Mr. Arata Solís is a partner at Estudio de la Flor, García Montúfar, Arata & Asociados. His law practice concerns Constitutional law, contract law, civil rights, real estate, administrative law, and municipal law. He has consulted those preparing pre-feasibility studies for national competition, as commissioned by the Special Project of Land and Rural Registry, and co-elaborated on the statute creating the National Integrated System of Registry. He has also provided legal advice to the Peruvian Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on real estate, contracts, and registration since 1990. Within the academic field, Mr. Arata has participated in national forums analyzing civil rights and property rights. His book is titled “La Copropiedad en el Derecho Peruano” (Joint-Ownership Under Peruvian Law). The subjects of his many articles concern real estate, registration of property, and revisions to Peru’s Civil Code. The Brigham Young University Law Review published his 2004 article, “Advances in Religious Liberty in Peru.” He has taught law at three law schools.
Professor Durham was appointed as co-chair of the OSCE Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion and Belief, and has served as Vice President of the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Professor Durham has been heavily involved in comparative constitutional law and church-state relations throughout his career. He has published widely on Comparative Law, as chair of both the Comparative Law Section and the Law and Religion Section of the American Association of Law Schools, and as a member of several U.S. and international advisory boards dealing with religious freedom and church-state relations.
David A. B. Jallah, born on March 25, 1951 in Owensgrove, Grand Bassa County, Republic of Liberia, is Dean and Full Professor of Law, Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia. He joined the Law Faculty in 1984 and became Dean in 2000. Prior to becoming Dean, he served as Assistant Professor and Associate Professor. Dean Jallah is a 1975 graduate of the William V. S. Tubman Teacher’s College, University of Liberia (BSc) and a 1978 graduate of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law (L.LB), also at the University of Liberia. He holds a Master of Laws Degree (L.LM) from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America (1984). He is also a graduate of the Liberia Foreign Service Institute (1975); a graduate of the International Law Development Institute (Now International Law Development Organization (1986), Rome, Italy. He was Deputy Commissioner of Immigration & Naturalization, Ministry of Justice, Republic of Liberia (1979-1980). He has been engaged in the private practice of law since 1981, first with the Cooper & Togbah Law Firm and then with The David A. B. Jallah Law Firm which he established in 1988 where he still serves as a Senior Consultant. He once served as Chairman of the City Council of Monrovia for several years after 2006. He is Past President of the Liberia Chamber of Commerce and Past President of the Liberian National Bar Association. He is admitted to practice law in all courts in Liberia and is also a member of the New York Bar, United States of America. He is a member of Lions Club International with his home Club being Greater Monrovia Lions Club located in District 403 A-2.
Prof. Mandour graduated from Kasr Al Aini School of Medicine, Cairo University and obtained her Doctorate Degree in Physiology and Endocrinology from London University. She is currently professor and former Head of Department at Al Azhar University Faculty of
Medicine. She served as USAID consultant for Innovation of medical Education and establishment of Curricula of Suez Canal University. Prof. Mandour has worked intensively with Civil Society and non-governmental organization (NGOs) during the last 15 years. She held the post of Secretary General of the National NGO
Commission for Population and development and has actively participated in various United Nations Conferences Nationally and Internationally.She is a member of the Interreligious Dialogue and the Islamic Foreign Relations committee of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs as well as attending and lecturing in various conferences and seminars around the world, tackling the crucial subjects of Moslem, Christina,
and Jewish Dialogue, Freedom of Belief, International Terrorism and Human Rights, one of which was the World Economic from in Davos, Switzerland. Prof. Mandour is a member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, joining efforts with the working groups of the Council dealing with issues of the Middle East, Arming Control and Regional Security, the US affairs and the EU affairs. She is a member of the National Democratiac party, Egypt’s International Economic Forum as well as Rotary International. Prof. Mandour has authored 23 books in English and Arabic, published 30 scientific papers in international medical and scientific journals and supervised 17 Ph. D. theses in academic and
clinical specialties. One of her books titles “The Civilized Role of Islam in Family Health and Women’s
Integrity” was the official publication of the Ministry of populations and Family welfare and was presented as Egypt’s stand position at the UN conference ICPD in 1994, another book titled “Women in Islam, the Rights and political Role: was published by the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs.
She has 2 grown children, both doctors who graduated from the German school in Cairo and spent most of their lives abroad. Currently her son is practicing medicine and living with his family in Germany
Robert Smith has served as the Managing Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies since 2006. In this role he oversees the activities of the Center, including supervising the Annual International Law and Religion Symposium and numerous international conferences each year, in addition to overseeing academic publications and participating in law-reform consultations. He serves as the Center’s Regional Advisor for the United States and teaches a course on the taxation of religious organizations at the J. Reuben Clark Law School.
