Global Threats to the Rule of Law Participants

Adam Bodnar

Adam Bodnar is a lawyer specializing in constitutional law and human rights and currently serves as Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland. He previously served as Commissioner for Human Rights (2015–2021) and as Dean of the Faculty of Law at SWPS University in Warsaw (2021–2023).

His work focuses on human rights and the rule of law, combining academic research with public service and civil society engagement. He is the author of numerous publications in these fields and has received several international awards for his contributions to the protection of human rights.

Dominic Grieve KC

Dominic Grieve KC is a barrister and former Conservative MP for Beaconsfield (1997–2019). He served as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2014 and was Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from 2015 to 2019.

His work focuses on public and constitutional law, with experience before the UK Supreme Court, the European Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights. He was called to the bar in 1980, took silk in 2008, and is a Bencher of the Middle Temple. He is also a visiting professor in Law, Politics and Human Rights at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Patrick Hodge

Patrick Hodge is a former Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (2020–2025) and has served as a Justice of the Court since 2013.

He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1983 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1996. He served as a Senator of the College of Justice from 2005 to 2013 and previously held roles including part-time Law Commissioner at the Scottish Law Commission and judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey.

Elisabeth Holzleithner

Elisabeth Holzleithner is Professor of Legal Philosophy and Legal Gender Studies at the University of Vienna. Her academic journey is marked by a commitment to law, philosophy, and gender studies, cementing her status as a prominent scholar and advocate for gender equality. Her research focuses primarily on Legal Gender Studies, establishing her as a leading authority in the field. Beyond her academic achievements, Holzleithner has been recognized for her contributions to gender equality and women's history. She was awarded the Käthe Leichter Prize in 2001 and the Gabriele Possanner Prize for her scholarly endeavors supporting gender democracy in Austria. Her dedication to gender studies has earned her accolades such as the Frauenring Prize and the Gabriele Possanner State Prize in 2017.

Regina Kiener

Regina Kiener is Professor (emerita) of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Zurich and formerly held professorships at the University of Bern. She has also been a visiting professor at the Hebrew University and has taught at various judicial and public administration institutions.

Her work focuses on constitutional rights, human rights, and procedural law, combining academic research with advisory roles for governmental and international bodies, including the Swiss federal authorities and the Council of Europe. Since 2013, she has been a member of the Venice Commission and has served as a judge at the Aargau Court of Judicial Supervision and Administration.

Mordechai Kremnitzer

Mordechai Kremnitzer is a legal scholar specializing in criminal and constitutional law and a former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1990–1993).

His work focuses on criminal law theory, freedom of expression, and the role of the judiciary, alongside broader questions of law and national security. He has been active in public service, including chairing committees on criminal law reform, contributing to the drafting of the penal code, and serving as president of the Press Council and deputy president of the Israel Democracy Institute.

Matthias Mahlmann

Matthias Mahlmann is Professor of Philosophy and Theory of Law, Sociology of Law, and International Public Law at the University of Zurich. His research focuses in particular on practical philosophy and the foundations of law. 2005-2022 Recurrent Visiting Professor, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. Visiting Professorships at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 2007, 2016; Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., 2012; BOK Visiting International Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Philadelphia, 2017; since 2018 German-Turkish University, Istanbul; 2021/22 Visiting Researcher Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Oxford, Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford. He was president of the world organisation of the International Association of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR) until 2024. 

Christopher McCrudden

Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law at Queens University Belfast, William W Cook Global Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, and a practicing barrister-at-law with Blackstone Chambers. He was formerly Professor of Human Rights at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Queen's University in 2006, and a certificate of merit by the American Society of International Law in 2008. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and the International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, and is co-editor of Cambridge University Press' Law in Context series. He was a member of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights (1984-88), and the Procurement Board for Northern Ireland (2004-2008). In 2011, he was awarded a three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. During 2013-14, he was a Straus Fellow at New York University Law School, and during 2014-15 he was a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

Daniel Moeckli

Daniel Moeckli is Professor of Public Law with a focus on international and comparative law at the University of Zurich (since 2018). He previously held academic positions at the University of Zurich and the University of Nottingham and has been a visiting fellow or professor at institutions including Cambridge, Leiden, the European University Institute, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

His work focuses on public international law, constitutional law, and comparative constitutional law. Alongside his academic career, he has been active in human rights practice and advisory roles, including work with Amnesty International and the International Bar Association, and currently serves on various scientific and human rights bodies in Switzerland and internationally.

