Professor Veronica Ruiz Abou-Nigm

Chair of Private International Law

PhD, LLM (Edin.), JD (UCUDAL)

Office hours:

Wednesday 10:00-11:00

Email: V.Ruiz.Abou-Nigm@ed.ac.uk

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Professor Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm holds the Chair of Private International Law. A Uruguayan qualified lawyer, Professor Ruiz Abou-Nigm obtained an LL.M and Ph.D from the University of Edinburgh. She joined Edinburgh Law School in 2014, having previously been Lecturer in Law at Sheffield Law School (2008–2013). Prior to becoming an academic, she worked in private legal practice, specialising in shipping law, arbitration and mediation.

Professor Ruiz Abou-Nigm is a Member of the Court of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), President of the American Association of Private International Law (ASADIP), and a Member of the Scientific Council of the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL). She is a UNIDROIT correspondent, an elected Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL), and a member of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Private International Law (UK Ministry of Justice).

Professor Ruiz Abou-Nigm currently serves as Director of Research at the Law Schools Global League (LSGL), having previously served on the board of the European Law Faculties Association (ELFA), including as its President (2023–2024).

She was a Senior Research Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (2021–2022) and, in 2023, Director of Studies for the Private International Law session (English) at the summer courses of The Hague Academy of International Law. She has held visiting and adjunct professorships at Tulane University (USA), IE Law School (Spain), and Wuhan University (China).

Her research focuses primarily on private international law, with current emphasis on its impact on sustainable development, the circular economy, and global migration. She is the Principal Investigator of the UK team in the AHRC-DFG Fashion’s PLACE project (2026-2029). Her books include R. Michaels, Ruiz Abou-Nigm, V. and van Loon, H. Eds. (2021): The Private Side of Transforming our World – UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the Role of Private International Law. Intersentia; V. Ruiz Abou-Nigm and Noodt Taquela, M.B. Eds. (2019): Diversity and Integration in Private International Law. EUP; V. Ruiz Abou-Nigm, McCall-Smith, K. and French, D. Eds. (2018): Linkages and Boundaries in Private and Public International Law. Hart Publishing; V. Ruiz Abou-Nigm (2011): The Arrest of Ships in Private International Law. OUP; M.M. Albornoz, Gonzalez, C., Moreno-Valle, J. and Ruiz Abou-Nigm, V. Eds. (2026): Imaginario regional, resonancia global. El derecho internacional privado interamericano y el escenario mundial.