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Pavel Franc (born in 1978 in Brno)

Pavel studied at the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University in Brno, graduating in 2004. At present he is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Administrative Law and Financial Law there. Starting in 1993, he participated in the activities of the Brno branch of Hnutí DUHA (Friends of the Earth - Czech Republic), primarily on waste issues. Since 1998 he has been working for the Environmental Law Service, and currently is employed there full-time. He is the founder and head of the Global Alliance for Responsibility, Democracy, and Equity (GARDE ) programme of the Environmental Law Service, which focuses on holding multinationals accountable. He has worked on cases involving Toyota Peugeot Citroen Automobile Czech, Nemak, Danone, and Hyundai. He is a co-founder of the Economy and Society Trust think-tank and also works on legal protection of the environment, for example, the Nové Mlýny Reservoir case, and on consumer protection. He recently organised an exhibition of  Ibra Ibrahimovič´s photographs entitled 'Farmer Rajter´s Story - From Collectivization to Globalisation,' which dealt with the Nemak case. The exhibition was awarded  two prizes in the Czech Press Photo competition in  2003 and was shown in more than 10 towns throughout the Czech Republic.

CV_Pavel_Franc.pdf

Jiří Nezhyba (born in 1973 in Hranice)

Jiří studied at the Charles University, Faculty of Law in Prague, graduating in 1997. In 1999, he worked at the Secretariat of the Appeal Commission in the Asylum and Immigration Policy Department of the Czech Ministry of the Interior. In 2000 and 2001, he worked at the refugee camp in Vyšní Lhoty. He began working with the Environmental Law Service in 2002. He now works in the GARDE programme, focusing on corporate accountability cases involving the LG. Philips Displays cathode-ray tubes factory in Hranice, Toyota Peugeot Citroen's automobile factory near Kolín, the Nemak aluminium works in Havraň by Most, and the investment of automobile manufacturer Hyundai in Nošovice. He is also working on the legal protection of the North Bohemian villages of Horní Jiřetín and Černice against devastation due to brown coal mining.

 

 

CV-Jiri_Nezhyba_2009_en.pdf

Filip Gregor (born in 1982 in Valašské Meziříčí)

After completing high school in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, he studied at the Faculty of Law at  Masaryk University in Brno, graduating in 2005. The theme of his graduating thesis were questions of citizens' standing to file suit against unlawful decisions of European institutions.He came to work to EPS right after his graduation in October 2005. He specializes in enforcement of consumer rights; e.g. ČSA case. In particular he deals with unfair commercial practices including credit granting practices. Within the GARDE programme he further focuses on the responsibility of corporations and detection of corruption of the public authorities in cases of large industrial investments, e.g. car manufacturing plant Hyundai in Nošovice or Nokian Tyres investment in Lešná.

 

 

 

Jana Koukalová (born in 1980 in Brno)

In 2005 she finished her studies at the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University in Brno (graduating thesis "Liability for harm to the environment"). In 2004 she completed a bachelor´s study of sociology at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University.  Presently she is about to finish a master´s degree in environmental studies at this faculty. From 2004 to 2005 she worked as a law consultant at the civil consulting bureau Trialog in Brno. In 2005 she worked as a law articled clerk at the office of the Public Defender of Rights - Ombudsman, solved complaints in the areas of social security and family law. During her studies at the Faculty of Law, she taught law at high schools within the framework of the program Street Law and cooperated on an education program for underage offenders - clients of the Probation and Mediation Service. Since January 2006 she has worked with the program GARDE, dealing with the problem of discrimination of employees in transnational corporations and providing free legal help to employees seeking assistance.