Advisory Board 

Rt. Hon. Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury

Former President of the UK Supreme Court, President of the BIICL

Lord Neuberger was called to the English bar in 1975. Specializing in property law, he took silk in 1987. Neuberger's practice involved extensive court and arbitration advocacy and advisory work. In 1996, he was appointed a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division, where he handled a broad spectrum of cases, from financial and commercial contractual disputes to insolvency and intellectual property law. His role expanded in 2001 when he became Supervisory Chancery Judge for Midland, Wales, Chester, and Western Circuits. Promoted to Lord Justice of Appeal and Privy Counsellor in 2004, he also took on the role of Judge in charge of IT and modernization. By 2007, he had ascended to the position of Law Lord, earning peerage and then becoming Master of the Rolls in 2009. In 2012 he was appointed President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, a position he held until his retirement in 2017, after which he joined One Essex Court as an arbitrator, mediator and legal expert.

Since 2010, he has served as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and, from 2018, as a judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court. His leadership roles extended to being the Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn in 2017 and chairing the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom. He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society and an honorary member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He is also a trustee of mental health research, prisoner support, and educational trusts. Neuberger chaired the Magna Carta Trust and led an investigation for the Bar Council into widening access to the barrister profession. In 2021, he succeeded Lord Phillips as President of BIICL, actively supporting its activities and initiatives.

Lord Neuberger has been unwaveringly committed to the judiciary system in Ukraine. He chaired the International Advisory Board (IAB), which provided invaluable feedback and comments during the preparation of the Final Recommendations and the Road Map for establishing and operating the new IP Court in Ukraine. He was involved in Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine, which was established on March 29, 2022. His career is marked by a profound dedication to the law and a commitment to broadening access to justice and education.

Sir Nicholas Forwood KC

Former judge of the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union (1999-2015)

Sir Nicholas Forwood KC was called to the English bar in 1970. After eight years practice in London, he moved to Brussels in 1979 to set up a new chambers of barristers specialising in EC and competition law. Over the next 20 years he practised extensively in this field, before both the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance (now the General Court of the EU) where he pleaded regularly both for corporate and individual clients as well as for the Community institutions. Also called to the Irish bar in 1981, and made Queen's Counsel in 1987, he was appointed to the CJEU as a judge of the General Court in December 1999.

Over 16 years as a Judge of the General Court, Sir Nicholas took part in many of the Court's leading judgments, dealing with more than 1500 cases, 464 of which were as "juge rapporteur". In the competition field, these included the trio of judgments in 2002 (Airtours, Tetra-Laval and Schneider) that led to a fundamental restructuring of the Commission's merger task force, the review of the Commission's GE/Honeywell merger decision, the Microsoft (2007) and Microsoft (2012) cases on abuse of dominant position, in the latter as reporting judge, as well as numerous cartel cases including JFE Engineering. In other fields, he was reporting judge in the earliest judgments concerning judicial review of restrictive measures against suspected terrorists and organisations (PMOI, Kadi), in several leading judgments on state aids and in relation to EU IP law (trade marks, designs, plant variety rights), and the FIFA/UEFAcases on the broadcasting rights for the World Cup and European Cup.
 

Virgilijus Valancius

Senior International Expert, Support to EU Integration Process in the Justice Sector Component Lead, former judge of the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union (2016-2023) 

Virgilijus Valancius began his his professional career as Public Prosecutor, a position he held until 1990. From 1991 to 1994, he subsequently joined the judiciary in his native country as a judge, and then, from 1993 to 1994, as Vice-President of the Vilniaus miesto apylinkės teismas (Vilnius City District Court, Lithuania). Between 1995 and 2002, he was appointed as a judge at the Lietuvos apeliacinis teismas (Court of Appeal of Lithuania), he also chaired the Civil Chamber of that court. From 2002 to 2013, he was a judge at the Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas (Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania), of which he was President between 2002 and 2008.

Since 1997, Mr Valančius has also devoted himself to teaching as a lecturer at the Vilniaus universitetas. In addition, he taught at the Mykolo Romerio universitetas as a lecturer from 1998 to 2000, then as Associate Professor from 2000 to 2008. Between 2002 and 2006, he served as Head of the Civil Procedure Department, and has been appointed as Professor since 2008.

