Moderator

Paul Omar is an academic lawyer working in the British HE sector and serving also as Consultant to a number of international institutions active in the insolvency sector.

Paul has worked in mainstream British academia for 20 years, principally at Sussex University and also in Wales and the East Midlands. At present, he is a Senior Lecturer in Land Law at De Montfort University Leicester. He has also had visiting appointments at the University of Pretoria, University College London and the Jersey Institute of Law, St. Helier. His research interests encompass insolvency, corporate and property law and he has published over 230 books, edited collections, chapters and articles.

Paul has served as Secretary of the INSOL Europe Academic Forum and as a member of the Steering Committee of the INSOL International Academic Group, the INSOL Europe Joint Academic-Practitioner Project on Cooperation and Communications, the Academic Advisory Group on the INSOL International Diploma Project, the Course Committee of the INSOL International Global Insolvency Practice Course and, more recently, as a member of the European Commission’s Experts Group on Restructuring and Insolvency, which helped inform the drafting of the Preventive Restructuring Directive. Paul is at present a Consultant to the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development working on projects in Armenia and external adviser to the Indian Graduate Diploma in Insolvency course. He is also the Technical Research Coordinator for INSOL Europe.

Partner at Turcan Cazac Law Firm. Practicing attorney and trainer for legal professionals, specialized in private law and insolvency. Since 2014 contributed to writing of the Moldovan Civil Code reform and the work of the Moldovan Ministry of Economy on monitoring application of the insolvency legislation. Vladimir has experience of cooperation with international organizations and projects, promoted internships and research at UNIDROIT (Rome), Institute of East European Law (Kiel) and State Bar of New Mexico (Albuquerque). Vladimir’s PhD is devoted to monetary obligations in private law.

Nicoleta Mirela Năstasie is a member of the Romanian judiciary at Bucharest Tribunal, and PhD researcher at the Titu Maiorescu University, Romania, with research theme “Communication, cooperation and coordination in cross-border insolvency of the group of companies”.
She is a Fellow INSOL International 2018, member of the Judicial Group INSOL International, co-chair
of the Judicial Wing INSOL Europe.
She followed The INSOL International Global Insolvency Practice Course 2017-2018, The Postgraduate Course in International Insolvency Law Distance Learning, Nottingham Trent University - Law School, 2016-2017. She is a graduate of the Bucharest University, Romania, 1996.
She is researcher in the project “Judicial Co-Operation supporting Economic Recovery in Europe” (JCOERE), EU JUST/2017 involving the University College Cork, the University of Florence, Titu Maiorescu University Bucharest and INSOL Europe.
She has 24 years of experience, as following:1996 – 2004 lawyer; 2004 – present, judge (insolvency and bankruptcy law specialisation since 2011).
She participated in the jury of the Semi-final Moot for the Ian Fletcher International Insolvency Law Moot Competition, in Vancouver, 2018, Singapore, 2019, London, 2020, organised by the INSOL International and International Insolvency Institute.

Kate Lannan is a Senior Legal Officer in the UNCITRAL secretariat in Vienna, Austria, currently responsible for insolvency matters. She has worked with the UNCITRAL secretariat since 2002, focusing on a variety of subjects including insolvency, commercial fraud, and international transport (the Rotterdam Rules). She has also worked in various senior capacities with the World Health Organization in Geneva and the WHO Regional Office in Manila, focusing on tobacco control, law and non-communicable diseases, and trade and investment law matters. Kate began her career in private practice in Canada, before taking up public service first as a member of Canada's diplomatic corps, specialising in trade and investment law and policy, and then as a staff member of various intergovernmental organisations.

Catherine Bridge Zoller is a Senior Counsel for restructuring and insolvency in the EBRD's Legal Transition Team, which aims to promote an investor-friendly, transparent and predictable legal environment in the EBRD countries of operations. Since joining the Bank in 2012, Catherine has led a number of EBRD projects spanning from insolvency law reform to institutional and regulatory capacity building. She has also helped develop strategies for non-performing loan resolution in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE) both as part of the Vienna Initiative 2 platform and outside the CEE in countries such as Mongolia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Prior to joining the Bank, Catherine was a senior associate in the Restructuring and Insolvency department of Clifford Chance LLP and worked in the firm's London, Milan and Munich offices and was seconded to Dubai, where she contributed to reform of the United Arab Emirates Bankruptcy Law.

A UK and Canadian national, Catherine is a qualified solicitor in England & Wales and a graduate of Oxford University. She is fluent in French, German and Italian.