dr. Elena Alina Onţanu

Bio

Elena Alina Ontanu is Assistant professor at the Department of Private, Business and Labour Law. Before joining Tilburg Law School, she was Assistant professor or Private International Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Alina carried out her PhD research at Erasmus University on cross-border debt-recovery in the EU. During her PhD she was a visiting researcher at Clare College, Cambridge University (2012), Research Institute on Judicial Systems-National Research Council of Italy (2014), and Max Planck Institute for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law (2015). She is a board member of the Judicial Administration Research Association (JAR-Association), a member of the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL) and European Law Institute (ELI), and an editor of the EAPIL Blog. She has acted as expert for the Council of Europe and European Commission on matters of digitalisation and court procedures.

Alina is a lawyer with the Bucharest Bar Association.

Expertise

Alina's research interests focus at present on geographies of justice, cross-border litigation and dispute resolution, digitalisation, e-justice/cyberjustice, techno-legal platforms, data ownership and AI accountability, and quality of justice.

She often works on multidisciplinary projects, conducting comparative and empirical research  on the topics of her interest and expertise.

She is a member of the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL) Working Group on the Feasibility of a European Private International Law Act.

Teaching

She is currently teaching mainly in the Global Law Bachelor programme courses on Obligations and Contract Law (I), Property Law, and Conflict of Laws. 

Over the years Alina taught courses on European Private International Law, Nationaal en Internationaal Procederen, Conflict of Laws and International Litigation, Company Law and Restructuring, Research and Writing Skills, Private International Law Moot, and Introduction to International Litigation.

Courses

• GLB: Property Law
• GLB: Conflict of Laws
• GLB: Obligations and Contract Law I

Top publications

1. Normalising the use of electronic evidence - Bringing technology use …

   Onţanu, E. A. (2022). Normalising the use of electronic evidence: Bringing technology use into a familiar normative path in civil procedure. Onati Socio Legal Series, 12(3), 582-613.

2. Technological progress and alternatives to the cross-border enforceme…

   Onţanu, E. A. (2021). Technological progress and alternatives to the cross-border enforcement of small claims. In J. von Hein, & T. Kruger (Eds.), Informed choices in cross-border enforcement (2021 ed., pp. 483-502). Intersentia. https://intersentia.com/en/informed-choices-in-cross-border-enforcement.html

3. Article 24 - Implementation of the preservation order

   Onţanu, E. A. (2022). Article 24: Implementation of the preservation order. In E. d'Alessandro, & F. Gascon Inchausti (Eds.), The European Account Preservation Order: A commentary on Regulation (EU) No 655/2014 (pp. 230-244). Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd..

4. The challenge of comparing EU member states judicial data

   Onţanu, E. A. (2021). The challenge of comparing EU member states judicial data. Onati Socio Legal Series, 11(2), 446-480.

5. Encoding justice - The quest for facilitating access to justice by e-…

   Onţanu, E. A. (2020). Encoding justice: The quest for facilitating access to justice by e-handling of cross-border litigation. The example of the European uniform procedures. In The 50th anniversary of the European law of civil procedure (2020 ed., Vol. 22, pp. 473-506). Nomos-Hart. https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/the-50th-anniversary-of-the-european-law-of-civil-procedure-9781509945924/