Maria-José Azar-Baud

Maria-José Azar-Baud is an Associate Professor of Law at the Jean Monnet Faculty of Law, University of Paris-Saclay, specializing in consumer protection and collective redress mechanisms. She holds an HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches) and serves as Deputy Director of the Institute for Law, Ethics and Heritage (IDEP) since December 2021. Additionally, she co-directs the Paris-Saclay Legal Clinic and founded the Observatory of Group Actions and Other Collective Actions in 2017, establishing herself as a leading authority in consumer class actions across multiple jurisdictions.

Her academic trajectory uniquely bridges French and Argentine legal systems, reflecting her expertise in comparative law methodology. She has directed numerous international research projects, supervised master's students through practical legal clinics, and participated in doctoral thesis committees. Her scholarly work demonstrates consistent evolution from foundational analyses of French class actions to contemporary examinations of digital consumer protection, environmental litigation, and pandemic-related legal challenges.

Professor Azar-Baud's research portfolio reveals strategic progression from theoretical frameworks to practical implementation issues. Her recent publications focus on third-party funding of collective actions, data breach litigation, and the implementation challenges of the EU Representative Actions Directive. This trajectory positions her at the intersection of consumer law, competition policy, and emerging digital legal challenges, with particular attention to cross-border enforcement mechanisms.

• Prix de la Cour Suprême de Justice de la Nation et de l'Association argentine de professeurs du droit de processuel (2008)

Her advisory roles demonstrate significant impact beyond academia. Professor Azar-Baud has provided expert testimony to the French National Assembly regarding group action legislation and consulted with the European Parliament on the Representative Actions Directive. She has directed master classes on Law, Economics and Behavior of Torts and organized numerous international conferences fostering collaboration between scholars from France, Argentina, Japan, and other European nations.

Through the Observatory of Group Actions, she maintains a comprehensive resource for tracking collective redress developments across jurisdictions. Her quarterly contributions to 'Mass Claims: An International Journal with a European Focus' establish her as a key commentator on French legal developments in collective redress mechanisms.