Professor Vernon Valentine Palmer is Thomas Pickles Professor of Law; Co-Director, Eason Weinmann Center for International and Comparative Law; and Director, Tulane Paris Institute of European Legal Studies, Tulane University. His primary fields of interest have been the civil law, comparative law, mixed jurisdictions and legal history. Professor Palmer serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Tulane European and Civil Law Forum. In addition to numerous other awards, in 2007 he received the French Legion of Honor and in 2013 he was honoured Docteur Honoris Causa by Paris Dauphine University. Dr Mohamed Mattar is Executive Director of the Protection Project of the Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is also Senior Research Professor of International Law, Johns Hopkins University, Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He is also Non-Resident Distinguished Professor of Law, Alexandria University Faculty of Law, Egypt. In addition, he holds adjunct professorships at Georgetown University Law Center, the American University, Washington College of Law, and Indianapolis University School of Law, USA.

Dr. Mattar has worked in over 50 countries to promote state compliance with international human rights standards and has advised governments on drafting and implementing anti-trafficking legislation. He participated in drafting the United Nations model law on trafficking in persons and he authored the Inter-Parliamentarian Handbook on the appropriate responses to trafficking in persons. Ms Anna Koppel is the Director of Research and Development at The Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University, USA, where she develops and manages international programs of academic cooperation in the fields of human rights law and comparative law. She regularly organizes seminars, workshops, and conferences bringing together scholars from around the world, with a particular focus on the Middle East region. Ms. Koppel is an MSt Candidate (expected 2014) in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford; she received her Master of Arts in International Relations in May of 2003 from The Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), and her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Maryland, May 1999.