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Globalisation & Law Network seminar with Pola Cebulak

Strategic litigation has become a buzzword in recent years. However, there is a lack of consensus on what makes the recourse to courts ‘strategic’. On 15 January 2025, the Globalisation & Law Network held the seminar featuring Dr. Pola Cebulak, Assistant Professor in European Law at the Transnational Legal Studies Department of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who addressed this complex question. Pola’s presentation was based on the article ‘Strategic Litigation in EU Law: Who does it empower?’ co-authored with Dr. Marta Morvillo and Dr. Stefan Salomon, which is part of the Special Issue ‘Strategic litigation in EU law’ published in the German Law Journal in 2025.

Pola opened her talk by reflecting on the nature and goals of strategic litigation, distinguishing it from the notions of public interest litigation and ‘lawfare’. After that, she proceeded to present an analytical framework for studying the mobilisation of EU law. The framework includes three crucial components: the actors involved in litigation, the unique legal structures of EU law, and its legal as well as socio-political effects. Drawing on these components, Pola crafted theoretical models of strategic litigation and illustrated them through concrete examples of lawsuits from various areas of EU law, including environmental law, migration law, and data protection law.

The vibrant discussion which followed Pola’s presentation concerned the challenges of defining strategic litigation, the competing motivations of litigants seeking broader societal changes, and the impact of strategic litigation on the political economy of the justice system.

The Globalisation & Law Network invites you to join our upcoming events exploring the role of law in the globalised world. Check out the schedule and register here.

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