Europeos de Deusto
  • Member of the advisory board of the Anuario de la facultad de derecho de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Honorary titles and awards
  • Doctor honoris causa, Universidad de Piura (Peru) (2009)
  • Cruz de la Orden de San Raimundo de Peñafort (2016)
Gerhard Hesse
Gerhard Hesse
Judge
Biography and career

Mr Gerhard Hesse was born in 1970 in Vienna (Austria); he graduated in law in 1993 and defended his doctoral thesis in 2002 at the Universität Wien (Vienna University, Austria).

His career began in 1994 at the Federal Chancellery (Austria) as a member of the Department of European Affairs. He held that position for a year before working in the Federal Chancellery’s Legal Service from 1995 to 2000, first as a member then as head of department. Between 2000 and 2002, he worked as a legal adviser at the Arbeiterkammer (Employment Chamber, Austria) before returning to his positions of member and head of department of the Federal Chancellery’s Legal Service. From 2007 to 2010, he served as a legal adviser in the Cabinet of the Federal Chancellery and took over the position of Director-General of the Federal Chancellery’s Legal Service between 2010 and 2017. From 2017 to 2019, he was the Director-General of the Legal Service of the Austrian Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice.

In 2010, he was also appointed as a member of the Austrian Government’s Data Protection Council and held that position until 2019. He was also Chair of the board of trustees of the Austrian National Library from 2017 to 2019. His experience in Austrian public administration resulted in many legal publications.

Mr Hesse was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Österreichische Juristenkommission
  • Member of the management committee of the Österreichischer Juristentag
Honorary titles and awards
  • Silbernes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich
  • Großes Silbernes Ehrenzeichen mit Stern für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich
Miguel Sampol Pucurull
Miguel Sampol Pucurull
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1974 in Barcelona (Spain), Mr Miguel Sampol Pucurull graduated in law in 1997 and, in 1998, in business administration at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas – ICADE (Comillas Pontifical University, Spain).

He began his career as Abogado del Estado: from 2002 to 2005, he represented the State before Spanish courts before joining, from 2005 to 2006, the Legal Service of the Spanish Ministry of Culture. From 2006 to 2007, he joined the Legal Service of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for matters relating to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

From 2007 to 2014, Mr Sampol Pucurull held the post of Abogado del Estado-Legal Adviser to the Spanish Permanent Representation to the European Union. In 2014, he began to work for the Spanish Ministry of Justice as Deputy Director-General for EU and International Affairs at the Abogacía General del Estado (State Legal Service). In that capacity, he served at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation as Head Abogado del Estado of the State Legal Service responsible for cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union until 2019. During that period, he was also a member of the board of directors of a number of state-owned undertakings and his practice of law led to the writing of numerous legal publications.

Mr Sampol Pucurull was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Asociación Española para el Estudio del Derecho Europeo
  • Member of the Asociación de Abogados del Estado
Honorary titles and awards
  • Cruz Distinguida de Primera Clase de San Raimundo de Peñafort del Ministerio de Justicia (2016)
  • Encomienda de la Orden del Mérito Civil del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperación (2019)
Mirela Stancu
Mirela Stancu
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1974 in Călărași (Romania), Mirela Stancu obtained a law degree in 1998 and a doctorate in law in 2009 from the Universitatea din București (University of Bucharest, Romania).

She was a lawyer at the Bucharest Bar (Romania) from 1999 to 2002 before teaching procedural law at the Universitatea din București as a lecturer from 2002 to 2018 and as a senior lecturer since 2018, authoring numerous legal publications during that time.

Ms Stancu was a judge at the Judecătoria Sectorului 3 Bucureşti (Court of First Instance, Sector 3, Bucharest, Romania) from 2004 to 2009 and, subsequently, at the Tribunalul București (Regional Court, Bucharest, Romania) from 2009 to 2019. She was appointed as a judge on secondment to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2005 and was an instructor at the Institutul Național al Magistraturii (National Institute of Magistracy, Romania) from 2007 to 2018.

In 2011, she joined the Court of Justice, where she worked as a lawyer-administrator in the Chambers of Judge Camelia Toader until 2014.

Returning to Romania in 2015, she was appointed as Director for European Affairs, International Relations and Programmes of the Consiliul Superior al Magistraturii (Superior Council of Magistracy, Romania), a post which she held until 2018.

Ms Stancu was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Petra Škvařilová-Pelzl
Petra Škvařilová-Pelzl
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1975 in Prague (Czech Republic), Ms Petra Škvařilová-Pelzl studied law in the Czech Republic and in Germany, at the end of which the Univerzita Karlova (Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic) awarded her the title of Magister iuris (summa cum laude). She embarked on studies for a doctorate in law at the Universität Hamburg (University of Hamburg, Germany), where she defended her thesis in 2004 (summa cum laude). She also holds an interpreting qualification for German from the Státní jazyková škola (State Language School of Prague, Czech Republic) in 1995.

