Michael Widdowson is a PhD researcher in Law at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. His research interests cover the areas of Comparative Law, Equity and Trusts, Law and Technology and AI.
He is currently focusing on his PhD research under the supervision of Professor Mathias Siems entitled “Are Trusts Transplantable? An Analysis of the Rise of Trusts in the French Legal Tradition”. This interdisciplinary project combines Legal Transplant theory in Comparative law as well as policy diffusion and historical mythology to determine whether fiduciary devices in the French legal tradition could be seen as successfully transplanted Anglo-American Trusts.
Michael holds a law degree (LLB) in English and French Law from the University of Kent and a Master’s in Comparative and European Private Law (LLM) from the University of Edinburgh. During his bachelor’s studies, Michael took part in the Erasmus + exchange programme at Université d’Aix-Marseille, gaining further knowledge of the French legal system. He speaks English and French fluently and Italian at an intermediate level. Michael is currently Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Legal Studies.
Michael gained practical experience by doing an internship in government procurement law. He also acted as a presenter and researcher on a law show entitled “Critical Law TV” for local television. He worked on the property law episode which investigated the extent to which new building safety laws protected tenants with flammable cladding on their properties. Following on from this experience, Michael is keen to make legal study more accessible through the use of the media as well as roleplaying workshops.