EU Law: Courts, Litigation and Social Change

The aim of this course is to provide students with knowledge of litigation through European Union (EU) law, the specificities of the court system and the different roles of lawyers.
Learning about litigation in the EU will enable students to critically analyse how courts and litigation produce social change. Students will be exposed to the role of lawyers and litigation in changing how society works, either by reforming how institutions function or changing the law itself. Combining close reading of theoretical texts with practical engagement with legal materials and techniques, this seminar will explore the procedures, methods, strategies and possibilities of litigation in Europe.

The course is divided into three parts.

The first part (I) analyses the specificities of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU): its appointment of judges, composition and style of judicial writing, as well as its relationship to national courts of last instance and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The students will be familiarised with the different roles that lawyers take up within the CJEU and other EU institutions. This first part also theoretically explains the connection between litigation and social change and introduces the students to ‘strategic litigation’, i.e. using litigation to achieve a specific form of change in the law, and specifically what characterises such litigation in national courts of last instance and the CJEU.
 

Part two (II) is methodological and will introduce techniques of closely reading case law that will train the students in the deconstruction of CJEU case law. This part will also consist of exercises in legal writing for different audiences and allow the students to practically engage with different aspects of EU litigation, such as writing preliminary reference questions, case law summaries and party submissions, as well as to study strategic litigation techniques.   

The third (III) and final part of the seminar will study different areas of EU law where litigation is dynamic and fast-moving, e.g. environmental law; discrimination law; competition law; and citizenship law. Through case studies the students will explore landmark judgments and critically analyse how litigation has changed or might change the area of law in focus. During these case study sessions the student will deliver short presentations and receive feedback from the teacher and fellow students. The form of final examination is an individual, written assignment and students are encouraged to present on their chosen topic in order to have a chance to discuss and receive feedback before submission.