Meet The Team
Andra is an art law lawyer practicing in Paris. Her core expertise relates to creating unique legal strategies and the mobilization of teams that include both legal and art experts to best protect artists and the creation process. Prior to founding Avant-Garde Lawyers, she worked at the European [...]
Laura joined our team in September 2020. She is a technical and operational adviser, trainer and researcher in the area of gender, including gender-based violence prevention and response, within the humanitarian, international relief and human rights fields. She regularly supports gender [...]
Daria is a human rights lawyer striving to specialise in intellectual property law and protection of freedom of expression.
Holder of a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in law from the Higher School of Economics in Saint-Petersburg, she acquired extensive experience as a legal counsel in Russia. [...]
Natalia is a legal professional with over 15 years of experience. She worked as an in-house Legal Counsel in major multinational companies, gaining experience in different areas, including commercial, competition, corporate, procurement, IT, IP, media, privacy, and others. Now she is working as a [...]
Askold is an award-winning Documentary Filmmaker from Russia. He has directed and co-directed several critically acclaimed films, including Winter, Go Away! (2012), Children 404 (2014), and The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov (2017). Askold’s films have been screened at several reputed [...]
Alice is an LLB graduate from the University of Glasgow currently pursuing a master’s degree in Human Rights Law. Her interest in freedom of expression was piqued when she wrote her dissertation on Salman Rushdie and the repeal of the blasphemy offence in Britain. Fascinated by how artistic freedom [...]
Francesca joined Avant-Garde Lawyers in 2023. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Latin American Studies, Spanish, and English from the University of Toronto and is currently pursuing her LLB at the University of York in the UK. She is the Property Law and Equity Section Editor of the Eborlex Law Journal [...]
Merje joined the team in 2024. She has an MA in Global Creative and Cultural Industries from SOAS and a diverse background across artistic programming, research, cultural management, design and music. Her research explores artistic expression in conflict and post-conflict areas and culture and [...]
Board Of Directors
Federica is a legal professional with expertise in artists’ rights and freedom of expression. An alumna of the Abserystwyth University in the United Kingdom and Compenhagen University, she has [...]
Arnaud Behety is an architect practising in Paris, who graduated from École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Strasbourg. He honed his craft through studies at prestigious institutions, including [...]
Vicky Alyssandraki is a Lecturer in Scandinavian Literature at the University of Strasbourg. A polyglot with expertise in nine languages, Vicky holds degrees in Law from the Universities of Athens and [...]
Advisory Board
Manfred Nowak is a renowned Austrian human rights expert, currently serving as the Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights, the largest [...]
Julia Laffranque is a former judge (2011-2019) at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. A previous Justice of the Supreme Court of [...]
Nani is a recognized international lawyer and expert in human rights litigation responsible for groundbreaking freedom of expression cases across [...]
Malcolm Langford is a Professor of Public Law, University of Oslo and Co-Director of the Centre on Law and Social Transformation, Chr. Michelsen [...]
Kimberley Motley has earned a reputation as one of the world’s most respected & successful international lawyers in human rights. Motley is the [...]