Areas of activity
She is a lawyer and arbitrator in several corporate law and contractual disputes. I teach Corporate governance, Commercial contract law and, among other contracts, insurance contracts; I have special expertise in corporate governance of listed companies, insurance companies and banks and financial markets.
Lawyer and founding partner of Musumeci, Altara, Desana & Ass. Law Firm.
Academic activity
She currently holds the chair of Bankruptcy Law, Commercial Law, European Company Law and Corporate Law (in English) and teaches company law in the Entrepreneur course. She served for three years as chair of the graduate program in Consulenza del lavoro e gestione delle risorse umane at University of Turin; She has been the university mentoring liaison and has supervised several mentoring projects.
Legal profession
Component of the directive council of AIDA, Italian association of insurance law (Associazione italiana di diritto delle assicurazioni, Sezione Piemonte e Valle d’Aosta); Member of Orizzonti Del Diritto Commerciale (Italian Association of academics in Commercial Law), of Nedcommunity (Association of non-executive and independent directors promoting best governance practices in listed and state owned companies), of Fuori Quota (a non-profit organisation that brings together women who are or have been members of the bodies of listed companies and women in top positions in companies and institutions who are committed to proactive actions for the empowerment of female talent and overcoming gender inequality), of Soroptimist International, in the club of Turin (a non-profit service club organisation that brings together highly professional women and works through projects aimed at advancing the status of women, promoting human rights, acceptance of diversity, development and peace). Member of the Scientific Committee of the Turin City for Women Association.
Current jobs
I am a member of the teaching board of the Doctorate in “Iel – International Phd in Comparative Analysis of Institutions, Economics and Law” at the University of Turin (in collaboration with the Collegio Carlo Alberto).
I am a member of the decentralised Equal Opportunities Committee at the Turin Judicial Council, as designated by the regional Equality Councillor.
I am a member of Law School Global League, an international academic organisation that brings together law schools that share a commitment to the globalization of law and to integrating global law in their teaching and research.
I am a member of the Scientific Committee of CIRSDe, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Research and Studies on Women and Gender of the University of Turin and am a delegate, appointed by CIRSDe, as the representative of the University of Turin at the Table promoted by the Piedmont Region and some professional orders and associations, entitled “More women for Boards of Directors and top positions”.
I am a member of several scientific committees of legal journals and referee.
I am the author of three monographs (on takeover bids, securities, and corporate governance), and editor (and author) of a book on gender balance in the corporate governance of listed and state-owned enterprises. I have great experience in antidiscrimination law and in listed companies.
My most recent monographs and editorships include Speriamo che sia femmina: l’equilibrio fra i generi nelle società quotate e a controllo pubblico nell’esperienza italiana e comparata (Let’s hope it’s a girl, gender balance in listed and publicly controlled companies in the Italian and comparative experience) edited by Mia Callegari, Eva Desana and Marcella Sarale (2021), L’impresa fra tradizione e innovazione (2018) (The enterprise between tradition and innovation) and Why diversity? Gender balance in corporate bodies. Notes on the recent amendments to the Equal Opportunities Code and the resumption of the progress of the European Directive Proposal COM (2012) 614 final (English).
I am about to publish, with Mia Callegari a monograph in English, No woman non board: mandatory rules, soft law and best practices in UE and in others countries.
I am the author of numerous articles and book chapters on commercial law, in Italian and in English. I am the author (with F. Riganti and S. Secinaro), of Über Alles or not? the Italian Perspective on the “Uber Case” in Global Perspectives on Legal Challenges Posed by Ridesharing Companies. A case study of Uber, edited by Zeynep Ayata e Işık Önay, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.
I have been a speaker at national conferences and international seminars on, inter alia, gender balance in the corporate governance of listed and state-owned enterprises, and on the subject of sanctions by the Supervisory Authorities, enterprise and alert measures. I work in the fields of commercial and civil law, in particular in the fields of corporate law, contract law, financial market law and listed company law, insurance law, as well as in arbitration matters.