Although she began her professional career as a research associate in the Commercial, Maritime, and Business Law Department at the Universität Hamburg in 1999, she successfully passed a competition organised by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) for the purposes of recruiting Czech lawyers by the European institutions. She then joined the Library, Research and Documentation Directorate-General of the Court of Justice of the European Union as an official and worked as a lawyer administrator from 2004 to 2019. Between 2010 and 2016, she held the post of aide to the Directorate-General. From 2017 to 2018, she subsequently served in the capacity of Legal Secretary in the Chambers of Judge Maria Berger at the Court of Justice.

Author of several publications, in particular in the areas of EU law and comparative law, Ms Škvařilová-Pelzl has also devoted herself to teaching as lecturer in EU law at the Verwaltungsakademie des Bundes in Wien (Austrian Federal Academy of Public Administration in Vienna, Austria) since 2009. In addition, Ms Škvařilová-Pelzl has also spoken at numerous seminars and conferences, including the biennial German-Czech Law Festival.

Ms Škvařilová-Pelzl was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Societas Iuris Publici Europaei e.V. (SIPE)
  • Recipient of the ‘Copernicus’ scholarship for the Universität Hamburg and of the Bundestag (German Parliament) scholarship for participation in the International Parliamentary Internship (Berlin, 2004), alumni member of those organisations
Iko Nõmm
Iko Nõmm
Judge
Biography and career

Mr Iko Nõmm was born in 1977 in Tallinn (Estonia); he graduated in law in 2001 and obtained a Master of Laws in 2007 from the Tartu Ülikool (University of Tartu, Estonia). He continued his law studies at the Tartu Ülikool, following which he defended a doctorate in law in 2013.

He began his career as an adviser to the Tallinna Ringkonnakohus (Court of Appeal, Tallinn, Estonia) from 2001 to 2002, and served as a trainee judge at the Harju Maakohtu (Court of First Instance, Harju, Estonia). Mr Nõmm sat as a judge at that court from 2002 to 2007 and subsequently at the Tallinna Ringkonnakohus (Court of Appeal, Tallinn) from 2007 to 2019. He was appointed as a trainee judge at the Riigikohus (Supreme Court, Estonia) from 2015 to 2016 and seconded to the Court of Justice of the European Union as a national judge from 2017 to 2018.

Mr Nõmm also taught as a lecturer at the Tartu Ülikool from 2014 to 2019 and at the training department of the Riigikohus from 2015 to 2019. In addition, he gave training sessions at the Estonian Bar Association from 2015 to 2019 and was a member of the Judge Assessment Commission between 2018 and 2019. Between 2015 and 2019, he was a member of the Professional Suitability Assessment Committee of the Estonian Bar.

Mr Nõmm was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Eesti Kohtunike Ühing
Gabriele Steinfatt
Gabriele Steinfatt
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1977 in Bad Harzburg (Germany), Ms Gabriele Steinfatt studied law at the Universität des Saarlandes (Saarland University) in Saarbrücken (Germany) and in Strasbourg (France). She obtained a master's degree in private law and a certificate in European law from the université Robert Schuman (University Robert Schuman, Strasbourg, France) in 2000. In 2002, she passed the First State Law Examination in Saarbrücken. From 2002 to 2003, she followed postgraduate studies in law at the Europa-Institut of the Universität des Saarlandes (Institute of European Studies of Saarland University, Germany). In 2005, she completed her legal internship in Saarbrücken (Germany) with the Second State Law Examination. She wrote a thesis at the Universität des Saarlandes and was awarded the title of Doctor of Laws in 2012.

In 2005, Ms Steinfatt was appointed as a judge at the Verwaltungsgericht der Freien Hansestadt Bremen (Administrative Court, Bremen, Germany), where she served until 2017, before joining the Oberverwaltungsgericht der Freien Hansestadt Bremen (Higher Administrative Court, Bremen, Germany) from 2017 to 2019. During that period, she was also appointed as a member of the Dienstgerichtshof für Richter (Disciplinary Appeals Court for Judges) and an alternate member of the Berufsgerichtshofs für Ingenieure (Disciplinary Appeals Court for Engineers).

An author of several publications, particularly in the field of European law, Ms Steinfatt has also been involved in teaching as a lecturer at the Universität des Saarlandes and the Universität Bremen (University of Bremen, Germany). She provided training for young lawyers as part of their legal internships and was an examiner for the First State Law Examination.

Ms Steinfatt was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Vereinigung der Bremischen Verwaltungsrichterinnen und Verwaltungsrichter
Rimvydas Norkus
Rimvydas Norkus
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1979 in Klaipėda (Lithuania), Mr Rimvydas Norkus obtained a master’s degree in law at the Vilniaus universitetas (University of Vilnius, Lithuania) in 2001. He then began to study for a doctorate in law at the Mykolo Romerio universitetas (Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania) and defended his thesis there in 2005.

He began his professional career as a law clerk at the Lietuvos apeliacinis teismas (Court of Appeal of Lithuania) from 1999 to 2000, and took on the duties of adviser to the President of that court from 2000 to 2003. Between 2003 and 2009, he was appointed Director of the Judicial Practice Department of the Lithuaniadu Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas (Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania).

