About us

Who we are

European Justice Forum (“EJF”) is a non-profit organisation formed in 2005 to promote balanced, transparent and efficient access to civil justice for consumers and enterprises in Europe without incurring the damage that would arise from the adoption of class actions.

Through its membership and its office in Brussels, EJF engages in an open dialogue with opinion leaders in EU Institutions, national Governments and other relevant stakeholders. EJF develops position papers and other outreach materials, organizes expert debates and participates in factual events.

Functions & board tasks

The core committee responsible for the development of EJF is the Board. The board appoints the Chairman as well as the Executive Director. Important decisions related to EJF as a non-for-profit organization are confirmed or approved by the General Meeting to which all members are invited. A Secretariat is supporting the day-to-day activities. Details of EJF’s Corporate Governance are laid out in its Statutes.

The Board calls/meetings as well as the General Meeting are chaired by the Chairman of EJF. The Chairman is part of the board and supervising EJF’s activities.

The Executive Director is responsible for the general management of EJF and responsible for the operational lead of EJF’s secretariat. He is the core contact for political, regulatory & academic outreach and an important interface to members as well as for driving the strategic development of the association. He is also part of the Board.

The secretariat is responsible for tasks related to regulatory monitoring, communications, outreach, event support and operational issues.

Presentation of board members and management

Moya Stevenson

Moya Stevenson

Chairwoman and Board Member

Contact

Moya Stevenson is currently Global Senior Claims Counsel within Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. Her career in private practice, at a broker and now at a re/insurer has brought her in contact with various forms of dispute resolution worldwide, including litigation, arbitration and mediation. Prior to joining the Swiss Re Group in Zürich in 2004, Moya had spent nearly ten years working as a solicitor in London in private practice and a further three years as an in-house counsel at a Lloyds Broking house. She has focused on the insurance and reinsurance industry almost all of her working life.

"Considering and learning from different legal regimes as well as good practice, should enable consumers and business alike to build that fair and effective civil justice system that we all need and deserve. EJF is committed to finding that balance, through research and dialogue."

Moya is also a member of the Management Committee of ARIAS (UK) – the AIDA Insurance and Reinsurance Arbitration Society – and regularly travels to their committee meetings and events. Moya studied law with German law at King's College London and at the Universität Passau. In her leisure time, Moya likes to spend time with her son and husband, particularly in the Swiss Alps.

Ekkart Kaske

Ekkart Kaske

Executive Director and Board Member

Contact

Ekkart Kaske has been the Executive Director of the European Justice Forum since mid-2017. In this position, he is responsible for the operational and strategic development of the association. He focuses on topics such as collective redress, efficiency and effectiveness of dispute resolution, better regulation, digitalization, as well as ethical and open culture.

During more than 12 years, Ekkart Kaske worked for global players (Allianz SE, Zurich Insurance Group) in Government Affairs and Public Policy activities. His tasks, among others, covered the set-up of the Representative Office in Berlin for Allianz and heading the Government & Industry Affairs department at Zurich Insurance Group, in Germany, with a co-lead period of EU activities. Building on his experience in strategic communications and on regulatory and reputational risk management, Ekkart Kaske then founded a consultancy specialized in corporate diplomacy and organisational development in Berlin.

Earlier in his career, he worked for nearly 10 years in the Operations area of financial services companies - including four in leading positions in China. He also gained further experience in Business Development at a Telematics start-up in Trieste, Italy. Ekkart Kaske studied Business Economics in Munich, Glasgow (UK) and Bayreuth. During his Executive MBA at Kellogg School of Management (Chicago/Evanston) in cooperation with WHU (Vallendar), he focused on Political Risk Management and Government Relations.

A native German with also a French nationality, Ekkart Kaske is fluent in German, French and English. He and his wife, a native of France, have three sons and reside in Berlin.

"We need to look at the whole process and start with capturing disputes and their developments at earliest possible stage to move from insights to foresight and prevention via feedback loops."

Sebastian Stolzke

Sebastian Stolzke

Board Member and Past Chair (2015–2020)

Sebastian Stolzke, Dr. iur., is Head of Compliance Center of Excellence at Group Compliance of Zurich Insurance Group in Zurich, Switzerland. Until beginning of 2020 he was a Senior Legal Counsel within the corporate law department. In that position he was responsible for litigation and investigation matters of Zurich Insurance on a group wide basis, with a focus on EMEA. He served as chairman of the European Justice Forum from 2015 to mid of 2020.

"We at EJF are promoting best practices for an efficient and effective delivery of a balanced justice for consumers and business alike."

Prior to joining Zurich Insurance Group in 2010, Sebastian Stolzke worked for four years in the litigation and arbitration practice of Homburger, one of the leading Swiss law firms, in Zurich. Before that he was an associate with Latham & Watkins and Clifford Chance, practicing law in Frankfurt, Germany and New York, USA. His focus in private practice was on securities litigation, cross-border disputes, class and mass actions. Sebastian Stolzke studied law at the Universities of Heidelberg, Vienna and Konstanz and received his doctor iuris magna cum laude from Cologne University.

Sebastian Stolzke regularly publicizes on litigation and arbitration themes and is a sought-after speaker at conferences on litigation and investigation topics. Sebastian Stolzke is also a board member of the Swiss E-Discovery & Investigations Association and a passive member of the Zurich and Swiss Bar Associations. He lives with his wife and son in Zurich and enjoys fishing, hiking and skiing during his leisure time.

Simon Neill

Simon Neill

Board Member

Simon Neill has been a member of the Johnson & Johnson Law Department since 2001, and is currently Senior Legal Director responsible for external legal advocacy and legal public affairs in Europe. For the past 20 twenty years and before joining the board of EJF in 2023, Simon provided legal support to many of the J&J medical devices and MedTech businesses in EMEA. Prior to joining J&J, Simon was outside counsel at a major international law firm for seven years. Simon studied law and French law at Birmingham and Limoges and he obtained a masters degree in business management from the Solvay business school in 2013. Simon has lived in Belgium for over 30 years.

