The 2025 Annual Conference and Meetings
The 2025 ELI Annual Conference and Meetings took take place from 22-24 September in Vienna (Austria).
The Conference featured an Ole Lando Memorial Lecture, several Welcome Addresses, Keynote Speeches, ELI Young Lawyers award as well as the ELI Hub and SIG of the Year awards. At its center were panels focusing on current ELI projects.
The event was marked by a line-up of truly compelling speakers whose interventions sparked reflection and debate. Among them were Sebastian Schütze (Rector of the University of Vienna), Sue Carr (Lady Chief Justice, The Right Honourable the Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales and the President of the Courts of England and Wales), Dame Jane Goodall DBE (renowned primatologist and United Nations Messenger of Peace), and Adil Najam (President of the World Wide Fund for Nature International), as well as Sirpa Rautio (Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) and Andreas Wolter (Mayor of the City of Cologne and President of Climate Alliance).
Several Council of Europe affiliates also delivered insightful contributions, including Ivana Jelić (Vice-President, European Court of Human Rights), Síofra O’Leary (Former President, European Court of Human Rights, Hauser/Remarque Fellow NYU), Leonie Reynolds (President of the Consultative Council of European Judges) and Rafael Benitez (Director of Social Rights, Health and Environment of the Council of Europe).
We were further honoured by the participation of many senior members of the judiciary, including Donal Gerard O’Donnell (Chief Justice of Ireland), François Chaix (President, Swiss Supreme Court), Georg E Kodek (President, Austrian Supreme Court), Danguolė Bublienė (President, Supreme Court of Lithuania), and Margherita Cassano (Former First President, Italian Supreme Court).
In addition, over 20 ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps, EU officials, and other leading figures attended the conference, underscoring ELI’s role as a vital hub for dialogue on pressing legal and societal challenges.
Reports (News Items):
- Welcome Address
- Forum on Conservation, Trade, and Industry for a Sustainable Future
- Panel on Enterprise Foundations in Europe
- Panel on Corporate Criminal Liability in the European Union
- Panel on ELI Climate Justice – New Challenges for Law and Judges
- Panel on Succession of Digital Assets, Data and Other Digital Remains
- Panel on Advance Choices for Future Disablement
- Seventh Ole Olando Memorial Lecture
- Forum on Conservation, Trade, and Industry for a Sustainable Future
- Keynote Panel on Fundamental Rights and the Environment
- Keynote Panel on Green Finance and Green Investment
- ELI Young Lawyers Award Presentation
- 2025 Hub and SIG of the Year Awards
Conference Highlights
The Conference was supported by:
The University of Vienna
Founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 the University of Vienna is one of the oldest universities in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich history, the University of Vienna has developed into one of the largest universities in Europe, and also one of the most renowned. An extended Framework Partnership Agreement will see ELI receive further funding from 2023–2027.
European Union
Following the specific call for proposals aiming at establishing four-year framework partnership agreements with EU-level networks for 2022–2025 and Operating Grants for the respective years, ELI was selected for co-financing by the European Union. This year's Conference is supported under this scheme.
City of Vienna
The Vienna City Council sponsors certain public events in a bid to promote cultural diversity. ELI’s Annual Conference is one such sponsored event.
Interleges
Interleges is a well-established and closely linked alliance of independent law firms with offices across the countries of the European Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East and America. One of the first networks of its kind, Interleges was created in 1989, and now includes firms in over 20 countries as well as correspondents approved by Interleges in many other countries.
Jurcom GRC Services
JURCOM provides services as to the international regulatory compliance projects, risk consultancy, audit and training in data protection, finance, carbon emissions, OTT services, telecommunications, energy and medical technologies.
C.H.BECK
For some years now the German publishers C.H.BECK and NOMOS have joined forces with Oxford-based Hart Publishing to publish a series of legal books in English under the common brand 'Beck · Hart · Nomos'. The main focus of the joint programme are article-by-article commentaries on international and European law. This method of presentation suits the peculiarities of the largely codified European law and is increasingly appreciated by lawyers from common law countries as even there statutory law becomes more and more important. In addition to the commentaries, Beck · Hart · Nomos publish handbooks, monographs and textbooks.