From 2009 to 2010, he was a lawyer-linguist at the European Parliament before returning to his native country to take up the position of Director of the Legal Research Department of the Lietuvos Aukščiausiasis Teismas (Supreme Court of Lithuania) from 2010 to 2012. He was appointed as a judge at the Lietuvos apeliacinis teismas from 2012 to 2013 and then served in that capacity for one year at the Lietuvos Aukščiausiasis Teismas, of which he was President from 2014 to 2019. In addition, he was President of the Lietuvos Teisėjų taryba (Judicial Council of Lithuania) from 2016 to 2018.

From 2007 to 2008, Mr Rimvydas Norkus also focussed on teaching, as associate professor at the Mykolo Romerio universitetas, where he was professor at the Institute of Private Law from 2012 to 2019. He is also the author of numerous legal publications.

Mr Norkus was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the advisory committee of the Europäische Rechtsakademie (ERA) (2020-2023)
  • Member of the advisory board of the journal ERA Forum
  • Member of the association ‘The Conference on European Restructuring and Insolvency Law’
  • Member of the association INSOL Europe
Honorary titles and awards
  • Awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Grand Duke Gediminas for his significant contribution to the improvement of the national judicial system and the development of legal sciences (2018)
  • Honorary member of the Law Faculty of the Mykolo Romerio universitetas (2019)
Tamara Perišin
Tamara Perišin
Judge
Biography and career

Ms Tamara Perišin was born in 1979 in Zagreb (Croatia); she graduated ‘cum laude’ in law from the Sveučilište u Zagrebu (University of Zagreb, Croatia) in 2002 and obtained a Master of Laws from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) in 2003 as a Chevening scholar. She then began her doctoral studies in law at the Sveučilište u Zagrebu, where she defended her thesis in 2007. Ms Perišin passed the Croatian bar examination in 2009.

She undertook research residencies at the Asser Instituut (Asser Institute, Netherlands) in 2004, at Georgetown University (United States) and the University of Michigan (United States) from 2005 to 2006 as a Fulbright scholar, and at the Max-Planck-Institut (Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany) from 2007 to 2008, having received a scholarship for post-doctoral research. In addition, she took a course in the methodology of teaching and learning at the Central European University (Hungary) from 2007 to 2008. In 2014, she was invited to carry out post-doctoral research at the Harvard Law School of Harvard University (United States).

Ms Perišin has been affiliated with the Sveučilište u Zagrebu since 2002 as a professor and the Vice-Dean for International Cooperation from 2009 to 2011, the holder of a Jean Monnet Chair since 2015 and the coordinator of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence since 2018. Her teaching subjects include European public law, the law relating to the internal market, the law relating to the World Trade Organisation, the global effects of European law, competition law, European company law, European legal methodology and general legal principles in the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Between 2015 and 2016, she was a visiting professor and the John Harvey Gregory Lecturer on World Organization at Harvard University, where she taught a course on the global effects of European law.

Ms Perišin is the author of numerous publications; she was the editor-in-chief of the Croatian Yearbook of European Law and Policy and currently sits on its editorial board.

From 2005 to 2011, Ms Perišin was a member of the negotiating team for the accession of Croatia to the European Union. In 2011, she provided training on EU law to officials and diplomats at the Državna škola za javnu upravu (National Institute of Public Administration, Croatia) and at the Croatian Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. From 2012 to 2013, she was responsible for providing training on EU law to judges and prosecutors at the Pravosudna akademija (Judicial Academy, Croatia) and at the Općinski sud u Zagrebu (Municipal Court, Zagreb, Croatia). In 2015, she taught that subject at the Hrvatska odvjetnička komora (Croatian Bar Association). From 2017 to 2019, she was a special adviser to the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education. She also provided legal advice on the correct application of European law to Croatian ministers and lawyers in cases before national courts.

Ms Perišin was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the editorial board of the Croatian Yearbook of European Law and Policy
  • Member of the Hrvatske udruge za studij Europske unije
  • Member of the Hrvatske udruge za europsko pravo (CROSEL)
  • Member of the Chevening Alumni Association
  • Member of the Oxford University Society (OUS)
Honorary titles and awards
  • Jean Monnet Chair (2015)
David Petrlík
David Petrlík
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1978 in Plzeň (Czech Republic), Mr David Petrlík obtained a Master's degree in law from the Západočeská univerzita v Plzni (University of West Bohemia, Czech Republic) in 2002, having also studied at the Universität Passau (University of Passau, Germany) in 1999-2000. He obtained a Master's degree in law from the université Paris I – Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, France) in 2003. He obtained a doctorate in law from the Univerzita Karlova (Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic) in 2016.

In 2004, he began his professional career as a legal adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and, following the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union, he joined the Court of Justice as a legal secretary to Judge Jiří Malenovský, with whom he worked until 2015.

In 2015, he joined the European GNSS Agency (currently the European Union Agency for the Space Programme) as a legal officer and then as a deputy head of section in the Legal and Procurement Department. From 2018 to 2021, he was a head of section of that department.

Since 2011, Mr Petrlík has also been involved in teaching, working as a lecturer in EU law and intellectual property law at the Univerzita Karlova. He is the author of numerous publications in those fields.

Mr Petrlík was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 1 March 2021.