In his spare time Simon enjoys marathon running, bike tours around Italy and travelling, especially to the Dordogne and Gironde areas of south-west France… and tasting the wine there!

Antimo Flagiello

Antimo Flagiello

Board Member

Antimo Flagiello, LL.M., is a Senior Counsel within the Litigation & Investigations team of Philip Morris International (PMI). He joined PMI in 2014, holding various roles at market, regional and central level. Before joining PMI, Antimo was Legal and Corporate Affairs Director in a digital company (2012-2014). Prior to that, he worked for more than ten years in leading international law firms both in Italy and abroad. Antimo is qualified in Italy and Spain, and holds a LL.M. from King’s College London – University of London.

Andrew Mills

Andrew Mills

Board Member

Andrew Mills is the Legal Director for the UK and Ireland business of Experian, the global data business listed on the London stock exchange. He has been working for Experian since 2007.

Although very definitely a lawyer (he is admitted as a lawyer in both England & Wales and the Republic of Ireland and is also a non-practising notary public), Andrew began is career in the world of electronic engineering with Marconi and often brings a different perspective. He remains a member of the UK’s Institution of Engineering and Technology.

His in-house legal team provides support to Experian on a wide range of matters including working closely with colleagues in the compliance team on regulatory matters and contracting with clients through to handling litigation and leading on global brand protection for the group. In keeping with his background, Andrew is driving transformation in the legal function with a focus on using data and agile methodologies.

Before Experian, Andrew was a partner in the English law firm Freeths LLP, where he led the Intellectual Property & Information Technology team.

Outside work, he still cannot believe that he is old enough to have young grandchildren and he tries to remind himself that he is still young by enjoying outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, cycling and (not as often as he would like) scuba diving as well as live music.

“We believe that the best way of handling a dispute is by avoiding it in the first place. To do that, we need to listen to clients and customers and use feedback to keep improving. We also must give people an effective and accessible way to complain and properly deal with those complaints; not only is this the best way of avoiding an escalation of a problem but this is also an important part of the feedback process.”
Herbert Woopen

Herbert Woopen

Director of Legal Policy

Herbert Woopen, Dr. iur. and Docteur en droit, is admitted to the bar in Cologne and doctor of law of civil procedure both in Germany and France. Starting in 2009 he has been contributing to research in particular as an Affiliate of the Swiss Re Programme for Civil Justice Systems in the EU at the Centre for Socio-legal Studies of the University of Oxford.

As a research assistant at the university of Cologne for 7 years, operational banker for 15 years and Representative of the Insurer Allianz in Brussels for 9 years, he has developed comprehensive expertise in banking and insurance. He has remained operationally active in the financial sector as a Board Member of a specialized German insurer.

“The law is not an asset class, just as breaking it shall never be accepted as a business model.”

With full professional proficiency in English, French, Italian and with his native German, he has been building and managing relations with EU institutions, associations and industry representatives over many years, written various articles and contributed to Commission consultations covering EJF topics:

  • "Collective Redress – Opportunities of the Directive’s Transposition, The European Representative Action on its Way into German Law" in: Juristenzeitung (JZ) 12/2021, p. 601-611
  • "Collective Redress and Periods of Limitation" in: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (ZIP) 23/2021, p. 1205-1207
  • “Legal Tech for Justice, contribution to the Commission’s Consultation ‘Consumer policy - the EU’s new 'consumer agenda‘ ” (download here).

Herbert became EJF’s Director of Legal Policy with effect from 1st January 2021.

Arundel McDougall

Arundel McDougall

Former Executive Director and Secretary General

Arundel McDougall was the Secretary General of the European Justice Forum from mid 2017 to 2018, and had been acting beforehand as Executive Director since 2012. After graduating from Oxford University, Arundel practised as a commercial litigation lawyer in several major London law firms for over thirty years, handling complex product liability and competition damages cases, including group actions.

Our members and legal network

Major Corporate and Board Members

Experian Limited
Johnson & Johnson
Philip Morris Products S.A.
Swiss Reinsurance Company Limited
Zurich Insurance Group

Corporate Members

Bayer AG
Ford Motor Company
Japan Tobacco International
Medtronic, plc
Procter & Gamble Corp.
Sanofi SA
Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.

Professional Members

CMS EEIG
European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries
  and Associations (EFPIA)
MedTech Europe
Kennedys Law
The European Chemical Industry Council (cefic)
The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, Inc.

EJF Legal Network

Australia Clayton Utz
Austria Cerha Hempel
Baltics Roschier Raidla & Partners
Baltics Sorainen
Belgium CMS De Backer
Belgium Jones Day
Denmark Gorrissen Federspiel Kierkegaard
Finland Hammarström Pukakka Partners
France August Debouzy
France Kennedys Law
Germany CMS Hasche Sigle
Greece Bahas Grammatidis & Partners
Hungary Noer Stiefenhoffer Lutz
Ireland Kennedys Law
Ireland Matheson Ormsby Prentice
Italy Gianni, Origoni, Grippo & Partners
Italy LMS Legal LLP
Netherlands Houthoff
Netherlands Stibbe
Poland CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
Poland Greenberg Traurig
Portugal Gómez-Acebo & Pomb
Portugal PLMJ
Spain Linklaters LLP
Spain Uria & Menendez
Sweden Hammarskiöld & Co
Switzerland CMS von Erlach Henrici
Switzerland Bär & Karrer
UK Shook Hardy & Bacon
UK CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
UK Kennedys Law