Angela Müller

Angela Müller is Executive Director of AlgorithmWatch CH in Zurich and a member of the Executive Board of AlgorithmWatch. She previously led the organisation’s policy team and has testified as an expert before the Council of Europe, the German Bundestag, and the Swiss Parliament.

Her work focuses on AI governance, human rights, and digital policy. She holds a PhD in Law from the University of Zurich, with research on the cross-border applicability of human rights in the context of new technologies, and has held academic and policy roles in Switzerland and internationally, including visiting positions at Columbia University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

András Sájo

András Sájo, former judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, is a University Professor at CEU, where he was the founding dean of Legal Studies. A prominent constitutionalist and distinguished scholar in human rights, particularly in media regulation. He has played key roles in legal drafting across Eastern Europe. Furthermore, he advised on the drafting of constitutions in Ukraine, Georgia, and South Africa. Beforehand he served as Counsel to the President of Hungary, chaired the Media Codification Committee of the Hungarian Government and was the principal draftsman of Hungary's Environment Code. Additionally, he founded and led the Hungarian League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty and served as Deputy Chair of Hungary's National Deregulation Board.

Kate Shaw

Kate Shaw is a constitutional law scholar and Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (since 2024), previously teaching at Cardozo School of Law, where she also co-directed the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy.

Her work focuses on executive power, administrative law, the Supreme Court, and the law of democracy. She previously worked in the White House Counsel’s Office under President Barack Obama and clerked for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and Judge Richard Posner.

Sarah Summers

Sarah Summers is Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law and Criminology at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zurich. She was a member of the Panel Humanities at the Swiss Research Council (SNF) from 2018 until 2023. Her research interests lie in the field of criminal law and human rights. Her research concerns consideration of the empirical realities of criminal justice and of the importance of normative principles underpinning systems of criminal justice in the rule of law. She is co-director of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI), commission member of the Criminal Institute of the Canton of Zurich, a member of the Prosecutorial Regulatory Oversight Commission of the Canton of Basel City. She is also on the Editorial Committee of Quaestio Facti: International Journal on Evidential Reasoning and is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Evidence and Proof.

Arun Thiruvengadam

Arun Thiruvengadam is Professor of Law at the National Law School of India University (since 2021). He previously held academic positions at the National University of Singapore and Azim Premji University, and has been a visiting scholar and lecturer at various institutions worldwide.

His work focuses on constitutional and administrative law in India, comparative constitutional law, and law and development. He has combined academic work with legal practice and judicial clerkship at the Supreme Court of India, and serves as a founding editor of the Indian Law Review as well as on the editorial boards of several comparative law journals.

Renata Uitz

Renata Uitz is Professor of Law and Government at Royal Holloway, University of London (since 2023). She previously taught at Central European University (2001–2023), where she also served as co-director of the CEU Democracy Institute.

Her work focuses on comparative constitutional law, public law, and the dynamics of constitutional democracy, with particular emphasis on illiberal constitutionalism, individual autonomy, and religious freedom. She has led and participated in several international research projects on constitutional change and is the co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Illiberalism (2022).

Miroslaw Wyrzykowski

Mirosław Wyrzykowski is Professor emeritus at the University of Warsaw and a former judge of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (2001–2010). He previously held academic leadership roles at the Faculty of Law and Administration and worked at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law.

His work focuses on constitutional law, comparative law, and human rights, combining academic research with public service, including advisory roles to the Polish government and international legal bodies. He has also been active in legal academia as a member and former president of the Legal Science Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.