Maja Brkan
Maja Brkan
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1979 in Maribor (Slovenia), Ms Maja Brkan obtained a Bachelor of Law degree from Univerza v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) in 2003 and an LL.M. from New York University (New York, United States) in 2004. She also holds a diploma of the Academy of European Law at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) from 2004. She then started a doctorate in law at the Univerza v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), where she defended her thesis in 2007, on the topic of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union.

She began her professional career as a lawyer-linguist at the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2004, before joining, as a trainee, first the cabinet of Judge Aindrias Ó Caoimh at the Court of Justice in 2005, and then the Višje sodišče v Ljubljani (Court of Appeal, Ljubljana, Slovenia) between 2005 and 2006.

In 2007, she returned to the Court of Justice of the European Union, first as a Legal Assistant from 2007 to 2008, then as a Legal Secretary from 2008 to 2011, to Advocate General Verica Trstenjak. Between 2011 and 2013, she carried out the duties of Legal Secretary in the cabinet of Judge Marko Ilešič.

Thereafter, Ms Brkan became involved in teaching at the Universiteit Maastricht (University of Maastricht, Netherlands) as an assistant professor in EU law from 2013 to 2018 and, between 2018 and 2021, as an associate professor in EU law. She also taught EU law at the Universiteit Hasselt (University of Hasselt, Belgium) in 2014 and 2017. As a visiting lecturer, she spoke at the Univerza na Primorskem (University of Primorska, Slovenia) in 2011, at the Univerza v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) and at the Běijīng Shīfàn Dàxué (Beijing Normal University, China) in 2014. In addition, she undertook periods of research at the European University Institute in Florence in 2016 and 2018, the University of California, Berkeley (United States) in 2019, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain) in 2019, and the Univerza v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) in 2020.

In 2017, Ms Brkan was appointed associate director of the Maastricht Centre for European Law and served in that capacity for three years before being appointed, in 2021, as coordinator of the ‘Advanced Master in Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Management’ programme at the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity at Maastricht University. From 2018 to 2020, she was a member of the examination board of the same university.

From 2013 to 2019, she was a member of the Council of the European Law Institute (ELI). Between 2015 and 2021, she was an associate editor of the European Data Protection Law Review and, from 2021, a member of its editorial board. Since 2020 she is also a member of the editorial board of the information platform EU Law Live.

Ms Brkan is the author of numerous publications on EU law. She is regularly invited as a guest lecturer at universities in Europe and the US.

Ms Brkan was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 6 July 2021.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Distinguished Fellow, Maastricht Centre for European Law
  • Member of the editorial board of the information platform EU Law Live
  • Member of the editorial board of the European Data Protection Law Review
  • Member of the Pravniško društvo v Mariboru
  • Member of the Maastricht Law and Tech Lab
  • Member of the European Law Institute
  • Member of the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity
  • Member of the ‘Friends of the Hamburg Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law’
  • Member of the Slovensko društvo za evropsko pravo (Slovenian Association for European Law)
  • Member of the Svetovna mreža Univerze v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana Global Alumni and Associates Network)
Honorary titles and awards
  • ‘Young Lawyer of the Year Award 2007’, Zveza društev pravnikov Slovenije (2007)
  • J.H.H. Weiler Prize awarded for the best research paper in the field of EU law, Pravna fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani (2003)
  • Distinction for outstanding achievement in law studies, Faculty of Law of Univerza v Ljubljani (2003)
Pēteris Zilgalvis
Pēteris Zilgalvis
Judge
Biography and career

Mr Pēteris Zilgalvis was born in 1964 in Inglewood (United States) and studied at the University of California, Los Angeles – UCLA (United States), where he graduated in political science in 1986. He continued his studies at the University of Southern California (United States), where he was awarded a Juris Doctor in 1990.

He began his career in the same year as a Senior Adviser at the Latvijas Republikas Vides aizsardzības komiteja, Augstākā padome (Environmental Protection Committee, Parliament, Latvia), a position he held until 1992. He then began working at the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a desk officer for the European Parliament, the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In addition, he was admitted to the California Bar (United States) in 1991.

In 1993, Mr Zilgalvis held the position of Environmental Specialist for the Baltic Region at the World Bank and was appointed Senior Environmental Law Adviser for the project ‘Russian Federation – Environmental Management Project’ in 1996.

In 1997, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Bioethics Department at the Council of Europe, a position he held until 2005. He subsequently joined the European Commission as Head of the Governance and Ethics Unit and then, in 2010, as the Head of the Infectious Diseases and Public Health Unit. Between 2010 and 2016, he continued his career within the European Commission as Head of the Health and Well Being Unit. In 2016 he was appointed Head of the Digital Innovation and Blockchain Unit and held that position until 2021. He is also the author of publications in legal journals, in connection with fields such as bioethics, digital technology, human rights and environmental law.

Mr Zilgavis was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 27 September 2021.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the Editorial Board of the Baltic Yearbook of International Law
  • Member of the World Economic Forum Digital Currency Governance Consortium
  • Member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Blockchain Expert Policy Advisory Board
Krisztián Kecsmár
Krisztián Kecsmár
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1975 in Budapest (Hungary), Mr Krisztián Kecsmár studied law at the Jean Monnet Faculty of the Paris-Sud University (Paris XI, France) where he obtained a law degree in 1998, a master’s degree in international law and EU law in 1999 and a Master in business and EU law in 2000.

