Affordable Access to Justice

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). From 2021-2023 I was appointed as Associate Professor at Erasmus School of Law for one day per week on the Vici project and since 2023, I have been an affiliate senior researcher. 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

Dr. 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). In the same university, I have completed my PhD on the Governance of EU justice reforms and the role of soft law in shaping national justice systems. 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

​Renee Kolpa

I’m studying Law and Philosophy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Last year I graduated the Political Science (international Politics) bachelor at Leiden University. One of the reasons I find law exciting is thats its functions for me as a synthesis between two activities I find important: on the one hand, researching, thinking and writing (like philosophy and political science), and on the other, being active in the world and putting the implication of the research directly into practice (in court). My career goals encompass becoming a public interest lawyer and an academic. When I’m not studying, you can find me reading, writing, and getting involved in the public sphere. I help out the Vici group with tasks such as finding articles, grouping jurisprudence, checking footnotes and transcribing interviews.

Email: kolpa@law.eur.nl

Edine Apeldoorn

I worked for the ERC and Vici project from 2021-2023, before I pursued furhter studies at the University of Amsterdam. I am a Double DegreeBusiness Administration and Law student at the Erasmus UniversityRotterdam. I graduated the Business Administration bachelor in ’20/’21 with honour. In ’21/’22 I studied 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. I supported 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.

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).