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ABOUT ME

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ABOUT ME

I am an Associate Professor in Commercial Law at the University of Nottingham and a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

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​My research interests lie in the broad field of business law, and I am passionate about the interface between commercial law and intangible assets. I have studied extensively the use of IP rights as collateral in secured transactions, agency agreements, and international licensing contracts. Since 2018, I've focused my research on the transformative effects of distributed ledger technologies like cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, NFTs, and tokenizations on the existing commercial law framework, and the potential legislative reforms they may demand.

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I was a key contributor to the ULC/ALI Uniform Commercial Code and Emerging Technologies Committee that drafted the 2022 Amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code and Article 12. At present, I am a member of the ULC Committee working on the enactment of these new laws across the United States. I was also a member of the Drafting Committee that prepared the Unidroit Working Group on Digital Assets and Private Law and continued to be involved in the adoption of this international soft-law instrument.

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My research has been published in leading law journals, including the Alabama Law Review, Arizona State Law Journal, Fordham Law Review, Hastings Law Journal, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, European Law Journal, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, and Law & Contemporary Problems. My recent paper, The Private Law of Stablecoins (with Professors Kara Bruce and Christopher Odinet), was awarded the Grant Gilmore Award of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers in recognition of “superior writing in the field of commercial finance law”.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

SELECETED PUBLICATIOS

TEACHING INTERESTS

TEACHING INTERESTS

  • Foundation Courses: Contract Law, Tort Law

  • Elective Courses: Secured Transactions, Bankruptcy Law, Business Organizations, International Business Transactions, Blockchain and the Law, Copyright Law, Trademarks Law, Patent Law

LAW REFORM

LAW REFORM

  • Uniform Law Commission

    • Drafting Committee on the Virtual Currency Customer Protection Act (June 2023 – present)

      • Reporter

    • Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code (March 2022 – present)

      • Associate Research Director (co-appointment with Professor Carla Reyes)

    • Enactment Committee for the 2022 Uniform Commercial Code Amendments (August 2022 – present)

      • Member​

    • UCC and Emerging Technologies Committee (Joint Committee with the American Law Institute) (June 2019 – July 2022)

  • Unidroit ​

    • Drafting Committee for the Working Group developing the Unidroit Principles on Digital Assets (April 2022 – 2023)

    • Working Group developing the Unidroit Model Law on Warehouse Receipts (April 2022 – 2023)

  • Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    • Advisor for International Commercial Law affairs (2008 – present)

    • Delegate to the United National Commission on Trade Laws (UNCITRAL) (2008 – 2017), representing the Italian government in the negotiations for:

      • The UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions: Guide to Enactment (2017);

      • UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions (2016);

      • UNCITRAL Guide on the Implementation of a Security Rights Registry (2013);

      • UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions: Supplement on Security Rights in Intellectual Property (2010)

MEDIA & INVITED TALKS

MEDA & INVITED TALKS

  • Media

  • Recent Invited Talks

    • Texas A&M Law School, Fort Worth. ‘UCC Article 12: It’s All About Control!’ (2023)

    •  Association of American Law Schools, San Diego. ‘Digital Assets, Virtual Currencies, & UCC Reform’ (2023)

    •  The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York. ‘The Private Law of Stablecoins’ (2022)

    •  Baruch College, New York City. ‘The emerging private law framework for digital assets’ (2022)

    •  UNIDROIT, Rome. ‘Enforcement and Digital Assets: Rights of Secured Creditors’ (2022)

    •  Brooklyn Law School, New York City. ‘Commercial Law Harmonization: Past as Prologue’ (2022)

    •  American Bar Association, Business Law Section 2022 Spring Meeting, Atlanta. College of Commercial Finance Lawyers. ‘UCC and Emerging Technologies’ (2022)

    •  American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers. ‘UCC and Emerging Technologies’ (2021)

    •  University of Wien. Vienna. ‘ULC/ALI Project on Digital Assets: Comparative observations’ (2021)

    •  UNIDROIT. Rome. ‘Model Law on Warehouse Receipts: Contractual Issues’ (2020)

    •  UNIDROIT. Rome. ‘Distributed Ledger Technology and international sales of commodities’ (2019)

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