Biographies - session III: AI and the Rule of Law

Jean Lassègue
Research Fellow, French Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
Jean Lassègue, Research Fellow at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) - philosophy section. My research has been focused on the epistemology of computer science in the 1930s, 40s and 50s (especially the work of Turing) and its consequences on cognition, from computational to cultural models. My interest in the relationship between computer science and law originates from an intense collaboration with judge Antoine Garapon at Institut des Hautes Études sur la Justice (Paris) where we organise a seminar dedicated to the relationship between Law and the epistemology of Mathematics and Computer Science.

Tiina Astola
Director General, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, European Commission
Since 1 February 2016, Ms Astola is Director-General for Justice and Consumers at the European Commission. The DG deals with civil justice, including contract and company law, criminal justice, fundamental rights, data protection and free movement, equality and consumer law and policy. Before joining the Commission, Ms Astola was Permanent Secretary of the Finnish Ministry of Justice, with overall responsibility for both international and domestic law matters, including courts and prisons. Prior to that, she headed units responsible for civil law and European law at the Department of Legislation of the Ministry and has also worked for the Finnish Ministry of Finance and the Finnish Foreign Trade Association. Ms. Astola has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki in May 2017.

Paul Mahoney
Former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights
Sir Paul Mahoney, KCMG, sat as the United Kingdom judge on the European Court of Human Rights from 2012 till 2016, having previously been the Registrar of that Court (2001-2005). In the intervening period, he served as President of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal (a specialist chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union) (2005-2011) and Chair of the Appeals Board of the European Space Agency (2011-2012). He was for many years an associate editor of the Human Rights Law Journal (1980-2012). He received an honorary doctorate from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2011 and was knighted by the British Crown in 2018 (for services to international justice). He has co-edited three books and published 50 or so articles on international human rights law and European civil service law. He is currently a member of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Panel on Candidates for Election as Judge to the European Court of Human Rights, as well as being Chair of the European Patent Office’s internal Appeals Committee.

Georg Stawa
Former President of the Council of Europe European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)
Georg Stawa, former Judge, Head of Department for strategy, consulting and information-management in the Austrian Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice, acting as National Coordinator of EU-SRSS projects as well.
He participates in international research projects, is Guest Lecturer at the Plekhanov University of Economics Moscow and has been engaged in justice reform projects in countries of Central and Eastern Europe in leading positions. Mr. Stawa has a rich international experience consulting judicial reforms, mainly on issues ranging from justice reform strategies and actions plans, standardized methods, benchmarks and guidelines for monitoring and assessment of court performance and design of change management.
Georg Stawa was Secretary General in the Ministry of Justice for Deputy Prime Minister Brandstetter, is long-term member of the Commission for Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe, for which he served as President.

Clara Neppel
Senior Director of the European Office, IEEE
Dr. Clara Neppel is the Senior Director of the IEEE European office in Vienna, where she is responsible for the growth of IEEE’s operations and presence in Europe, focusing on the needs of industry, academia, and government. Clara serves as a point of contact for initiatives with regard to technology, engineering and related public policy issues that help implementing IEEE’s continued global commitment to fostering technological innovation for the benefit of humanity. She joined IEEE in 2017 after working with the European Patent Office (EPO) where she was involved in various aspects relating to innovation, intellectual property and public policy in the field of information and communication technologies. Before joining EPO, Neppel worked in research, in the area of parallel database optimization, and in industry, as program manager for archiving solutions. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Technical University of Munich and a Master in Intellectual Property Law and Management from the University of Strasbourg.

Tuomas Pöysti
Chancellor of Justice, Finland
Doctor Iuris Tuomas Pöysti is the Chancellor of Justice of the Government of Finland, by Constitution of Finland the Supreme Guardian of the Law in Finland. The Chancellor of Justice supervises the legality of the official actions of the Government, the Ministries and the President of the Republic. The Chancellor of Justice attends all the plenary sessions of the Government as well as presidential sessions at which the President of the Republic makes decisions on proposals presented by the Government. The Chancellor of Justice also ensures that the courts of law, other authorities and other persons or bodies assigned to perform public tasks comply with the law and fulfil their assigned obligations. The Chancellor of Justice additionally oversees by law the professional conduct of advocates, public legal aid attorneys and licensed attorneys in law. Previously Dr Pöysti served as the Under-Secretary of State of Governance Policy and Digitalization and as Auditor General of Finland. Dr. Pöysti has the Title of Docent in Administrative law (University of Helsinki) and approx. 50 scientific publications on administrative law, information law and legal informatics discussing among other things information security, digitalization and ethics of public and legal services, artificial intelligence and trust.

Tõnis Saar
Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice, Estonia
Tõnis Saar has been the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice of Estonia since 2017. Before that he served as the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Director General of the National Audit Office. Tõnis Saar has MSc in Management from the London City University of CASS Business School.
In the Ministry of Justice he is in charge of the work of the structural units and co-ordinates the activities of the authorities in the Ministry’s area of governments including e-services in Estonian justice system.