Maria Lucia Passador is an Assistant Professor of Corporate Law and Financial Markets Regulation at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. She is also a Research Fellow at the Paolo Baffi Centre on Economics, Finance and Regulation, and a faculty member at SDA Bocconi School of Management. In parallel, she practices as a Senior Associate in the M&A and Capital Markets group at Hogan Lovells (Milan office).

She holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where she was a John M. Olin Fellow in Empirical Law and Finance and was awarded the Dean’s Scholar Prize in Comparative Corporate Governance and Finance, and a Ph.D. in Business Law from Bocconi University.

In 2025, she received the prestigious Antonio Feltrinelli Giovani Prize awarded by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, as well as the Carl Liggio Memorial Award by the Association of Corporate Counsel in Washington, D.C.

She has held visiting positions and delivered lectures at institutions across Europe and the U.S., including the Max Planck Institute (Hamburg and Luxembourg), Columbia Law School, Oxford University, and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (University of London). She was Visiting Professor of Comparative Corporate Law at the University of
Notre Dame (Fall 2024), and is an incoming Visiting Professor at SMU School of Law in Singapore (Summer 2025) and at Sciences Po Law School in Paris (2025).

Maria Lucia’s research explores comparative company law, corporate governance, and financial regulation. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in leading journals including the European Business Organization Law Review, American Business Law Journal, Columbia Journal of European Law, and Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law. Her writing has been cited by institutions such as the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Her current research sits at the intersection of corporate law, financial regulation, and emerging technologies, with particular attention to the legal implications of artificial intelligence for board governance, fiduciary duties, and regulatory oversight. She explores how evolving risk environments—shaped by algorithmic decision-making, digital finance, and sustainability imperatives—are transforming traditional notions of corporate accountability and liability.

Her work spans the analysis of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act with the institutional design of corporate governance systems, supervisory models for AI in banking and capital markets, the structure and effects of loyalty and tenure voting regimes, and the comparative dynamics of shareholder engagement across jurisdictions. More broadly, her scholarship engages the future of legal frameworks in data-driven economies. She has been a TTLF Affiliate since 2025.