Dr Georgia Antonopoulou

Birmingham Law School
Assistant Professor in Commercial Dispute Resolution
Co-Deputy Head of Education (Education Review)

Georgia Antonopoulou researches and teaches international commercial dispute resolution and private international law. In her research, she mainly examines how the competition between dispute resolution methods blur the line between public and private and influence judicial behaviour, decision making and academic discourse. 

Qualifications

  • PhD, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
  • LLM, University of Freiburg, Germany
  • LLM, National University of Athens, Greece
  • LLB, National University of Athens, Greece

Biography

Georgia joined Birmingham Law School in 2021 as a Lecturer in Law. She holds an LLB from the University of Athens, an LLM in Civil Procedure from the same university, and an LLM in German Law with a focus on Private International Law from the University of Freiburg. Georgia is a member of the Athens Bar since 2014 and has worked as an attorney at law specialising in insolvency law and debt recovery for several law firms in Athens. 

Georgia recently defended her PhD at Erasmus School of Law in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her research focused on international commercial courts and their forum selling practices. It was part of a larger project on procedural innovations and access to justice led by Prof. Xandra Kramer and funded by the European Research Council. Georgia was a visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute on Procedural Law in Luxembourg, and the Singapore Management University, School of Law. She has also worked as a teaching assistant in Research and Writing Skills at Erasmus School of Law and in International and European Law at the China-EU School of Law, China University of Political Science and Law.

Teaching

  • LLB International Dispute Resolution (Module Leader)
  • LLM International Commercial Dispute Resolution (Module Leader)
  • LLB Contract Law (Co-Module Leader)

Previous teaching

  • LLB Contemporary Issues in International Law & Globalisation
  • LLM Introduction to Legal Research

Postgraduate supervision

dispute resolution, private international law

Research

Georgia's research interests lie in dispute resolution and private international law. During her PhD research, she focused on international commercial courts both in Europe and in Asia. Based on interviews conducted in the Netherlands and Singapore, she examined how international commercial courts make themselves more attractive to prospective litigants by engaging in forum selling and forum marketing. Georgia recently received a grant from the Socio-Legal Studies Association. In this research project, she examines the role of foreign judges in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts and their relationship to the local communities. 

More broadly, Georgia is interested in the growing convergence of public and private dispute resolution methods, the link between justice and economic reforms as well as sports arbitration. 

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Antonopoulou, G 2024, 'Forum Marketing in International Commercial Courts?', Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, pp. 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqae022

Antonopoulou, G 2023, 'The 'Arbitralization' of Courts: The Role of International Commercial Arbitration in the Establishment and the Procedural Design of International Commercial Courts', Journal of International Dispute Settlement, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 328-349. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnlids/idad007

Antonopoulou, G 2019, 'Code-Sharing Agreements under the Brussels Ibis Regulation and the Notion of 'Matters Relating to a Contract'', Journal of European Consumer and Market Law, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 89.

Antonopoulou, G 2019, 'Requirements Upon Agreements in Favour of the NCC and the German Chambers - Clashing with the Brussels Ibis Regulation?', Erasmus Law Review, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 56.

Antonopoulou, G 2018, 'Defining International Disputes - Reflections on the Netherlands Commercial Court Proposal', Nederlands Internationaal Privaatrecht, vol. 2018, no. 4, pp. 740.

Chapter

Kramer, X & Antonopoulou, G 2024, Commercialising Litigation: The Case of the Netherlands Commercial Court. in A Henke, M Torsello & E Zucconi Galli Fonseca (eds), International Commercial Courts: A Paradigm for the Future of Adjudication. Libri della collana Univ. Verona-Dip. Di Scienze Giuridich, vol. 52, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane SpA, pp. 105-120. <https://www.edizioniesi.it/pubblicazioni/libri/diritto_storia_filosofia_e_teoria_del_diritto_-_1/diritto_comparato_-_1_-_07/international-commercial-courts-paradigm-future-adjudication.html>

Antonopoulou, G 2022, Procedure before international commercial and ordinary courts: a comparative perspective. in S Brekoulakis & G Dimitropoulos (eds), International commercial courts: the future of transnational adjudication. Cambridge University Press.

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Civil procedure, international commercial arbitration, private international law

Languages and other information

English, German, Greek

Expertise

  • European civil procedure

Policy experience

  • X. Kramer, A. Ontanu and Michiel de Rooij, The Application of the Brussels I (Recast) in the Legal Practice of EU Member States, Synthesis Report, Co-funded by the EU Justice Programme, Conducted the interviews with participants in German