Introducing the New Members of the ITA Academic Council

The Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), a division of The Center for American and International Law, announces the appointment of seven new members to its prestigious Academic Council.

WOLFGANG ALSCHNER is an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He holds a BA degree in International Relations from the University of Dresden, an LLB degree from the University of London, a Master of Law from Stanford Law School, as well as two degrees (a Master in International Affairs and a PhD) from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. He is an empirical legal scholar specialized in international economic law and the computational analysis of law.

ERIC DE BRABANDERE holds the Chair in International Dispute Settlement at Leiden University Law School, and is a founding partner of De Meulemeester & De Brabandere Law Firm (DMDB Law) based in Brussels. He is specialised in international arbitration and international investment law. At Leiden Law School, Eric De Brabandere is Director of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, and of the Master of Advanced Studies in International Dispute Settlement and Arbitration which he founded in 2017. Eric De Brabandere also is Editor-in-Chief of the Leiden Journal of International Law, and a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of World Investment & Trade, the Revue belge de droit international, and the Martinus Nijhoff Investment Law Book Series. He formerly held visiting professorships at the University of Trento in Italy in international investment law and the Catholic University of Lille in France in international dispute settlement. He is the author or editor of the books ‘Investment Treaty Arbitration as Public International Law: Procedural Aspects and Implications' (CUP, 2014), 'Procedure in Interstate Litigation: A Comparative Approach' (as editor) (CUP, 2020 forthcoming), ‘Foreign Investment in the Energy Sector: Balancing Private and Public Interests (edited with T. Gazzini) (Martinus Nijhoff, 2014), ‘Investment Law: The Sources of Rights and Obligations’ (edited with T. Gazzini) (Martinus Nijhoff, 2012), and more than 80 book chapters and articles on international law, investment law, and international arbitration. Alongside his academic position at Leiden University, Eric De Brabandere practices in international law and investment arbitration as partner with DMDB Law. He has been appointed as sole and co-arbitrator in commercial arbitrations, regularly acts as expert in international proceedings, and has acted as counsel in investment treaty arbitrations under the ICSID Convention and the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.

KATIA FACH GÓMEZ is a Tenured Professor (Professeur Titulaire) in Private International Law at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and also an Independent Arbitrator and Mediator in International and Domestic Disputes. She is a member of the Institute of European Law and Regional Integration (IDEIR) of the Complutense University of Madrid. Katia is a certified mediator in Spain (included in the official register of mediators of the Spanish Ministry of Justice). She has been designated by the Kingdom of Spain as conciliator in the official list of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) (end of the term - February 2026). She was Adjunct Professor at Fordham University (New York), Visiting Scholar at Columbia Law School (NY), and Pre- and Post-Doctoral Grantee at the Max-Planck Institut (Germany). She has also lectured at numerous European and Latin American Universities (Germany, France, Czech Republic, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Chile, Colombia and Peru). She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Zaragoza, holds a European Ph.D. summa cum laude in International Environmental Law, and an LL.M. summa cum laude from Fordham University. She is author of several books and book chapters and her articles have appeared in a number of international peer-reviewed law journals. Admitted to the Spanish bar, she has been involved in various international litigation and arbitration cases in USA and Europe, and has chaired several arbitration panels in Spain. She has served numerous times as scientific expert for the European Commission and various foreign funding agencies.

MARIA CHIARA MALAGUTI is Full Professor of International law at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milan/Rome, Italy). She is currently legal advisor to the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAECI) on trade matters and to the World Bank on modernization of payment systems, financial markets and governance. Having taken part into many negotiations of legal instruments in the field of commerce as part of the Italian delegation, she currently chairs the UNCITRAL WG1 on Micro, Small and Medium-Size Enterprises. An international arbitrator in particular for foreign direct investments, she also supports the General Attorney’s Office of Italy in all procedures opened against Italy until now. She practices as a lawyer in Milan and Rome, and also assists private parties in arbitration and ADR. Maria Chiara is in the list of arbitrators for the OSCE Court, included in the roster of ICSID conciliators and arbitrators (appointed by Italy), in the list of DSB - WTO panelists (for trade in goods and services and intellectual property), member of the Arbitration and ADR Committee ICC Italy, Italian delegate at the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR (international) and member of the IILA Administrative Court (Italian-Latin American Institute).

In the past, she was legal assistant and chief of cabinet at the European Court of Justice, and until July 2003 she was senior expert at the European Central Bank. Dr. Malaguti holds degrees in law and in economics, an LLM from Harvard Law School and a PhD from the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. A national of Italy, she is fluent in English, French, Spanish and German. She publishes extensively.

MARTINS PAPARINSKIS teaches at UCL Faculty of Laws in London. He is a generalist public international lawyer with a variety of specialist interests. He has published and spoken on generalist topics, such as law of treaties, State responsibility, and international dispute settlement, as well as on topics in the subfields of international investment law, international trade law, international human rights law, and international environmental law.

ANNA SPAIN BRADLEY is the incoming Vice Chancellor of equity, diversity and inclusion at UCLA (September 1) and current Professor of Law at the University of Colorado specializing in international law, international dispute resolution and human rights. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Spain Bradley served as an attorney-adviser at the U.S. Department of State where she represented the US before the Iran-US Claims Tribunal and has served as legal counsel for state parties in investment-state disputes before the Permanent Court of Arbitration since 2015. She is also a mediator with over 20 years of experience and a founding member and former Board Member of Mediators Beyond Borders International. Spain Bradley is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, a member of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration’s Academic Council and a former Executive Council member of the American Society of International Law. She is the author of two forthcoming books and numerous law review articles and is the co-editor of a casebook on international dispute resolution.

CATHERINE TITI, DR IUR., FCIARB is a Research Associate Professor (tenured) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)–CERSA, University Paris II Panthéon-Assas, France. She serves on the Steering Committee of the Academic Forum on ISDS, whose work contributes to the discussions in Working Group III of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL WG III). She is Co-Chair of the ESIL Interest Group on International Economic Law, Member of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on Rule of Law and International Investment Law and she serves on the Editorial Board of the Yearbook on International Investment Law & Policy (Columbia/OUP). Catharine holds a PhD from the University of Siegen in Germany (Summa cum laude, Rolf H. Brunswig PhD Prize), she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and she is designated to the Pool of Arbitrators of the Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA). She has previously been a consultant at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In 2016, Catharine was awarded the prestigious Smit-Lowenfeld Prize of the International Arbitration Club of New York for the best article published in the field of international arbitration.

VIEW THE COMPLETE ACADEMIC COUNCIL FOR 2020-2021