The webinar began with welcome speeches from Diana Wallis (member of the ELI-UNIDROIT project’s Steering Committee, Senior Fellow at the University of Hull Law School, Former ELI President, Former Vice-President of the European Parliament) and Dr Aneta Wiewiórowska-Domagalska (European Legal Studies Institute of the University of Osnabrück, member of the ELI Executive Committee).

The event featured some of the Members of the Project Team, who shared their first-hand experience of drafting the Rules. Co-Reporter of the ‘Structure Working Group’, Prof dr Xandra Kramer (Professor of Private Law & European Civil Procedure, Erasmus University Rotterdam; Professor of Private International Law, Utrecht University) and Co-Reporters of the ‘Obligations of the Parties and Lawyers’ Working Group, Prof Dr CH van Rhee (Professor of European Legal History and Comparative Civil Procedure of the Department of Foundations and Methods of Law, Faculty of Law, Maastricht University) and Prof Alan Uzelac (Professor of Civil Procedure Law, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb), as well as a Member of the Working Group, Prof Elisabetta Silvestri (Associate Professor, Department of Law, Pavia University) explained and discussed the structure of the Model Rules.

The webinar also offered an opportunity for external experts to present their views on the Model Rules and their potential impact. This part of the event featured Jur Dr Anna Nylund (Professor, Faculty of Law, the Arctic University of Norway), Prof Dr Dr hc (Law) Alexander Trunk (Director of the Institute of East European Law, Chairman of Center of East European Studies of Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany) and Dr Vigita Vebraite (Assoc Prof, Faculty of Law, Vilnius University, Lithuania).

The presentations were followed by a discussion with participants.

ELI wishes to thank Prof Iryna Izarova, the organiser of the webinar series and the translator of the ELI-UNIDROIT Model European Rules of Civil Procedure into Ukrainian for organising the event.