On 27 September 2021, UNIDROIT celebrated its greatest achievements during almost one century of work on the occasion of the 100th session of UNIDROIT’s Governing Council. Members of the Governing
Council, past and present, eminent Correspondents, and distinguished Representatives from International Organisations (including the Secretary General of the HCCH, Mr. Christophe Bernasconi, the President of the European Law Institute, Professor Pascal Pichonnaz, or Acting Director General of DG Justice of the European Commission, Salla Saastamoinen, among others) gathered in Bologna (about 50 attendees in person) and online (about 80 registered participants) at the Historical Venue of the Oratorio San Filippo Neri.
The Conference, a by-invitation only event, was opened by the hosting institutions, President Maria Chiara Malaguti (UNIDROIT), Professor Giusella Finocchiaro (President of Fondazione del Monte), and Professor Caianiello (Director of the Department of Legal Studies, University of Bologna).
It featured a very rich programme, including (i) an introductory retrospective on the history of the Governing Council since its establishment by the Secretary General, and four panels on the main areas of achievement of the Institute, in the fields of: (ii) Secured Transactions, focused on the Cape Town Convention, though a dialogue between UNIDROIT’s former Secretary General, Professor Herbert Kronke and Sir Roy Goode, with the comments of the Aviation Working Group’s Secretary General Prof. Jeffrey ool; (iii) Contract Law, featuring a dialogue between Professor M. Joachim Bonell and Judge of the Conseil d’Etat, Professor Bénédicte Fauvarque-Cosson, with the comments of Professor Marcel Fontaine; (iii) Private Law and Agriculture, including a discussion between former UNIDROIT’s Secretary General Prof. Angelo Estrella-Faria, Governing Council Member Prof. José Moreno, and FAO representative Carmen Bullón; and (iv) Cultural Property, with an analysis and discussion around the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention held by Principal Legal Officer Marina Schneider, Governing Council Member Jorge Sánchez Cordero (who announced, live, Mexico’s forthcoming ratification of the Convention), and Professor Marc-André Renold. The conference also featured a Key Note speech delivered by Professor Paolo Mengozzi (former Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Professor and Jean Monnet Chair of European Community law at the University of Bologna), on the historical significance of UNIDROIT and International law, as well as a Panel dedicated to the relationship between UNIDROIT and its host state, Italy, chaired by Governing Council member and Professor Stefania Bariatti.
Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.