PLAIN2023
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
MODERATORS
Angelika Vaasa
Angelika Vaasa. Manages quality at the translation services of the European Parliament. Her diverse background combines languages, interpreting, teaching, tourism and European Legal Studies. She actively contributes to the development of plain language and translation standards in ISO Technical Committee 37. As a quality manager, she believes in the value of standards and is excited to promote the use of the first plain language standard. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the world through travel and books.
María Victoria Prícolo
María Victoria Prícolo is a lawyer who graduated from the Universidad del Museo Social Argentino in 1999. She pursued her professional career in the private sector until 2007 when she entered the public sphere. Since 2015, she has been the head of the Institutional Projection Office of the CABA Judicial Council. Regarding plain language, she participated in the Committee of the Plain Language Network Argentina, and has coordinated various publications, such as the Constitution of the City of Buenos Aires adapted into plain language, the Legal Glossary, the Guide to Access to Justice and the Consumer Relations Guide. She is currently co-coordinating the Plain Language Working Group of the Judiciary of the City of Buenos Aires.
Michael Blasie
Michael Blasie is the leading U.S. expert on plain language laws. After 10 years as a trial lawyer and judicial law clerk, he serves as a law school professor. Michael’s book is the first to discover and categorize the design of hundreds of U.S. plain language laws. As a National Judicial College instructor, he trains judges how to write. He presents internationally, including in India, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. He attended New York University School of Law.
Brigitte Quintero
Brigitte Quintero is the Plain Language Ambassador working at the Bogotá District Planning Secretariat. She has extensive experience in the formulation, coordination, execution, and monitoring of educational, communication, and TIC projects in different parts of the country, aimed at encouraging learning and satisfying citizen needs and expectations, training public servants, and ensuring public policy compliance. As part of her work to coordinate the plain language strategy of the National Planning Department she has designed and developed conceptual tools, co-created methodologies (simplicity laboratories), including an online course for public servants, among others. Thanks to her efforts, plain language now makes up part of the Colombian State's portfolio. She studied drama and style correction, endowing her with specific skills in physical, verbal and written communication.
Santiago Otamendi
Santiago Otamendi is a Judge of the Superior Court of Justice of the City of Buenos Aires (CABA). From 2005 to 2019, he was First Instance Judge in Criminal, Misdemeanors and Petty Offenses of the Judiciary of CABA. Formerly, he was the Secretary of Justice of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of the Nation (May 2015-December 2019). He has variously been President, Vice President and Member of the Executive Committee of the Presidency, and sat on the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) (July 2016–June 2019). He was General Secretary of Access to Justice and Human Rights of the Public Prosecutor's Office of CABA (October 2012–June 2014). Counselor on the Judicial Council of CABA (March 2010–May 2012). Deputy Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Working Group on Dialogue for Justice (2002–2005). He began his judicial career in 1988.
.png)
Mariano Cervellini
Mariano Cervellini is a solicitor and lawyer with a degree from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and a Master's in Administrative Law (Universidad Austral) and a specialization in Computer Law (Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA). He has postgraduate studies in Artificial Intelligence and Law (UBA) and has certified as a Legal Project Practitioner (IILPM), having completed the #Se Programar (“Argentina Program”) as well as the Python 3 Advanced Level Course (Universidad Tecnológica Nacional). He coordinates the Technology Commission of the Plain Language Observatory at the Faculty of Law of the UBA.
Antonio Martín
Antonio Martín is a Philologist and CEO of the professional language and publishing applications center CÁLAMO CRAN. He co-directs the Spanish book world in the periodical PUBLISHNEWS and is a member of PALABRAS MAYORES. Co-founder of UniCo and SEA (Spanish Editors Association), he is an Honorary Member of La Casa del Corrector, of Fundación LITTERAE and sits on the editorial board of the magazine Archiletras. He is co-author of El libro rojo de C&C (C&C, Madrid, 2013), 199 recetas infalibles para expresarse bien (Vox, Barcelona, 2015), Dilo bien y dilo claro (Larousse, Barcelona, 2017), and also wrote La mano invisible: confesiones de un corrector iconoclasta. He trains language, publishing and communications professionals and is a member of PLAIN and Plain Language Europe.
Natalia Bengochea
Natalia Bengochea is a professor with a degree in Literature from the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). She is a trainer for the Plain Language Workshops Program at the Judicial Information Office of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the City of Buenos Aires (CABA). She also teaches the foundation course at the UBA, the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (UNGS) and the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, as well as giving the postgraduate course in Language Management at the Universidad Tres de Febrero. She is a member of a number of research projects underway at the UBA and UNGS and has published papers in the area of glottopolitics as well as participating in editing and proofreading tasks for educational, academic, and scientific outreach materials.
