News

European Civil Justice key events and publications in 2024

Happy New Year’s wishes from our Vici Building European Civil Justice group. This year will mark a range of important events and book publications. We will host a series of webinars that will kick-off in the Spring. We are very happy that after a slow start during the pandemic, the book Research Methods in Private International Law, co-edited by Xandra Kramer and Laura Carballo Piñeiro is scheduled for publication by Elgar in May 2024. It contains fascinating chapters on regulatory, research and teaching approaches, including by our postdoc researchers Adriani Dori and Carlota Ucin. Around the same time we expect that the book Financing Collective Actions in the Netherlands: towards a Litigation Fund will be published by Eleven International Publishing, co-authored by our researchers Xandra Kramer and Jos Hoevenaars in collaboration with Ianika Tzankova and Karlijn van Doorn.This is an updated English version of a report commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Justice. We are also excited about compiling our Handbook on European Civil Procedure, commissioned by The Gruyter that we co-edit together with Stefaan Voet and with a stellar author team. We will also submit the manuscript for our book on Sustainable Access to Justice, following our international conference of October of last year, co-edited by our group members Xandra Kramer, Masood Ahmed, Carlota Ucin and Adriani Dori featuring interesting chapters by our fantastic speakers and our PhD researchers Adrian Cordina and Eduardo Silva de Freitas. The latter two hope to wrap up most of their PhD research this year, together with our group member Antonia Antonopoulou. We are also happy to host guest PhD researcher Zilin Hao for six months who will introduce herself shortly. Our group is open for hosting other visiting researchers and for applications of (self-funded) new PhD candidates this year, and we look forward to many other collaborations to keep broadening our horizons.

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Meet our Vici team members and advisory board


Prof. dr. Xandra Kramer

I am the project leader and professor of private law (focus on civil justice) at the Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam; professor of private international law at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance of Utrecht University; and Deputy Judge in the District Court of Rotterdam. I am an elected member of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Institut de Droit International (IDI) and of the European Law Institute (ELI) Council. My alma mater is Leiden University. In the law area, I am fascinated by the crossroads between procedural justice and economic efficiency, including cost and funding; the functioning of civil justice systems; justice innovation and digitisation; transnational complex litigation; and the harmonisation of European private international law and civil procedure (see also xandrakramer.eu). My mission is to improve access to civil justice for all, and in a tailor-made jacket. In daily life, I am inspired, intrigued, and moved by people, the beauty of nature, (non law) books, and music.

Email: kramer@law.eur.nl | Phone: +31 (0)10 408 1628


Dr. Eva Storskrubb

I am a Associate Professor (Docent) and Senior Lecturer (Lektor) in procedural law at Uppsala University (Sweden) and appointed as Associate Professor at Erasmus School of Law for one day per week on the Vici project. I hold an LL.L degree from the University of Helsinki and a Ph.D. from the European University Institute in Florence. I have practiced in the field of international commercial dispute resolution for many years but I am since June 2021 a full-time academic. My research focuses on EU procedural law, civil justice and transnational dispute resolution in civil and commercial matters including private international law. My current research project focuses on interim relief and the European Account Preservation Order. I was co-reporter for two working groups, on service of documents and on litigation costs in the project European Rules of Civil Procedure of the European Law Institute (ELI) and UNIDROIT (2014-2019). In the context of the Vici project I aim to amongst others examine issues related to litigation insurance in the Nordic countries. I am also interested in litigation funding issues at the EU level. I am also co-supervisor for doctoral candidate Eduardo Silva de Freitas.


Dr. Carlota Ucin

I am a postdoc researcher at the Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, working on the subproject: From public to private funding. I graduated in Law in Argentina, where I also specialized in Procedural Law. I have my Master degree in Argumentative Theory (Alicante University, 2011). My main theoretical interests are in the intersection among Procedural Law, Legal Theory and Human Rights. In 2016 I defended my PhD thesis on collective redress and social rights enforcement introducing the Public Interest Litigation perspective (Buenos Aires University, 2016). Before joining Erasmus School of Law, I lived in Argentina and worked in the Buenos Aires Supreme Court for more than 10 years. I was also a Professor in Civil Procedure at La Plata University and Palermo University. In the former, I also founded the Public Interest Review for disseminating this form of litigation. Apart from being very passionate about Law and Legal Theory, I also enjoy contemporary art. In this vein, I like writing poetry and I am also a contemporary dance performer.

