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European Justice Forum celebrates 20th anniversary at Dublin Members Meeting
On 18 June, EJF held its Members Meeting in Dublin, kindly hosted by one of its members, Experian, bringing together in-person and online participants for a special milestone event marking EJF's 20th anniversary. It was also formally announced that Simon Neill (Johnson & Johnson) would replace Moya Stevenson (SwissRe) as EJF Chair from 1 July. The Members thanked Moya for her leadership and dedication over the past five years.
The agenda addressed key legal and regulatory developments impacting the future of civil justice in Europe. It included an update on the transposition of the Representative Actions Directive (RAD), with a focus on recent developments in Spain and France, followed by a presentation by Prof. Stefaan Voet (KU Leuven) on the broader collective redress landscape in Europe, including developments around the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Directive and jurisdictional reform under the Brussels I bis Regulation. Moreover, Professor Christopher Hodges (Oxford University) shared insights from the UK Civil Justice Council’s (CJC) report on Third-Party Litigation Funding in the UK, highlighting broad recommendations to improve oversight and access to justice.
During the second part of the meeting, the participants discussed different perspectives and policy solutions to address the risks and opportunities posed by TPLF. Prof. Voet provided an overview of the findings from the recent European Commission’s Mapping Study on TPLF, which highlighted fragmented national approaches and explored three different regulatory options, noting the Commission is adopting a “wait-and-see” approach. From a policy perspective, Herbert Woopen (EJF's Legal Expert) presented concrete solutions to improve competition, transparency and fairness in litigation funding. Justice Maurice Collins and Justice Eileen Roberts, from the Irish Law Reform Commission, offered a national perspective on Ireland’s evolving legal context, including the prohibition on litigation funding, and outlined the Commission’s ongoing reflections on the appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks to address the gap.
The meeting concluded with a presentation by Elizabeth-Anne Larsen and Leonard Böhmer (CMS) on recent updates concerning the implementation of the revised Product Liability Directive (PLD) and the evolving framework around artificial intelligence (AI) regulation in Europe.
The day ended with a dinner, giving participants an opportunity to continue exchanging views and reflections in a more informal setting.
The EJF team thanks all attendees for their active engagement and contributions, which made the event a meaningful celebration of EJF’s 20th anniversary!
