The European Civil Justice Centre (Erasmus School of Law) hosts a seminar, organized by Xandra Kramer, Masood Ahmed, Adriani Dori and Carlota Ucin, on the occasion of launching the book Sustaining Access to Justice: New Avenues for Costs and Funding (Hart Publishing 2025).
This book explores the complex landscape of costs and funding of civil justice. Access to civil justice continues to be undermined by State retrenchment of legal aid budgets, increases in procedural costs, the complexity of court procedures, and severe delays in the dispensation of justice. This has resulted in a shift from public to private funding of civil litigation, and the emergence of new business models and forms of private justice.
The book explores the dynamic landscape of legal costs and financing from three perspectives: regulatory frameworks in public and private funding; new trends and challenges in contemporary legal financing; and the transformative potential of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and online dispute resolution (ODR) procedures to streamline civil justice processes and expand access to justice.
The editors, authors and other key experts will highlight pertinent topics and developments on the financing of civil justice.
Program
10.00 Introduction Xandra Kramer, Masood Ahmed, Carlota Ucin, Adriani Dori
10.15 Jacek Garstka (European Commission) – EC perspective on the access to justice and the role of litigation funding
10.25 Maria Jose Azar-Baud – Trends in Funding of Collective Litigation
10.35 Alexandre Biard – Enforcing Consumer Rights: Costs and Funding
10.50 Discussion
11.10 Eduardo Silva de Freitas – Justice for a Price: Funders, Fees and the RAD
11.20 Marcel Wegmüller – ESG and Litigation Funding: A Practitioner’s View
11.35 Adrian Cordina – Regulating Litigation Funding: A Law and Economics View
11.45 Stefaan Voet – Beyond Litigation: Cost-Effective Strategies for ADR and ODR
12.00 Discussion and Conclusion
