Vanessa Villanueva Collao USA, Italy About Vanessa Vanessa Villanueva Collao is a JSD candidate at the University of Illinois, where she serves as a senior editor for the Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, and a Research Fellow for the project “South EU Google Data Governance Chair” at the University of Roma Tre. Vanessa’s research focuses on decentralized finance, blockchain, AI, and empirical comparative methodology. Vanessa’s current work aims to assess when and how intermediaries can address conflicts of interest (selfish/opportunistic behavior, asymmetry of information, conflicting activities) in decentralized finance. Her scholarship includes peer-reviewed articles in law reviews originally written in English, Italian, and Spanish. Moreover, Her work has been selected for presentation at the Young Comparativists Committee section of the American Association of Comparative Law, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Italian Association of Law and Economics (SIDE), the Law and Society Association, and Jean Monnet Chairs events among other prestigious venues. Vanessa was a researcher and invited lecturer in Comparative Law at the University of Genova and has experience in the maritime field. She is also a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (LL.M.) and of the University of Genova, Department of Law (J.D.) and Department of Economics (M.A.). Areas of Practice Artificial Intelligence Blockchain and smart contract Data Governance Maritime Claims Trust