I promoted the adoption by the University of Turin of guidelines on gender balance in scientific conferences and events (in June 2021).
Recent lectures and training courses
– Conference Le responsabilità sociali delle imprese, Fondazione Gramsci, Turin, 5 December 2023
– L’arbitrato societario, conference organised by the Piedmont Chamber of Arbitration in collaboration with the Turin Chamber of Arbitration, Impresa giustizia civile arbitrato. Quali prospettive? Turin, 17 November 2023
– Market abuses and market efficiency, Venice, La s.p.a. nell’epoca della sostenibilità e della transizione tecnologica, International conference of studies for the seventieth anniversary of Rivista delle società, 10-11 November 2023
– PMI e l’evoluzione della nozione di impresa nel diritto della crisi, Florence, conference La crisi emergenziale e i suoi protagonisti, organised by Osservatorio della crisi d’impresa, 3-4 November 2023
– Member of the discussion panel held in Turin on 19 May 2023 as part of the Legal Tech Venture Day
– Conference Manager Italia per le donne, speech Dalla legge Golfo-Mosca alla women on boards directive: scenari futuri e certificazione di genere, Turin, 11 May 2023
– Speaker at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Sustainability and Enterprise: new methods and new tools in legal education, held on 2-3 May 2023 (Speech No woman no board: The WoB Directive and the Italian case)
– Speaker at the international conference in Venice, La s.p.a. nell’epoca della sostenibilità e della transizione tecnologica, Convegno internazionale di studi per i settant’anni della Rivista, held on 10-11 November (Speech Market abuses and efficiency of the markets)
– Member of the discussion panel at Legal Tech Venture Day
– Speaker at the Master of LUISS School of Law, Sustainability and Enterprise: new methods and new tools in legal education, held on 3 February 2023 (Speech Sustainability and Gender)
– Speaker at the presentation of the book Speriamo che sia femmina: l’equilibrio fra i generi nelle società quotate e a controllo pubblico nell’esperienza italiana e comparata, edited by M. Callegari
– E.R. Desana – M. Sarale, held at the Lyon Catholic University on 1st December 2022
– Speaker at the national conference held at Confindustria Cuneo held on 7 July 2022, “Women: an opportunity without equal”
– Speaker at the national conference held at the University of Turin on 16 June 2022, for the preparation for governance positions in in-house companies and state-owned companies organised by the Piedmont Region and some professional orders and associations, entitled “More women for Boards of Directors and top positions”.
– Speaker at the presentation of the book Speriamo che sia femmina: l’equilibrio fra i generi nelle società quotate e a controllo pubblico nell’esperienza italiana e comparata, edited by M. Callegari
– E.R. Desana – M. Sarale, held at the University of Eastern Piedmont – Novara campus on 13 December 2021
– Speaker at the Advanced Training Course for the preparation for governance positions in in-house companies and state-owned companies organised by the CNF Group “Legislazione Sulle Pari Opportunità” Implementation and Monitoring of Law 120/2011 Golfo-Mosca Implementation and Monitoring of the Law on Legitimate Impediment (from 24 September 2021 to 4 February 2022)
– Rapporteur and organiser together with Gaetano Presti of the conference (webinar), “Gender balance ten years after the Golfo-Mosca law: a long and winding road”, Milan, 12 July 2021 organised by the National Foundation Centre for Prevention and Social Defence (CNPDS) in collaboration with the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Department of Legal Sciences and the Milan Bar Association (Speech “Italian perspectives”)