Email: ucin@law.eur.nl


Adriani Dori LLM

I am a postdoc researcher at the Erasmus School of Law, working on the VICI project “Affordable access to justice” (Subproject 2, Cost mechanisms). I obtained a Law degree and an LL.M. in Civil Procedural Law, Civil Law and Legal History from the Democritus University of Thrace (Greece), and a second LL.M. in German and European Procedural Law from the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (Germany). I have completed my PhD on the European Commission’s Justice Scoreboard and its impact on domestic reforms processes. Before joining the Erasmus School of Law, I have worked as a research fellow at the Institute for Comparative Law, Conflicts of Law and International Business Law in Heidelberg (2011-2012), as a researcher at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law (2012-2020), as a Greek law expert in Greece (Athens Bar Association) and Germany, and I have given lessons at the University of Luxembourg. My main research interests include comparative and European procedural law, private international law, empirical legal studies, justice reforms, and new governance techniques in the European AFSJ. In my free time, I love to cook for friends, to get lost on the Internet, and to create law-related memes. I also like sports, but I am increasingly playing them only on my PlayStation.

Email: dori@law.eur.nl


Eduardo Silva de Freitas LLM

I am a PhD candidate at the Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, working on the subproject Crowdfunding civil justice. I studied for my LLB Qld at Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, obtained my first LLM in corporate and commercial law at the University of Sheffield (November 2019, distinction) and my second LLM in international and European business law at KU Leuven (July 2020, magna cum laude). I worked as a junior associate at a local law firm in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, where I handled cases that touched upon several areas of private law, focusing on family law and consumer credit law as well as private law instruments deriving from banking regulation such as contract interpretation, contract nullity and damages. During my bachelor studies, I was awarded undergraduate research fellowships to conduct projects on the constitutional aspects of the right to education and on the challenges that globalization poses for human dignity. I was admitted to the Santa Catarina branch of the Brazilian Bar in 2018, where I am a member of the constitutional law commission. In my free hours I update myself on current issues in Brazilian law and politics.

Email: silvadefreitas@law.eur.nl


Adrian Cordina LLM

I am a PhD candidate at the Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, working on the ‘Funding and who decides?’ subproject. In 2017, I completed the Bachelor of Laws and the Master of Advocacy at the University of Malta. The following year (2018) I obtained the LL.M. ‘European Master in Law and Economics’ at the University of Bologna, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Hamburg and was admitted to the Bar of Malta in 2019. Besides some English language teaching and a couple of legal internships during my studies, I worked in corporate law at KPMG Malta between 2018 and 2020. I have a deep interest in the intersections between law, economics and human rights. In my spare time I enjoy football, cycling and yoga.

Email: cordina@law.eur.nl


Dr. Jos Hoevenaars

I am a postdoc researcher at the Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam working on the VICI project “Affordable access to justice”. I have a background in sociology and specialize in socio-legal approaches to law. I studied sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam and obtained my master’s degree in 2011. Between 2012 and 2017, I worked as a PhD researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Sociology of Law and the Centre for Migration Law of the Radboud University Nijmegen. I successfully defended my Ph.D. thesis on private party litigation before the Court of Justice of the European Union at the Radboud University Nijmegen in March 2018. From 2017 to 2022, I worked as a postdoc researcher at the Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, first as part of the ERC team on the subproject ‘Self-Representation in Civil Justice’ and in 2022 on the project on a Public fund for collective actions funded by the Dutch Research and Documentation Center (WODC). For the best part of 2023, I worked as a researcher at the Dutch Council for the Judiciary. As of November 2023, I returned to ESL and joined the Vici-team, to further work on costs and funding of collective actions, and to develop a new line of research in the area of strategic litigation. Apart from my academic work, I also work as a musician and music producer and am a keen cyclist. Email: hoevenaars@.law.eur.nl


