The Bretton Woods Law Team

Ludovica had the opportunity to observe the functioning of International Organisations from an insider’s perspective.  In fact, she has worked with a number of international and diplomatic bodies in Vienna, such as the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).  While at the OSCE, Ludovica assisted the Legal Services and the HR Department advising on several HR policy issues and on many personnel cases in the field of employment law.  In this regard, she dealt with the privileges and immunities of the international civil servants, the staff rules and regulations, and overall the organisation’s internal justice system in order to best assist it in responding to staff complaints and appeals.  Moreover, she advised on the long-lasting issue of the legal personality of political organisations, the Permanent Council’s recommendations and decisions, the legal framework of the organisation’s structure and its compliance with international standards, including carrying out comparative studies on other international organisations’ systems and legal frameworks, with particular focus on the case-law of UN Tribunals (UNAT and UNDT) and of the ILOAT.

Ludovica also provided consultancy services within the Human Resources Section of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), mainly advising on HR and Administration policies, staff rules and regulations and appeal processes. These experiences have been a useful instrument in approaching international administrative law cases.

With Bretton Woods Law, Ludovica strengthened her knowledge and experience in the field of IAL by representing and advising civil servants and staff associations operating in a number of international organisations and financial institutions such as, inter alia, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank Group (WBG), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the Organisation for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the INTERPOL, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the European Patent Office (EPO).

In addition, Ludovica has experience in litigation before international administrative tribunals such as the ILOAT, the UNAT, the WBAT and the ATBIS.

Ludovica gained also experience in the Multilateral Development Banking (MDB) field, in which she provides consultancy on integrity compliance programmes and on anti-corruption issues.

Ludovica is also experienced in the private civil and corporate law sector, having worked on several transnational and international cases both in Italy and in Austria.

Ludovica has an extensive experience of International Organisations Law having worked with different international bodies in Vienna. During her time at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the International Organizations in Vienna, she reported to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on several UN-related topics such as anti-corruption and organised crime issues with focus on the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), human rights Working Groups and Conferences of the States Parties, developing at the same time diplomatic skills.

Ludovica was involved in many rule of law initiatives and projects carried out by the OSCE, especially in the Balkans and in Central Asia. In particular, she contributed to the development of a rule of law/capacity building project in Croatia, aimed at the training of legal practitioners, judges and NGOs representatives active in the human rights field. This included trainings on monitoring war crimes trials in compliance with international standards and best practices, with particular emphasis on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the ex-Yugoslavia (ICTY) standards and procedures.

Ludovica also provided advice to the Office of the Special Representative in Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (CTHB) in projects and activities related to the Ukrainian crisis and the Transnistrian conflict. In particular, she advised on trainings for OSCE conflict zones’ monitors in recognizing and reporting human trafficking cases in order to both prosecute traffickers and better assist victims of trafficking, stressing the distinction between trafficking forms and migration.

Ludovica provided advice also on educational projects such as the professional training of social workers and government’s representatives from the Ministries of Social Affairs of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus on the most updated international standards in the educational system of children without parental care.

After her master’s degree in Law at the University of Parma in 2009, Ludovica completed her legal training partly in Italy and partly in Vienna (Austria) in an international law firm where she mainly dealt with Italian and international clients, working inter alia on commercial law and unfair competition cases. Ludovica then completed her professional education by passing the bar exam in Italy. Since 2013, she has been admitted to “Ordine degli Avvocati di Mantova” and she holds the title of “Avvocato”, Italian qualified lawyer.

Ludovica has always had an international vocation, and after her Italian education, she started working in Vienna in 2010, first in private practice, then as a Legal Assistant at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the International Organisations. Her work had a special focus on Vienna-based International Organisations such as the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). In 2012, Ludovica joined the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) where she worked until the beginning of 2015 in different capacities and covering diversified roles (in Legal Services, HR and Office of the Special Representative in Combating Trafficking in Human Beings) where she advised on many employment cases, rule of law projects and human rights issues. She also holds experience in advocacy and litigation, representing clients before national courts, and as in-house legal counsel of an Austrian consulting company.

Ludovica joined BWL in June 2015, and has since qualified to practise in England and Wales.  She is accredited to accept work through Direct Access without the need for a solicitor, having successfully completed the Public Access and the Litigation courses.

Ludovica is a native Italian speaker and is fluent in English and German. She also speaks basic French and Spanish. She has travelled across Europe and the Americas and she is interested in history and ancient architecture. She is also an avid reader of historical and crime novels, and interested in current affairs, lifestyle and fashion.