– Speaker at the conference “The new listed company. Stakeholder protection, sustainability and new governance”, organised by the National Centre for Prevention and Social Defence (CNPDS) on 9 April 2021 (Speech “From the ‘disvalue’ of diversity to the valorisation of gender diversity in the boards of directors and auditors of listed and public companies”)
– Speaker at the advanced training course for bankruptcy experts, organised by the Vercelli Bar Association and the Giorgio Ambrosoli School of Forensic Training, lecture of 5 July 2021 (Speech “To prevent enterprise crisis”)
– Speaker at the Roundtable “Dialogues between listed companies and shareholders: institutions and principles” (webinar), 25 June 2021, organised by Bocconi University in collaboration with Assonime and Rivista delle società
– Speaker at the conference presenting the university guidelines of guidelines on gender balance in scientific conferences and events (in June 2021)
– Speaker at the Roundtable (webinar) Compliance in Financial Institutions – COFIN MASTER, “Towards sustainable corporate governance?” 13 April 2021
– Speaker at the course (webinar) on Arbitration organized by the Order of Chartered Accountants and Accounting Experts of Turin (lecture of 25 March 2021, “The evidentiary instruction: forms and limits of the parties’ power of disposition. The free questioning of the parties, the taking of evidence and atypical evidence”)
– Speaker at the conference (webinar) “Entrepreneurship and women’s leadership” organised by the guarantee committees of Polytechnic University of Turin and University of Turin, 8 March 2021
Main publications
– L’equilibrio di genere dieci anni dopo la legge Golfo-Mosca: a long and winding road, a cura di E. Desana e G. Presti, 2022, Milano
– Speriamo che sia femmina: l’equilibrio fra i generi nelle società quotate e a controllo pubblico nell’esperienza italiana e comparata a cura di M. Callegari, E. Desana e M. Sarale, 2021 in Quaderni del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza dell’Università di Torino, Rubbettino Editore, 2021
– L’impresa fra tradizione e innovazione, Giappichelli, Torino, 2018 pp. XI-326
– Ne bis in idem e procedimento sanzionatorio Consob al vaglio della Corte Europea dei diritti dell’Uomo a cura di E. Desana, P. Montalenti, M. Salvadori, Editoriale scientifica, Napoli, 2016
– La vendita, a cura di Mia Callegari e Eva Desana, Zanichelli, Bologna-Torino, 2014
– Dall’impresa comunitaria alla tutela dell’impresa debole. Spunti per una nuova nozione di impresa, Aracne, Roma, 2012 pp. 5-224
– La cambiale, Cedam, Padova, 2006 (parte II del volume VII, I titoli di credito di M. Callegari, G. Cottino, E. Desana, G. Spatazza, in Trattato di diritto commerciale, diretto da G. Cottino pp. 287-523)
– Opa e tecniche di difesa. Dalle misure difensive ‘successive’ a quelle ‘preventive’, Giuffrè, Milano, 2003, pp. 1- 338
Other publications
– Il ruolo dell’organo amministrativo nell’ambito della corporate governance delle società, in Trattato di diritto societario europeo, a cura di Paolo Montalenti, 2022 per i tipi della Giappichelli
– Why Diversity? Gender Balance in Corporate Bodies. Notes on the Recent Amendments to the Equal Opportunities Code and the Final Approval of the Women on Boards Directive, by Mia Callegari, Eva R. Desana and Fabiana Massa Felsani, 2023, The Italian Law Journal, 2022, v. 2, 715
– Le misure di allerta fra vecchio e nuovo diritto della crisi: la tela di Penelope, in Ristrutturazioni Aziendali, 3 maggio 2022
– E. Desana – M Callegari, L’equilibrio di genere negli organi di amministrazione e controllo in Italia, in Dialogos de la cultura juridica italo-argentina, La ley, 2022, 359 ss.
– M Callegari – E. Desana, La parità di genere prima e dopo l’esperienza pandemica. Il caso “quote rosa” nel governo societario, in Diritti e doveri oltre l’emergenza? Dalla pandemia Covid-19 verso nuovi modelli di convivenza, Collane@Unito.it, 2021, pp. 330 ss.