Mr Kecsmár began his professional career in a law firm in Hungary from 2001 to 2005.

In 2005, he joined the service of the European Commission as case handler at the Directorate-General for Information Society and Media. He also worked in that capacity at the Directorate-General for Competition from 2009 to 2015, in 2016 and from 2018 to 2021.

From May 2015 to April 2016, Mr Kecsmár was seconded by the European Commission to the Hungarian Ministry of Justice as Member of the Office of the Ministry for European Affairs.

Between 2016 and 2018, Mr Kecsmár was appointed as Secretary of State for International and European Union Judicial Cooperation of the Hungarian Ministry of Justice.

Mr Kecsmár was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 27 October 2021.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Editor-in-chief of the legal journal Európai Tükör
Honorary titles and awards
  • Vladár Gábor award (2018)
Ion Gâlea
Ion Gâlea
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1978 in Iaşi (Romania), Mr Ion Gâlea obtained a law degree in 2000 at the Universitatea din București (University of Bucharest, Romania) and a master’s degree in EU law at the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne (France) as part of the Franco-Romanian Legal College for European Studies programme organised in cooperation with the Universitatea din București. In 2002, he obtained a Master in International Relations at the Școala Națională de Studii Politice și Administrative (National School of Political and Administrative Sciences, Romania). He continued his studies at the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (University of Graz, Austria), where he obtained a Master in European Studies in 2006. Back in Romania, he began to study for a doctorate in law at the Universitatea din București and defended his thesis in 2008.

Mr Gâlea started his professional career at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he held the position of attaché diplomatique at the International Law and Treaties Directorate between 2000 and 2002, before taking up the post of Head of the EU Law Department between 2002 and 2007. From 2007 to 2009, he focussed on a service of public interest as a public notary.

After returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Gâlea was appointed as an expert at the EU Law Directorate and held the position of Director between 2009 to 2010. He was then appointed asGeneral Director of Legal Affairs and worked in that capacity between 2010 and 2016.

From 2016 to 2020, he was Ambassador of Romania to Bulgaria and in 2021, he became General Director of the European Bilateral Relations and Regional Cooperation Department at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr Gâlea also taught law at the Universitatea din București: he was a university assistant between 2002 and 2012, then lecturer from 2012 to 2016, and senior lecturer from 2016 to 2021. In 2021, he was appointed Professor at that university.

In addition, he taught as a Visiting Professor at the Hayastani divanagitakan dprots’ (Diplomatic School of Armenia) in 2010, but also at the Institutul Diplomatic Român (Romanian Diplomatic Institute) from 2009 to 2015 and at the Universidade da Coruña (University of A Coruña, Spain) in 2015.

He is the author of numerous publications in the legal field.

Mr Gâlea was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 27 October 2021.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the editorial board of the Revista română de drept internațional
  • Member of the Romanian division of the International Law Association
  • Member of the ‘Societatea Română de Drept European’
  • Member of the Francophone Network of International Law
  • Deputy Director of the Research Centre for International and Transnational Law of the Universitatea din București
Honorary titles and awards
  • Diplomatic Merit Medal, first class (Romania, 2007)
  • National Order of Merit (Romania, 2009)
  • National Order of ‘Faithful Service’ (Romania, 2013)
  • Order ‘Madarski Konnik’, first class (Bulgaria, 2021)
Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos
Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1971 in Athens (Greece), Mr Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos graduated in law in 1992 from the Ethniko kai Kapodistriako Panepistimio Athinon (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece) and completed his studies with a master’s degree in law which was awarded to him by the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas (University of Paris II, Panthéon-Assas, France) in 1994.

Admitted to the Athens Bar in 1995, Mr Dimitrakopoulos practised there as a lawyer until 1997.

In 1998, he joined the Symvoulio tis Epikrateias (Council of State, Greece) as a junior officer, where he served as a junior member from 2005 to 2022 dealing, in particular, with cases in the fields of tax law, competition and trade mark law and public procurement law. In 2022, he was appointed as conseiller d’État (Councillor of State). In addition to those functions, he was a member of the ‘Planning and Organising’ committee of the Symvoulio tis Epikrateias from 2009 to 2010. In 2005, he joined the Office of the European Ombudsman for three years (Strasbourg, France), where he was principal legal adviser before returning to the Symvoulio tis Epikrateias in 2008.

Between 2010 and 2020, Mr Dimitrakopoulos also served as Alternate Chairman of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency (Helsinki, Finland).

From 2014 to 2015, he was appointed as an assistant judge to the Anotato Eidiko Dikastirio (Supreme Special Court, Greece) and to the Eidiko Dikastirio tou arthrou 88 par. 2 tou Syntagmatos (Special Court established under Article 88(2) of the Greek Constitution). Furthermore, he served as Vice-President of the Association of Judges of the Symvoulio tis Epikrateias between 2014 and 2016.

In addition, Mr Dimitrakopoulos dedicated himself to research and teaching: from 2003 to 2004, he was Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley (United States) and, in this capacity, taught courses in European environmental law and comparative law. Since 2010, he has also been Professor at the Ethniki Scholi Dikastikon Leitourgon (National School of Judicial Officers, Greece). He is the author of numerous publications, which include, in particular, tax law, EU law and fundamental rights.

