Personal bio
An accomplished academic, university administrator, and independent legal and business consultant with extensive experience across three continents, Prof. Dr Maria Casoria currently holds the position of Dean and Associate Professor of Law at the Euro University of Bahrain (EUB). Before joining EUB, she served as the Executive Director for Overseas Operations in the Office of the Provost and a Visiting Professor of Law at West Virginia University (WVU) in the USA. While at WVU, she worked extensively with universities, embassies, and public organisations from countries across the Middle East and Asia to establish academic, research, and student-related partnerships. Previous work experience includes faculty positions and academic collaborations in Bahrain and the UAE, with a focus on Commercial Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution, as well as involvement with the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.
Prof. Dr Casoria earned a Bachelor of Laws and International Organisations, a Master of Laws, and a PhD in Markets Law, all from the University of Siena, Italy. She is an Italian-licensed Attorney and a Mediator in Civil and Commercial Disputes. She has been a fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2017, an Associate at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 2019, and a member of the American Bar Association since 2016.
The first to publish research papers on competition and regulation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Prof. Dr Casoria has authored several publications in both English and Italian, covering topics in Competition Law in the GCC, Digital Markets, Commercial Law, Open Banking, and ADR. On these topics, she has also been speaking at international conferences. Notably, she has been a Global Stiefel Fellow in Antitrust and IP Rights at the New York Law School – Institute for Information Law, and since 2025, she has been an Ambassador in the Value of Competition Pro-bono Programme at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Law - Centre for Competition Law and Policy. Her scholarship has also led Prof. Dr Casoria to contribute to research projects on EU market regulation, which were awarded the prestigious Jean Monnet Research Grant by the University of Siena and other European Universities and Organisations, including the Bank of Italy.
In addition to her academic experience, Prof. Dr Casoria has been General Counsel and legal advisor in Bahrain, and she founded and currently manages a consultancy firm. She excels at identifying project requirements, setting up new legal and business entities, overseeing deliverables, ensuring legal compliance, and working effectively in multicultural environments.
Prof. Dr Casoria is fluent in English and Italian and has a conversational knowledge of French and Arabic.