I’m a researcher, writer and educator working at the intersection of Empirical Legal Studies, Law & Economics, and Legal AI. While currently affiliated with the KU Leuven in Belgium, I have taught and conducted research at several institutions across Europe, including the European University Institute in Italy, the Centro de Estudios Politicos y Constitucionales (CEPC) in Spain and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Law in Germany.
I have had the privilege of learning interdisciplinary research by working alongside economists, psychologists, computer linguists, and political scientists. This cross-pollination of ideas was particularly evident in my ERC-funded EUTHORITY Project, which delved into the dynamics of conflict and cooperation within the EU’s multilevel legal system. My current research interests include deceptive persuasion, behavioural comparative law (COMPASS Project), and inter-group biases in litigation. My research lab in Leuven has promoted the use of empirical, experimental and machine learning methods in the legal field, organising workshops and training sessions along with the first two Conference in Empirical Legal Studies in Europe (CELS-E) in 2016 and 2018.
My path to academia has been anything but conventional. I grew up in a nomadic, quasi-commune with eccentric, radical adults aspiring to be the new Miró and Modigliani. A life of incredible scarcity, often without electricity or tap water (and I won’t talk about food!) in remote, abandoned homes lost in the picturesque landscapes of Provence, Cevennes and Brittany. As laissez-faire was pretty much the sole approach to education (I often joke that I was home-non-schooled), I only discovered the joys of reading and writing at the age of ten when I was entrusted to a complete stranger who took me on an eight-month journey through Africa. I am thankful to the editors of the Quid encyclopedia for providing for most of my basic education (that was long before anyone had heard of Wikipedia and the Khan Academy). I first stepped into a classroom in college after securing admission through self-study. But I developed an insatiable appetite for knowledge and academic pursuit. This unconventional background instilled in me a profound impatience with the status quo and a fervent passion for new approaches to research and learning.