From 2006 to 2008, he was President of the European Association of Judges (EAJ) and held the office of Vice-President of the International Association of Judges (IAJ) from 2006 to 2014. He was also a member of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) from 2000 to 2014, and held that position at the Board of the Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European Union (ACA-Europe) from 2010 to 2013. In addition, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of European Law (ERA) between 2008 and 2011.
  

Anna Adamska-Gallant

Former national judge in Poland and international judge in Kosovo, Senior Key Expert on Judiciary for the EU project Pravo-Justice

Dr. Anna Adamska-Gallant is an expert in the fields of the Rule of Law, criminal law, international humanitarian law, and human rights. Her professional career includes over 17 years as a judge including almost six years as an international judge in Kosovo, where she achieved the honour of a Supreme Court judge and made significant contributions to the adjudication of war crimes cases. Her expertise was recognised with a Doctor of Laws cum laude for her dissertation entitled "Vulnerable Witnesses and Victims of War Crimes in the Practice of International and Hybrid Courts".

Since 2018, Dr. Adamska-Gallant has directed her professional focus towards the transformation of the Ukrainian judiciary. For almost 6 years, she led the judicial component of Pravo Justice, the largest European Union initiative to support the reform of the Ukrainian judiciary. In Poland, she works as a lawyer, specialized in criminal law and human rights. She cooperates as a lecturer with the University of Wroclaw in the Department of Criminology and Security Studies.
  

Olena Kibenko

Judge of the Supreme Court (Ukraine)

Judge Olena Kibenko spent over 25 years in the Academy and over 15 years in private legal practice, focusing on commercial and corporate law before joining the judiciary in 2017.

Judge Kibenko is the author of more than 160 articles on various issues of corporate and commercial law, contracts, and other areas of law, as well as on standards of legal practice in Ukraine. Judge Kibenko is the author of the books: Corporate Governance (2007), Company Law: Comparative Study of EU Acquis and Ukrainian Legislation (2006), European Company Law at the Stage of Fundamental Reforms (2005), Business Law of Ukraine (2005), Corporate Law of Great Britain. Statutes, Cases and Commentaries (2003), International Private Law (2003), Corporate Law of Ukraine (2001), Comments to the Act of Ukraine "On Business Associations" (2000). In 2005, Olena Kibenko was awarded the President of Ukraine Award for Young Scholars for a series of works devoted to the development of corporate law.

She has been leading the Supreme Court's Management and Communications Working Group (2017-2021) and coordinating the Strategic Development Group of the Supreme Court (2021- 2022). She is a member of the working group in the EBRD project on online courts.
  

Kostiantyn Pilkov

PhD, Judge of the Supreme Court, Grand Chamber (Ukraine)

Kostiantyn Pilkov has been a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine since 2017. In 2020, he was elected to the Grand Chamber and re-elected in 2023 for a second term. The Grand Chamber is responsible for deciding important cases in commercial, civil, criminal, and administrative jurisdictions to develop a unified application of the law.

Before he was appointed a Supreme Court Judge, Kostiantyn Pilkov practiced law as an attorney and arbitrator at several national and international arbitration institutions.

Judge Pilkov has authored books and research papers on the theory of evidence and proof in international commercial arbitration and court proceedings. He also lectured as an associate professor at the Department of Civil, Commercial, and International Private Law of the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics from 2016 to 2022.
   

Ivan Mishenko

Judge of the Supreme Court (Ukraine)

Judge Ivan Mishchenko has had private legal practice Since 2006. From 2014 to 2017 he had been a Managing Partner of the Law Firm "Trusted Advisors". Since 2017 he has been a Judge of the Supreme Court. He mainly specializes in contract and property disputes.

He is one of the authors and trainers of the Structure of Judgments training course for the Supreme Court Judges. Since 2021 he has been a member and the Chair of the Selection Commission for selecting the members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, which became operational in June 2023. In February 2022, Judge Mishchenko joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine (93rd Brigade) after the full-scale invasion.

Currently, Judge Mishchenko continues serving as a Judge of the Supreme Court (Ukraine).