Professor Smith is a co-author, along with W. Cole Durham, Jr. and William Bassett, of the treatise Religious Organizations and the Law, published by Thomson West. This two-volume, three-thousand-page work for lawyers representing religious organizations in the United States is updated annually. Professor Smith has also co-authored numerous articles on religious freedom and other legal topics, and he is a speaker at international conferences on religious topics.
Before joining the law school, Professor Smith served as Executive Vice-President and General Counsel to CaseData Corporation. Previously, he was a shareholder and chairman of the Corporate and Tax department at the law firm of Kirton & McConkie in Salt Lake City. He also practiced with large law firms in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Illinois. He spent his early career working as a CPA for Deloitte & Touche in California and Washington, D.C.
Professor Smith received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from BYU and is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a Masters of Business Administration degree. He is also a magna cum laude graduate of the J. Reuben Clark Law School, where he was named to the Order of the Coif and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Brigham Young University Law Review.
Helena van Coller is a Senior Lecturer at the Law Faculty of Rhodes University, South Africa. Her main field of research is Administrative Law. She joined the Faculty in July 2005.
She obtained her LLB and LLM degrees from the University of the Free State and a LLM from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. She was admitted as an advocate in 2004. She submitted her LLD on the topic of Administrative Law and Religious Organisations in 2012. She is also member of ICLARS (The International Consortium for Law and Religious Studies).
Judge Wallace graduated from San Diego State University with honors and distinction in 1952, and he graduated from the School of Law at the University of California, Berkley. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1955, and he specialized in the trial of civil matters. He was sworn in as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of California in 1970, he was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1972, and he became Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit in 1991. In 1996, Judge Wallace stepped down as Chief Judge and took senior status. He has published numerous articles, and he has lectured widely, both nationally and internationally. In 1998, Judge Wallace gave the keynote speech at the Conference on Law Reform Issues in the United States and Turkey. Judge Wallace has worked extensively in the area of judicial administration, and he has participated in numerous conference related to the judicial branch of the American government. He also developed the concept of the Conference of Chief Justices of Asia and the Pacific, and he has since served as a resource person and presenter.
Professor Young was recently named the new president of the University of Utah. Prior to this position, he has served as Dean of the George Washington Law School, Director of Columbia University’s Japanese Legal Studies Center and as an Ambassador for Trade and Environmental Affairs. He has also served as the chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
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Jeroen is a PhD Student in empirical & comparative religious studies at Radboud University (The Netherlands) since 2016. In 2012 he obtained his master degree in Theology and Religious Studies at KU Leuven (Belgium). Two years later, he finished both his advanced master in Theology and Religious Studies and a master in Society, Law and Religion. Jeroen’s PhD is titled State without religion? Perceptions of young Christians, Muslims and Humanists on religion-state relationships. It explores the different ways in which young, committed Christians, Muslims and Humanists in the Netherlands and Flanders perceive the ideal relationship between religion and state governance. He is supervised by dr. Carl Sterkens, prof. dr. Eric Vanbrux & prof. dr. Sophie van Bijsterveld.
Dr Odacyr Prigol is Chair of the Curitaba Chapter of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society. He is an attorney at law and a managing partner of Prigol Advogados Associados. He is a member of the Religious Freedom Commission of the Brazil Bar Association in his state. He is also a founding member/director of the Brazilian affiliate of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, which actively promotes religious freedom in Brazil. Dr. Prigol graduated from Faculdade de Direito de Curitaba and earned an LLM from Academia Paranaense de Estudos Juridicos.
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Ulrich Nitschke currently serves as the head of Sector Program Values for Religion and Development at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, as well as the head of PaRD Secretariat for the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development. Previously, he was the head of the Local Governance and Civil Society Development Program and Future for Palestine at GIZ Palestine and the chairperson of the GIZ’s Sector Network Governance for the Middle East and North Africa region. Between 2001 and 2008 he held several managerial positions in the fields of municipal development, capacity-building, and political development education. Nitschke holds degrees in theology and philosophy from Fribourg University and a MA in political science, economics, sociology, and development from Aachen and Cologne.