Mr Dimitrakopoulos was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 13 January 2022.

Damjan Kukovec
Damjan Kukovec
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1977 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Mr Damjan Kukovec obtained a law degree at the Faculty of Law of the Univerza v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) in 2001 and a master’s degree in law at Harvard Law School (United States) in 2002. He studied for a doctorate at that university, and defended his thesis there in 2015.

In 2002, he began his professional career as a judicial trainee at the Višje sodišče v Ljubljani (Court of Appeal, Ljubljana, Slovenia) and held that position until 2004. During 2004, he was a lawyer at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Freetown, Sierra Leone) and at the Ustavno sodišče (Constitutional Court, Slovenia).

In 2005, Mr Kukovec joined the Court of Justice of the European Union as a lawyer before joining the Legal Service of the European Commission from 2006 to 2018. In 2006, he passed the Slovenian state bar exam.

At the same time, Mr Kukovec dedicated himself to an academic career, mostly in the field of EU law. Between 2011 and 2013, he taught global law at Harvard Law School and at its Institute for Global Law and Policy. He subsequently taught at several universities of law worldwide, including the FGV Direito Rio, Rio de Janeiro (Law Faculty of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) in 2014, the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies (Belgium) in 2016, the European University Institute of Florence (EUI, Italy) in 2016 and 2017, and the Univerza v Ljubljani between 2018 and 2020. From 2018, Mr Kukovec was also a senior lecturer in law and Associate Director of the PhD programme at Middlesex University in London (United Kingdom).

Mr Kukovec is the author of numerous publications in EU law. He is a regular guest lecturer at universities worldwide.

Mr Kukovec was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 13 January 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of RECONNECT
  • Member of the British International Studies Association
  • Member of the Society of Legal Scholars
  • Member of the Pravniško društvo Ljubljana
  • Member of the European Society of International Law
  • Member of the Klub alumnov Pravne fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani
  • Member of the Slovensko društvo za evropsko pravo (Slovenian Association for European Law)
  • Member of the European Union Studies Association
Honorary titles and awards
  • Award for the best thesis in EU law, awarded by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia (2001)
  • Gold Medal for Academic Achievement, awarded by the Univerza v Ljubljani (2001)
  • Landon Gammon Prize, awarded by Harvard Law School (2001)
  • Rotary fellowship, awarded by Rotary Club Ljubljana (2008)
  • Academic fellowships, awarded by Harvard Law School (2009-2012)
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2020)
Suzanne Kingston
Suzanne Kingston
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1977 in Dublin (Ireland), Ms Suzanne Kingston graduated in law from Oxford University (United Kingdom) in 1998 and obtained a master’s degree in law at Universiteit Leiden (University of Leiden, Netherlands) in 2000. She then began to study for a doctorate in law at that university, and defended her thesis there in 2009.

In 1998, she was admitted as a Barrister at the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, London (United Kingdom). In 2002, she joined the Brussels office of an international law firm where she practised law until 2004.

Ms Kingston subsequently joined the Court of Justice of the European Union as a legal secretary to Advocate General Leendert Geelhoed, with whom she worked from 2004 to 2006.

Ms Kingston was admitted to serve as a Barrister at the Honourable Society of King’s Inns, Dublin (Ireland) in 2007. She has practised law at the Bar of Ireland since 2007 as a Barrister, then as a Senior Counsel.

In addition, Ms Kingston taught law at the University College Dublin (Ireland) as a senior lecturer from 2007 to 2015, then, from 2015, as professor. During her academic career, she also taught at other universities, in particular at Columbia University (United States), Cambridge University (United Kingdom), Universiteit Leiden, and Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto (Canada). She is the author of numerous publications in EU law.

Ms Kingston was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 13 January 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Vice-President of the Irish Centre for European Law
  • Member of the editorial board of the legal journal Irish Jurist
Honorary titles and awards
  • European Research Council Award (2015)
  • Ireland’s Champions of EU Research, awarded by the Irish Research Council (2017)
Tihamér Tóth
Tihamér Tóth
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1971 in Zalaegerszeg (Hungary), Mr Tihamér Tóth studied law at the Szegedi Tudományegyetem (University of Szeged, Hungary), where he obtained a degree in law in 1994. It was at that same university that he pursued doctoral studies and defended his thesis in law in 2001.

In 1994, he began his professional career in Hungary as a legal officer at the European Affairs Office, hosted in turn by the Ministry for International Economic Relations, the Ministry for Industry and Trade and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs .

Between 1997 and 2001, he held the position of case handler at the International Office of the Hungarian Competition Authority. From 2001 to 2003, he was a member and then, from 2003 to 2009, President of the Competition Council (Hungary). During that latter period, he also served as Vice-President of the Hungarian Competition Authority.

From 2009 to 2022, he practised as a lawyer in Hungary, particularly in the area of competition law.

From 1999, Mr Tóth also dedicated himself to an academic career at the Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem (Pázmány‑Péter Catholic University, Hungary). He was a lecturer there between 1999 and 2010 and then became Vice-Dean, responsible, from 2010 to 2013, for research and international relations, from 2013 to 2014, for student affairs and, since 2015, for international relations. Mr Tóth was appointed as a professor at that university in 2018, where he held the Jean Monnet Chair in Competition Law between 2019 and 2022.