Nicolás Negri
Nicolás Negri graduated with a degree in Law from the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). He is currently Director of the Office of Innovation and Judicial Management of the Superior Court of Justice of the City of Buenos Aires. He began his professional career in 1994, occupying different positions in Courts, Prosecutor's Offices and Federal Criminal Defense Offices. From 2016 to 2019, he served in the Ministry of Justice of the Nation; first as Chief of Cabinet of the Secretary of Justice and then as Argentine Representative to the Financial Action Task Force. He was also one of the Argentine Focal Points for the Open Government Partnership (OGP). He has worked in several different technical and administrative roles for the Government and the Council of the Judiciary of the City of Buenos Aires, as well as the Government of the Province of Buenos Aires and the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation. He also has experience in the private sector as a lawyer and consultant to financial institutions on financial transparency.
Emilia Ghelfi
Emilia Ghelfi is a professor with a degree in Literature from the Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA). She is currently a visiting professor of Text Comprehension and Writing, Oral and Written Expression, and Logic and Writing at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. Until September 2019, she ran the Writing Center at Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal law firm, where, in addition to editing documents, she trained lawyers in the use of plain language.
Natalia Torro
Natalia Torro. I am a Certified Translator from the University of Buenos Aires and have a Master's Degree in Translation from University of Belgrano. I translate legal and financial texts and speak four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Dutch. From 2017 to 2019, I dedicated myself fully to my master's thesis on intralingual translation, plain language, and privacy policies. For me, clear communication is synonymous with empathy, empowerment, inclusion, and accessibility. Since 2020, I've been a member of the Board of Directors of PLAIN because I want to contribute to the development of plain language in Spanish-speaking countries. I love going to concerts and collecting vinyl records.
Mariana Bozetti
Mariana Bozetti is a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Plain Language Observatory at the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She is a professor of Literature, with a degree from the Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA), and has a postgraduate degree in Forensic Linguistics (Legal and Judicial Language) from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She coordinates the area of writing and public speaking at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella where she teaches Text Comprehension and Writing, and Oral and Written Expression. Between 1998 and 2014, she was a language advisor at Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal law firm. She currently works at the General Directorate and School of Training at the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Nation.
Santiago Kalinowski
Santiago Kalinowski is a professor of Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of the University of Buenos Aires. He has a Master's in Hispanic Lexicography from the School of Hispanic Lexicography of the Real Academia Española and a PhD in Hispanic Studies from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is currently the Director of the Department of Linguistic and Philological Research at the Academia Argentina de Letras.
Christopher Balmford
Christopher Balmford is a sea kayaker; former lawyer; board member of the International Plain Language Federation; project leader of ISO’s Plain Language Project and convenor of ISO Working Group, ISO TC 37 WG 11; past president of Clarity International; and managing director of the plain-language consultancy Words and Beyond (wordsandbeyond.com). He founded the online legal-document provider Cleardocs, which Thomson Reuters acquired in 2011.
Cecilia Ferrari
Cecilia Ferrari is an attorney with a specialization in Company Law who graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) Argentina. She specializes in bankruptcy law and is a Guest Member of the Wordl CC ID: 10015205. A keen enthusiast of innovation and the application of new technologies in Law, she advocates for Legal Design in Argentina and is the founder of Legal Design Argentina and a member of Interaction Design Foundation.
María Gracia Andía
María Gracia Andía has a PhD in Law and Public Policy from Northeastern University in Boston (U.S.) and was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in New York City (U.S.). She is a professor of law for graduate and undergraduate degree courses at the Universidad de San Andrés (Argentina). In 2018, she was appointed head of the Guarantor Body of the Executive Power, a mandate which has just been extended for a further five years. She is a member of the Institute of Social Sciences Methodology at the National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences in Argentina and was associate researcher at the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth (CIPPEC). She has also consulted for international organizations such as the World Bank Group, the Americas Society and the Council of the Americas, and acts as advisor to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and the City of Buenos Aires legislature.
Paula Núñez Gelvez
Paula Núñez Gelvez has a Law degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) and a Master's degree in Criminal Law from the Universidad Austral. She serves as a judge on the Criminal, Misdemeanors and Petty Offenses Court No. 21 of the Judiciary of the City of Buenos Aires. She is a professor at the Faculty of Law at the UBA and contributes to the course on "Constitutional Guarantees of Substantive Criminal Law" taught by Maria Piqué at this university. She is a researcher on the DeCyT project "Feminist Criminal Doctrine. Teaching law using the case method" directed by Julieta Di Corleto.
María Victoria Prícolo
María Victoria Prícolo es abogada, egresada de la Universidad del Museo Social Argentino en el año 1999. Desarrolló su carrera profesional en el sector privado hasta el año 2007 que ingresó en el ámbito público. Desde el año 2015 es titular de la Oficina de Proyección Institucional del Consejo de la Magistratura de la CABA. Respecto a la temática referida a lenguaje claro, participó del Comité de la Red de Lenguaje Claro Argentina, fue la coordinadora de diversas publicaciones como la Constitución de la CABA adaptada a lenguaje claro, el Glosario Jurídico, la Guía de Acceso a la Justicia y la Guía de las Relaciones de Consumo. Actualmente co -coordina la Mesa de Lenguaje Claro del Poder Judicial de la CABA.