– Dal DISVALORE della c.d. gender diversity alla valorizzazione delle diversità: il caso delle quote di genere negli organi di amministrazione e controllo delle società quotate e a controllo pubblico, in Il presente che verrà, a cura di G. Tessitore, Milano 2022
– Le procedure di allerta (e cenni al loro probabile tramonto), in Le crisi d’impresa e del consumatore dopo il d.l. 118/2021. Liber amicorum per Alberto Jorio (a cura di Stefano Ambrosini), Zanichelli, Bologna, 2021, 87-107
– E. Desana – F. Massa Felsani, Corporate governance e diversità di genere nelle società quotate e nelle società a controllo pubblico, in Studi in onore di Vincenzo Di Cataldo, 2021, Giappichelli, Torino, 309 e segg.
– Gender diversity e potere economico a dieci anni dalla legge Golfo-Mosca, in AgCult, 6 settembre 2021
– Le procedure di allerta (e cenni al loro probabile tramonto), in Le crisi d’impresa e del consumatore dopo il d.l. 118/2021. Liber amicorum per Alberto Jorio (a cura di Stefano Ambrosini), Bologna, 2021, pp. 87-107
– Equità di genere gender diversity e potere economico a dieci anni dalla legge Golfo-Mosca, in AgCult- LETTURE LENTE. Risorse: studi, ricerche, ascolti, 2021
– L’equilibrio di genere nelle società a “controllo pubblico”: asimmetrie normative e recenti novità, in Gazzetta forense, 2021, 1015 ss.
– M. Callegari – E. Desana – F. Massa Felsani, Riequilibrio di genere negli organi societari. Appunti a margine della nuova disciplina e presentazione delle Osservazioni di Noi Rete Donne alla Proposta di Direttiva europea COM (2012) 614 final, 2021 Astrid
– E. Desana – F.Riganti – S. Secinaro, Über Alles or not? the Italian Perspective on the “Uber Case” in Global Perspectives on Legal Challenges Posed by Ridesharing Companies. A case study of Uber, a cura di Zeynep Ayata e Işık Önay, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
– PMI innovative, PMI e società a responsabilità limitata: una rivoluzione copernicana? in La società a responsabilità limitata: un modello transtipico alla prova del codice della crisi, Studi in onore di Oreste Cagnasso, a cura di M. Irrera, Giappichelli, Torino, 2020, pp. 52-74
– La gestione accentrata, in Commentario al TUF, a cura di M. Cera e G. Presti, Giappichelli, 2020
– Introduzione. Le fonti del diritto commerciale, in Lineamenti di diritto commerciale, a cura di G. Cottino, Zanichelli, Bologna-Torino, 2020
– Capitolo I, La fattispecie impresa nelle sue varianti, in Lineamenti di diritto commerciale, a cura di G. Cottino, Zanichelli, Bologna-Torino, 2020
– Capitolo V, La cooperazione tra imprenditori, in Lineamenti di diritto commerciale, a cura di G. Cottino, Zanichelli, Bologna-Torino, 2020
– Sezione V, Mercato del controllo, appello al pubblico risparmio, partecipazioni rilevanti e OPA, in Lineamenti di diritto commerciale, a cura di G. Cottino, Zanichelli, Bologna-Torino, 2020
– Democrazia paritaria e governo delle imprese. Nuovi equilibri e disallineamenti della disciplina, in Federalismi.it, 2020, n. 24, pp 2-18
– Notificazione del lodo arbitrale alla parte personalmente, ampiezza dei poteri degli Arbitri nell’ammissione delle prove e rilievo dell’ordine pubblico in materia di arbitrato, nota titola a Appello Milano, 28 marzo 2019, in Giurisprudenza arbitrale, 2020, 2, pp. 253-259
– Procedure di Allerta e Composizione, in Bocconi Legal Paper, n. 15, 2020, pp 29-59
– Le procedure di allerta, in Giurisprudenza Commerciale – Atti del Convegno di Courmayeur 20-21 settembre 2019, 2021, pp 119-140
– Ne bis in idem e procedimento sanzionatorio CONSOB fra Corti costituzionali e Corte di Giustizia: end game? in Giurisprudenza Commerciale, 2020, II, pp 1033-1060
– Riequilibrio di genere negli organi societari, in Astrid, 2020, rassegna n. 1, pp 1-22