He is the author of numerous works and publications on competition law.

Mr Tóth was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 6 July 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Member of the editorial board of the Versenytükör, the professional journal of the Hungarian Competition Authority
  • Member of the International League of Competition Law (LIDC) and its Scientific Committee
  • Member of the Management Board of the Magyar Versenyjogi Egyesület
  • Member of the International Advisory Board of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at the Loyola School of Law (Chicago, United States)
  • Member of the Regulatory Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary
  • Advisor to the Decision Board of the Önszabályozó Reklám Testület
Honorary titles and awards
  • A Magyar Érdemrend Lovagkeresztje (polgári tagozat) (2017)
Beatrix Ricziová
Beatrix Ricziová
Judge
Biography and career

Born 1981 in Bratislava (Slovakia), Ms Beatrix Ricziová obtained from the Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave (Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia) a master’s degree in law in 2005 before being awarded the title of Doctor of Laws there in 2012.

She began her professional career in 2002 as a judicial assistant in a law firm in Slovakia where she worked until 2004. From 2003, she also undertook translation and interpretation duties at events organised by the municipality of Stupava (Slovakia) for a number of years.

Between 2005 and 2006, Ms Ricziová joined the Institute for the Approximation of Laws of the Government Office of Slovakia as a lawyer, and then, from 2007 to 2008, the office of the main agent for the representation of Slovakia before the Court of Justice of the European Union integrated within the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. Between 2009 and 2022, she served as the main agent for Slovakia before the Courts of the European Union.

Ms Ricziová was also a member, from 2007 to 2010, of the Permanent Committee for Civil and Commercial Law of the Legislative Council of the Government of Slovakia and, from 2012 to 2015, of the Commission for the Recodification of the Civil Procedural Law in Slovakia.

Ms Ricziová was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 6 July 2022.

Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger
Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger
Judge
Biography and career

Ms Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger was born in 1957 in Vienna (Austria) and obtained a law degree in 1980, which she supplemented with studies in international law at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1981.

Ms Tichy-Fisslberger began her professional career at the European Commission in 1982 as a conference interpreter, a position she held until 1988. Simultaneously, she continued her linguistic studies at the Universität Wien (University of Vienna, Austria) and obtained a degree in language studies in 1984.

In 1988, she joined the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Directorate General for European and Economic Affairs as a Counsellor, a position she held until 1993.

In 1990, she was seconded to the Austrian Embassy in Dublin. From mid-1991 to mid-1992, she was Deputy Director for EU Transport Policy within the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vienna. She was then seconded to the Austrian Embassy in London.

From 1993 to 2000, she was Minister-Counsellor at the Austrian Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels.

On return to the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms Tichy-Fisslberger was called upon to act as Director of General Affairs of the EU and EU Institutions between 2000 and 2003. Thereafter, she was appointed Deputy Director-General for European and Economic Affairs and, from 2007, Director-General for Legal and Consular Affairs. Furthermore, she also acted as National Coordinator on Combatting Human Trafficking between 2009 and 2017.

Since December 2017, she has been Ambassador at the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations Office and to other international organisations at Geneva. In 2020, she was elected President of the United Nations Human Rights Council and in 2021, Chairperson of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

In parallel with those activities, Ms Tichy-Fisslberger has taught law at the Diplomatische Akademie Wien (Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Austria) since 2002. Between 2006 and 2017, she also taught law at the University of Vienna.

Ms Tichy-Fisslberger was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 15 September 2022.

Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments
  • Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour, France (2005)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein (2021)
  • Lithuanian Diplomacy Star (2021)
William Valasidis
William Valasidis
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1971 in Thessaloniki (Greece), Mr William Valasidis obtained a law degree in 1993 at l’Aristoteleio Panepistimio Thessalonikis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece) and supplemented his studies with a master's degree in law from Harvard Law School (faculty of law at Harvard, United States) in 1996.

From 1993 to 1995, he trained as a lawyer in the context of examinations for admission to the legal profession. Admitted to the Thessaloniki Bar in 1996, Mr Valasidis then practised in law firms in Mexico and in the United States.

In 1998 he entered into the service of the Court of Justice of the European Union for the first time, as a Legal Secretary in the chambers of Judge Krateros Ioannou.  He then performed his duties with Judge Vassilios Skouris, who became President of the Court in 2003 and with whom he worked for fifteen years, from 1999 to 2014. 

In 2014, he was appointed Director of the Protocol and Information Directorate at the Court, then Director of Communications, which duties he performed until 2022.

An author of legal publications and of editorial works, he also attaches very great importance to the teaching of European Union legal practice, being actively involved in the organisation and running of the European Law Moot Court Competition, as a panel member from 2004 to 2005, then as member and Vice-President of the European Law Moot Court Society from 2006 to 2022.  He also participates regularly in national and international conferences.

Mr Valasidis was appointed a Judge at the General Court on 15 September 2022.