Edine Apeldoorn

I am a Double Degree Business Administration and Law student at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. I graduated the Business Administration bachelor in ’20/’21 with honour. In ’21/’22 I’m studying French law for a semester at Université de Paris-Descartes to be able to compare the Dutch and French judiciary systems and to improve my linguistic proficiency in French. In the second semester I will continue my bachelor in Rotterdam. I support the ERC and Vici groups in their researches by facilitating the work of the researchers by for example finding and grouping jurisprudence or checking footnotes and formatting. In my spare time I love to conversate with friends as well as new people, get to know new places in the world, reading books and enjoying nature.

Email: apeldoorn@law.eur.nl


Research Fellow


Dr. Masood Ahmed

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Leicester (UK). I read law at the University of Cambridge (Sidney Sussex College) and completed my Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice at Cardiff University. I qualified as a solicitor at an international commercial law firm and focused on commercial dispute resolution (including international commercial arbitration and mediation) and commercial transactional work. I have written extensively on the English civil justice system and have been involved in implementing key civil justice reforms including the Jackson Reforms on Civil Litigation Costs and the Briggs Civil Courts Structure Review. I am a member of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and work closely with senior members of the judiciary and leading practitioners in drafting procedural rules and implementing reform projects. I am also the ADR and case note editor for the Civil Justice Quarterly; commentator of the Civil Procedure Rules; and editorial member of the Journal of Personal Injury Law. At the Leicester Law School, I convene the Dispute Resolution Research Cluster and convene the Civil Justice Systems and ADR stream for the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) Annual Conference. I was a visiting professor in international commercial arbitration at Masaryk University (Czech Republic).


Advisory Board

Our advisory board offers expertise on national law and specific topics of our research, gives feedback on our activities, and supports in the design and implementation of empirical research where necessary. The members of our advisory board are:


Prof. dr. Burkhard Hess

Executive Director of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law; Professor in Civil Law, Civil Procedure, Private International Law, European Law and Public International Law (Faculty of Law, Heidelberg University). His research interests include European civil procedural law; German civil procedural law.


Prof. dr. Christopher Hodges

Professor of Justice Systems, and head of the Swiss Re/CMS Research Programme on Civil Justice Systems, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford. His research interests include Civil Justice Systems (procedural and funding systems); Multi-Party Actions (class actions and representative/collective actions); EU Regulation of Products; Healthcare law; Product liability; and Consumer law.


Prof. dr. Peter Mascini

Professor in Empirical Legal Studies at the Erasmus School of Law of the Erasmus University Rotterdam at which university he is also an associate professor of sociology at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. His research focuses on the legitimization, implementation, and enforcement of laws and policies.


Prof. dr. Elisabetta Silvestri

Associate Professor of Italian Civil Procedure and Comparative Civil Procedure; Scientific Director of the post-graduate program for the training of mediators and ADR professionals, Department of Law, University of Pavia. Her research interests include collective redress; ADR; and the structure of EU judicial systems.


Dr. John Sorabji

Senior Judicial Institute Fellow, Faculty of Laws, University College, London; barrister; previously Principal Legal Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and the Master of the Rolls. His research interests include the operation of Civil Justice Systems; procedural reform and innovation; and, the philosophy of litigation. He is, amongst other things, the assistant editor of The White Book, the leading commentary on English and Welsh civil procedure.


Prof. dr. Ianika Tzankova

Professor of Class Actions and Mass Claim Dispute Resolution at Tilburg University (the Netherlans). She currently serves as the Interim Academic Director of the Global Law Bachelor where she developed and teaches the course on Civil Procedure and Global Dispute Resolution. She complements her academic research and teaching with an active practice focusing on transnational litigation, litigation project management and alternative dispute resolution.