Linkedin Instagram Facebook

ACADEMIC PROGRAM

Plenary Session | "The Rule of Law in a changing world"

Organized by the Human Rights Committee

DATE & TIME​

LOCATION

🗓️Wednesday, August 27
🕐 15:00-16:00 EDT

📍 Waldorf Astoria

SPEAKERS

Anna Bower

Lawfare, USA

Bio

Anna Bower is a senior editor at Lawfare. Anna holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Cambridge and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. She joined Lawfare as a recipient of Harvard’s Sumner M. Redstone Fellowship in Public Service. Prior to law school, Anna worked as a judicial assistant for a Superior Court judge in the Northeastern Judicial Circuit of Georgia. She also previously worked as a Fulbright Fellow at Anadolu University in Eskişehir, Turkey. A native of Georgia, Anna is based in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

Meryl J. Chertoff

GeorgeTown Law, USA

Bio

Adjunct Professor of Law. Chertoff is Managing Editor of SLoGLaw, the State and Local Government Blog. She teaches state and local government law, state law and lobbying and the law of the District of Columbia. From 2019-2024 she directed SALPAL, the Georgetown Project on State and Local Government Policy and Law.

From 2009 to 2019 she served as the Executive Director of The Aspen Institute’s Justice and Society Program directing seminars for judges, lawyers and state government officials, and also was founding Director of the Inclusive America Project(now the Religion and Society Program), and Director of the Sandra Day O’Connor Conversation.

Professor Chertoff has had a variety of positions in and around state government. She was Director of the New Jersey Washington Office, served on the legislative staff of a New Jersey Assembly leader, and worked as a lobbyist in Trenton. Professor Chertoff worked in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) participating in the agency’s transition into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.

From 2006-2009 she directed the Sandra Day O’Connor Project at Georgetown Law, on judicial independence and civic education.

She is a graduate of Harvard College and Law School, and served as a law clerk to Federal District Judge Myron H. Thompson (M.D. Ala).

She contributes opinion writing to The Hill, Bloomberg Law, and other publications, has provided expert testimony before state legislatures on various bills, and provides briefings on American federalism to international visitors through US State Department sponsored programs.

Professor Chertoff is admitted to the Bar in New York and New Jersey, is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, member of the National Election Crises Task Force and served as an ABA Advisor to the Uniform Law Commission’s Study Committee on State Governance During Public Health Emergencies in 2020.

Ilya Somin

George Mason University, USA

Bio

Ilya Somin (born 1973) is an American legal scholar. He is a law professor at George Mason University, B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, a blogger for the Volokh Conspiracy, and a former co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review (2006–2013). His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, migration rights, and the study of popular political participation and its implications for constitutional democracy.

SESSION COORDINATORS AND MODERATORS

Charlotte Tregunna

Peters & Peters, UK

Bio

Since joining Peters & Peters in 2010, Charlotte has represented clients in some of the most high-profile and high-value cases in recent times, acting for individuals and corporates in a broad range of sectors including government, royalty, entertainment, finance, construction, engineering and retail.

Charlotte is recognised as a “Future Leader – Partner” in Who’s Who Legal in the Investigations chapter, and a ‘Next Generation Partner’ in Legal 500 2024 for her white-collar practice, and is noted for her work in private prosecutions, regulatory investigations, and corporate crime. One client commented that she “is able to monitor cases with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Her very pragmatic and subtle analysis allows her to be very efficient and successful”.

Charlotte has been recognised as one of the world’s leading practitioners in Lexology Index Investigations 2025, reflecting her expertise and reputation in handling complex investigations globally.

Chambers 2025 recognises Charlotte as ‘up and coming’ in Financial Crime: Private Prosecutions, with clients saying that “She’s highly regarded by our team” and “I only have positive things to say about her; she’s very direct and straight-shooting”.

Legal 500 2023 recognised Charlotte as a ‘Rising Star’ noting her international practice, with standout involvements in areas such as sanctions, extradition, and cross-border business crime proceedings. Her previous listing as a ‘Rising Star’ in Legal 500 2022 quoted “Charlotte Tregunna should be the first name on any list of rising stars in the white-collar crime world. She is bright and ferociously hardworking, but with real practical instincts. She is also exceptional at dealing with difficult clients”.

Charlotte has recently been included in the Doyle’s Guide Leading White Collar Crime & Regulatory Investigations Lawyer Rankings – London, 2025, displaying her as a stand out practitioner, trusted for her experience and skill in handling complex regulatory and white collar matters.Charlotte specialises in advising clients facing domestic and international internal, criminal and/or regulatory investigations, including those brought by the Serious Fraud Office, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Competition and Markets Authority, the City of London Police, US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission.
Her private prosecution experience includes assisting the team that successfully prosecuted what was then the highest value private prosecution brought by an individual (R (Mirchandani) v Somaia).

Charlotte’s cases frequently have an international dimension, requiring close co-operation with jurisdictions including those in the EU, Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, and the UAE. She has had success in discharging extradition requests from India, Greece, and Russia, including the case of Egorova & Others, the leading case on the UK’s approach to/treatment of women facing Russian extradition requests.
Charlotte is the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) and former Co-President of its Business Crime and Civil Fraud Commission.

Michel Segers

MVVP, Belgium

Bio

Michel provides assistance to companies in Belgium, covering a wide range of commercial and corporate matters. His expertise includes contract and commercial law, cross-border complex litigation involving international parties, and corporate work across various sectors, with a particular emphasis on the retail industry. Holding an LLM in intellectual property, Michel advises and defends clients in trademark and copyright disputes.

As a native of Brussels, Michel is fluent in both Dutch and French, allowing him to effectively represent Belgian companies and directors in negotiations and litigation in both national languages across whole Belgium.

He possesses a profound understanding of the retail industry and is one of the four national experts appointed by the Ministry of Economy of Belgium. In this capacity, he advises the government on legislative needs, market trends, and addressing unfair practices in a B2B context. Michel offers strategic advice to retailers on their platform and e-commerce strategies and drafts various types of contracts, including franchise, agency, and distribution agreements.

He assists clients in the transfer of (multiple) retail outlets, whether through share or asset transfers. Additionally, Michel represents principals (franchisors) and distributors (agents, franchisees) in international contractual disputes, utilizing frameworks such as Brussels Ibis, Rome I, and the New York Convention on arbitration.

Beyond his bilingual proficiency in Dutch and French, Michel is also fluent in English and German, having studied at Humboldt University in Berlin. He possesses a basic knowledge of Spanish, further enhancing his ability to assist a diverse clientele.