Steven Verschuur
Steven Verschuur
Judge
Biography and career

Mr Steven Verschuur was born in 1977 in Arnhem (Netherlands). He studied law at the Universiteit Utrecht (University of Utrecht, Netherlands) and obtained a master’s degree in law there in 2001. He continued his university education at l’université de Liège (University of Liège, Belgium), where he was awarded a diplôme d’études approfondies (diploma of advanced studies) in European law in 2002. He defended his doctoral thesis in law in 2010 at the University of Utrecht.

From 2002 onwards, Mr Verschuur pursued a career as a lawyer with various law firms in the Netherlands and in Belgium, in various areas of EU law such as competition, State aid, trade policy, public procurement or restrictive measures adopted in the context of the common foreign and security policy of the Union.

He also wrote a considerable number of articles on those subjects for legal journals and publications.

Simultaneously, he was a Deputy Judge in the Civil Law Division of the Rechtbank Zeeland-West-Brabant (District Court, Zeeland-West-Brabant, Netherlands) from 2021 to 2022.

Mr Verschuur was appointed a Judge at the General Court on 15 September 2022.

Saulius Lukas Kalėda
Saulius Lukas Kalėda
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1976 in Kraków (Poland), Mr Saulius Lukas Kalėda obtained a law degree from Vilniaus universitetas (Vilnius University, Lithuania) in 1999, followed by a master's degree from the Zentrum für Europäische Integrationsforschung of the Universität Bonn (Bonn University, Germany) in 2000 and a doctorate in law from Uniwersytet Jagielloński (Jagiellonian University of Kraków, Poland) in 2002.

In 1998, Mr Kalėda began his professional career as a lawyer at the Insurance Supervisory Commission of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Between 2002 and 2003, during the EU accession negotiations, he worked as a senior expert in the European Law Department of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. He then joined the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Internal Market as a lawyer from 2003 to 2004.

Between 2004 and 2013 Mr Kalėda worked as a Legal Secretary at the General Court of the European Union, in the chambers of Judge Vilenas Vadapalas and then in the chambers of Judge Egidijus Bieliūnas. In 2013 he joined the Court of Justice as a Legal Secretary to Advocate General Maciej Szpunar. Between 2017 and 2023 he has been a member of the Legal Service of the European Commission. As an agent, he has represented the Commission in a large number of cases before the courts of the European Union.

Mr Kalėda is also involved in academic activities, as a lecturer at Vilniaus universitetas from 2002 to 2003 and again in 2011. Since 2013, he has been a lecturer at Uniwersytet Jagielloński. He is the author of numerous publications on the institutional and procedural law of the European Union.

Mr Kalėda was appointed as a judge at the General Court on 27 September 2023.

Louise Spangsberg Grønfeldt
Louise Spangsberg Grønfeldt
Judge
Biography and career

Born in 1980 in Ishøj (Denmark), Ms Louise Spangsberg Grønfeldt obtained a law degree in 2004 and a master's degree in law in 2007 from Københavns Universitet (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). She also obtained a master's degree from the College of Europe (Belgium) in 2007. She was admitted as a lawyer in Denmark in 2012.

Ms Spangsberg Grønfeldt began her professional career in 2007 as a trainee lawyer, a position she held until 2009. During this period, she also taught EU law at Københavns Universitet, first as lecturer and then as senior lecturer.

From 2009 to 2013, she worked as a lawyer-linguist at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.

Between 2013 and 2016, Ms Spangsberg Grønfeldt was a member of the Legal Service of the European Commission, in the Budget team. She then served as Legal Secretary to Judge Jesper Svenningsen at the General Court of the European Union until 2018. At the end of that year, she returned to the Legal Service of the European Commission (State Aid team), before being appointed in 2019 as a member of the Cabinet of Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission. From the end of 2020 to 2023, she worked in the Justice and Home Affairs team of the Legal service of the European Commission.

Ms Spangsberg Grønfeldt was appointed as a judge of the General Court on 27 September 2023.

Vittorio Di Bucci
Vittorio Di Bucci
Registrar
Biography and career

Born in 1963 in Asti (Italy), Mr Di Bucci studied law at the Università degli Studi di Torino (University of Turin, Italy), where he obtained a Master's degree in law in 1986. He continued his studies at the université de Nancy II (University of Nancy II, France) where he obtained a postgraduate degree in Community law in 1988.

In 1987, Mr Di Bucci joined the Court of Justice as a lawyer-linguist in the Italian translation unit. In 1988, he was recruited by Judge G. Federico Mancini as Legal Secretary within his chambers, a position he held until 1991. He was Legal Secretary to Judge Mancini again between 1994 and 2000.

Between 1991 and 1994, Mr Di Bucci was a member of the Transport, Environment and Consumer team of the Legal Service of the European Commission, an institution which he joined again in 2000 as a member of the State Aids and Dumping team of its Legal Service. Between 2007 and 2010, he was a member of, and then Legal Adviser in, the Competition team. In 2010, he was appointed Principal Legal Adviser in the State Aids and Dumping Team and held the same position in the Business Law Team from 2014 to 2023.

On 5 June 2023, Mr Di Bucci was elected Registrar of the General Court.

He is the author of various publications on EU law, in particular on proceedings before the EU Courts, State Aid and EU banking law.