Half-Day Conference

HON. CLYDE CARUANA – MINISTER OF FINANCE AND EMPLOYMENT

The Minister for Finance and Employment, Clyde Caruana, was appointed Minister in November 2020. An economist by training, Hon. Caruana has held the position of executive chairman at the State employment agency, Jobsplus, since 2014. More recently, he took up office as the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff.

During his tenure at Jobsplus, as Chairperson, he authored several position documents and policy papers, which have been central to the government’s labour force policy. Additionally, he was the main driver to implement these policies and reforms most notably, related to free childcare, in-work benefits and others.

He had previously worked at the National Statistics Office between 2007 and 2012. Hon. Caruana also lectures in Economics, at the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy at the University of Malta.

He has written papers and articles on the welfare state and the labour market, as well as related research and consultancy work.

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DR. RENO BORG

Before being appointed Malta’s first Arbiter for Financial Services, Dr Reno Borg was a practicing lawyer at the Maltese law courts for 33 years. Throughout the years he worked at the Office of the Prime Minister and the Attorney General’s Office. He was Chairperson of one of Malta’s largest Banks and also of Malta’s biggest life insurance company. For a time he served as Malta’s Head of Delegation to the OSCE (CSCE) and represented Malta at the Law of the Sea Conference in Geneva.

Dr Borg was appointed as a Board Member of the Malta Broadcasting Authority for 18 years and chaired various national administrative entities. He was also a member of a select group tasked with the establishment of Malta’s Development Bank. Dr Borg is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta.

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PROF. KEVIN AQUILINA

Professor Kevin Aquilina is a former Dean of the Faculty of Laws of the University of Malta and a former Head of the Departments of Public Law and Department of Media, Communications and Technology Law.

He served as Registrar of Courts and subsequently as Chief Executive Officer of the Broadcasting Authority.

He was a member of the Law Commission, and chaired the Planning Appeals Board and the Press Ethics Commission.

He holds a doctorate of philosophy in law (Ph.D.) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a doctorate in law (LL.D.) from the University of Malta.

His research interests comprise Public Law and the Maltese legal system.

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PROF. DR STEFAAN VOET

Stefaan Voet studied law at Ghent University (2001). In 2011 he wrote his PhD thesis about complex litigation in Belgium, for which he received in 2014 the Triannual Price of Civil Procedure awarded by the vzw Algemene Modellenverzameling voor de Rechtspraktijk. Since 2015 he is a professor of civil procedure at the University of Leuven and a host professor at the University of Hasselt. Stefaan was a visiting scholar at the Law Center University of Houston (2009) and Stanford Law School (2014). He was a visiting lecturer/professor at the Law Center University of Houston, SMU Dedman School of Law in Dallas, College of Law University of Tennessee, Syracuse University College of Law, China-EU School of Law in Beijing, University of Pavia, University of Pretoria and EMARF (Escola da Magistratura Regional Federal da 2E Regiao) in Rio de Janeiro. In 2016-2017 he held the TPR (Tijdschrift voor Privaatrecht) Chair at the University of Utrecht (Molengraaff Institute for Private Law). In 2020, he was an external scientific fellow at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law. He is also a member of different working groups of the European Law Institute. Stefaan is a substitute justice of the peace in Bruges and chairman of the monitoring committee of the Ombudsman for Retail. He is also is a practicing lawyer at the Bar of West Flanders in Kortrijk (DLPA Advocaten) where he focuses on litigation and commercial law.

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PROF. DR CHRISTOPHER HODGES OBE

Christopher Hodges OBE MA PhD FRSA is Emeritus Professor of Justice Systems and Head of the Swiss Re Research Programme on Civil Justice Systems at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford; a Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford; and a Fellow of the European Law Institute.

He is a leading expert in regulatory, enforcement and dispute resolution systems and advises many governments, regulators and businesses across the world.

In 2021, UK Government appointed him Chair of the Regulatory Horizons Council, which advises on the regulation of major new technologies. He is a founding member of the International Network for Delivery of Regulation (INDR), created at the request of UK Government in 2015, that includes experts from across the globe.

His degrees are New College, Oxford (BA, MA, 1976), King’s College, London (PhD 2003). He worked from 1977 to 2003 in major City of London law firms, and since 2004 at Oxford University.

Recent books include Outcome-Based Cooperation in Communities, Organisations, Regulation and Dispute Resolution (forthcoming, 2022), Regulatory Delivery (with Graham Russell, 2019); Delivering Dispute Resolution, a Holistic Review of Models in England & Wales (2019); Ethical Business Practice and Regulation (with Ruth Steinholtz); Law and Corporate Behaviour (2015); Redress Schemes for Personal Injuries (with Sonia Macleod, 2017); Delivering Collective Redress: New Technologies (with Stefan Voet, 2018); Consumer ADR in Europe (with Iris Benöhr & Naomi Creutzfeldt, 2012), The Costs and Funding of Litigation (with Stefan Vogenauer and Magdalena Tulibacka, 2010).

He was Erasmus Professor of the Fundamentals of Private Law at Erasmus University, Rotterdam (2011-14). Visiting Professorships include the China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing (2013-16), Leuven University (2014) and ANU Canberra (2014).

He has been Chair of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee for England, of an international committee on regulatory strategy in the medical technology sector, and of an opera company. He was a Board Member of the UK Research Integrity Office 2008-2017.

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DR DAVID FABRI

DAVID FABRI LL.D., Ph.D. (Melit.) has been involved in the financial services sector since 1990 and in consumer protection since 1978. Between 1992 and 2015, he held senior positions with what gradually became the single financial services regulatory authority, the MFSA. He served as advisor to successive governments on consumer protection law and policy from 1990 to 2005. In advance of EU membership, he led two separate teams tasked with bringing Maltese financial laws and consumer legislation in line with EU law.

He has written and lectured extensively on the two subjects and co-drafted legislation governing these sectors between 1994 and 2015, including the Consumer Affairs Act, the Product Safety Act, the Malta Financial Services Authority Act, the Investment Services Act and the Prevention of Financial Markets Abuse Act.

Both his doctoral theses dealt with consumer law and for twelve years he served as Head of the Commercial Law Department. For the past fifteen years, he has coordinated the successful Masters programme in financial services offered by the Faculty of Law. He recently published his first book: “Studies in Maltese Regulation: Financial Services Law” (Midsea Books, 2022)

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DR FRANCESCA GALEA CAVALLAZZI

Francesca is senior associate in Camilleri Preziosi’s ADR and Dispute Resolution Team and as such leads the specialised corporate and finance litigation team. She assists clients in appeals on regulatory matters in front of the Financial Services Tribunal; in litigation before the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services; and on corporate or financial matters in front of the domestic superior courts. She also handles corporate insolvency matters and also assists banks with various matters including commercial litigation. Francesca graduated as Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 2010.

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DR IVAN GRIXTI

Dr.Ivan Grixti PhD(Soton);MA(Lanc);BA(Hons)Accountancy; MCIArb; FAIA(Acad); FIA; CPA is a full time academic member of staff within the Accountancy Department at the University of Malta, lecturing in Financial Accounting as well as IT Applications for Accountants. He currently lectures on the under-graduate B.Com course as well as the M.Accountancy (Hons) degree programme and is responsible for supervising a number of dissertation students within the faculty. He held the post of financial controller of the University’s commercial arm for over 15 years which has provided him with invaluable practical experience. Apart from sitting on the council of the Malta Institute of Accountants, he is actively engaged in furthering the knowledge of accountancy within the local community through various educational initiatives. He is also a regular contributor in the local press.

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