Mihaela "Ella" Moldoveanu, a judicial reform professional with many years of experience and a true enthusiast with hands-on experience, is the Head of Advisory of The Metis Institute.

 

Ella’s academic record combines economics, law and policy, within a Master’s study in Public Policy and Human Development at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (The Netherlands). Her interdisciplinary background and BA in European Studies has prepared her for policy, legal advisory work in administrative reforms. She brings 15 years of work experience with her, amongst which previous appointments at the European Parliament and the United Nations.

 

A Belgian national, with fluency in six European languages, she applied her skills in a variety of management and consultancy positions, overseeing projects in Europe, the United States and Central Asia. Before joining the DIFC Courts, in Dubai in 2014, she was based between Kabul (Afghanistan) and Washington DC for 5 years, where she drafted the new Competition Law for Afghanistan, contributed to the National Trade Policy and helped design the first Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre for Commercial Disputes.

 

In 2014, she joined the DIFC Courts in Dubai to oversee a novel development, namely the design and launch of the DIFC Wills and Probate Registry, including the drafting of its legal basis. After managing the Registry for a year, she took over the role of Associate Director at the DIFC Dispute Resolution Authority (the umbrella body overseeing the DIFC Courts, Academy of Law, the Wills Registry and the Arbitration Institute).

She was in charge of the DRA advisory, leading the consultancy work to set-up a common-law English-language commercial court and an arbitration centre in Kazakhstan’s international financial centre (AIFC), similar to the dispute resolution system of the DIFC.

Additionally, she was responsible for strategy development, business excellence and strategic partnerships for the DRA and its divisions.

As of 2018, Ella also led the ‘Courts of the Future’ LegalTech initiative and she held a voluntary position with the International Association of Court Administration as a Board Member, VP Sponsorships.

 

From 2019 to 2020, Ella worked as Director, Gulf Region for Jersey Finance, representing Jersey’s financial industry in the GCC region.

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