The Reverend Doctor Kim-Kwong Chan, JP, received his undergraduate training in Nutrition (B.Sc.[F.Sc.]) from McGill University and subsequently finished three masters (M.Div., China Graduate School of Theology; M.A., University of Ottawa; S.T.L , Pontifical St Paul University) and two doctoral degrees from University of Ottawa (Ph.D.) and Pontifical St Paul University (D.Th.). He also did graduate studies on Agricultural Economics at University of London. Dr. Chan is currently the Executive Secretary of the Hong Kong Christian Council, the ecumenical Council of Hong Kong. A member of the Anglican Church, he is an ordained minister of the Christian National Evangelism Commission. Dr. Chan currently holds the following academic appointments: Honorary Research Fellow at the Universities Service Center for China Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Adjunct Professor & Doctoral Supervisor of the Zhejiang University, China; Adjunct Professor & Doctoral supervisor, William Carey International University, USA. He has held teaching appointments in Medical School, School of Arts, School of Business and Theological Schools in UK, USA, HK, Singapore and China. He has served as the Chaplain of the Chung Chi College, and Program Director (later, as Senior Fellow) of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), Washington, D.C.
Dr. Chan has authored and co-authored 11 books, mostly on Christianity in China, including Protestantism in Contemporary China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) with Alan Hunter; Witness to Power: Stories of God's Quiet Work in a Changing China (Carlisle: Paternoster, 2000) with T. Yamamori; Holistic Entrepreneurs in China, (Pasadena, California: William Carey International University Press, 2002) with T. Yamamori; and Religious Freedom in China: Policy, Administration and Regulation--A Research Handbook (Santa Barbara, CA.: Institute for Study of American Religion, 2005) with Eric Carlson. He has published some 100 academic papers in Journals and chapters in books in English, Chinese and French, and is a co-editor of a web-based database (http://www.hsscol.org.hk/FangZhi/main.htm) on sources of Christianity from more than 2,700 volumes of county Gazetteers in China. He is a member of the International Editorial Board of the Journal Religion, State & Society.
Dr. Chan has worked in China since 1979 and has traveled to most parts of China for various projects. In addition to his academic and ecclesiastical involvements, he serves as consultant for various national and international development agencies, such as Food For the Hungry International. He was the former President of the Hong Kong Nutrition Association, an appointed specialist on Religion in China of the Immigration Court of the Canadian Government, and an appointed expert on religious issues in China of the Federal Commission on International Religious Freedom of the US Government. Because of his contribution to the socioeconomic developments in China, he was awarded the Honorary Citizen of the Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province, China. The HKSAR Government appointed him as a Justice of the Peace for his contribution on China affairs. He is listed in the Who's Who in Hong Kong, Asia-Pacific Who's Who, Asian-American Who's Who and Afro-Asian Who's Who.
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Michelle is an Irish barrister with twelve years of experience working within domestic and international courts including judicial support roles with members of the judiciary of Ireland, the ECtHR, the CJEU and Zambia. She graduated with a first-class honors Bachelor of Laws from the National University of Ireland, Galway, as the McCarthy Scholar from the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, and in first place with an LL.M. in International and European Public Law from KU Leuven, Belgium. A former member of the academic staff at the Faculty of Law at KU Leuven, Michelle is currently a Research Fellow at the Department of Law and Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany. Michelle is a Visiting Researcher at Yale Law School for spring term 2019. Her doctoral research focuses on judicial attitudes in Ireland, the UK and the US towards religious laws.
Silvio Ferrari is Professor of Canon Law at the University of Milan and Professor of Church-State Relations at the University of Leuven in Belgium. He has been visiting professor in Paris (École Pratique des Hautes Études) and Berkeley (University of California) and has worked for many international organizations, including the European Union and the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe. He founded, together with other professors, the European Consortium for Church and State Research. Professor Ferrari is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Institut Européen en Sciences des Religions (EPHE, Paris) and of the Board of Experts of the International Religious Liberty Association (Silver Spring, Maryland). His main fields of interest are Law and Religion issues in West Europe; Comparative Law of Religions (in particular Jewish Law, Canon Law and Islamic Law); Relations between Israel and the Vatican.
Professor Ferrari is Life Honorary President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies and is an Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion.
Tore Lindholm is Emeritus Professor (philosophy) at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo and board member of the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief and of the Human Rights Committee of Church of Norway. His research interests focus on the grounds for embracing universal human rights, in particular the right to freedom of religion or non-religious basic conviction, and on the ongoing two-way traffic between human rights and religions/basic convictions, in particular with respect to Islam and Muslims. He co-edited Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief, now published in Indonesian and Russian. He edited Islamic Law Reform and Human Rights: Challenges and Rejoinders and made a study of Muslim immigrants to Oslo, Religious Commitment and Social Integration: Are There Significant Links? Other writings include “The Cross-Cultural Legitimacy of Universal Human Rights: Plural Justification Across Normative Divides,” in Francioni & Scheinin, eds., Cultural Human Rights and “Magna Carta and Religious Freedom,” in Magraw & Martinez eds., Magna Carta and the Rule of Law.
