Seminar Series Trends and Challenges in Costs and Funding of Civil Justice - Fifth Seminar

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Published: May 12, 2022

The team of the Vici project ‘Affordable Access to Justice’ at Erasmus School of Law is organizing an online seminar series dedicated to Trends and Challenges in Costs and Funding of Civil Justice. The events of the series run from December 2021 to June 2022.

The 5th seminar of the series took place on 20 April 2022, 14-16 CET and was dedicated to Austerity policies and litigation costs reforms. The EU economic crises of the last decades and the ensuing austerity policies deeply impacted justice budgets in many EU jurisdictions and triggered justice reforms, particularly in the area of litigation costs. The seminar has offered the opportunity of reflecting on the implications of litigation costs reforms on access to justice and procedural efficiency. The speakers’ presentations and the following debate have highlighted a number of perspectives, which also reflected the diverse national backgrounds of the participants.

Panagiotis Perakis (CCBE Vice President) focused on the case of Greece. Using empirical data, he addressed the question of to what extent costs of litigation increased in Greece. He also explored in more detail how Greek justice reform policies have affected access to justice for the citizens and the efficiency of national courts.

Paula Costa e Silva (Lisbon University) provided a legal and economic analysis of the reforms implemented in Portugal before, during and after the financial crisis. Her presentation addressed, among others, the practical consequences for the users and providers of justice services and the need for the design of robust evidence-based justice policies.

Fernando Gascón Inchausti (Complutense University of Madrid) presented the case of Spain. His presentation focused on the instrumental use of costs as a lever for adjusting the volume of litigation in Spain also in light of mass consumer litigation and recent CJEU jurisprudence on unfair contractual terms.

The seminar was introduced and moderated by Adriani Dori, Academic Researcher of the Vici project at Erasmus School of Law.