past projects
BREULAW
Training of Lawyers on digitalisation of Justice and EU civil law
Context
BREULAW (the short name for “Development of a lawyer’s training curriculum in EU law and study visits to EU institutions in Brussels”) was a project co-funded by the European Union and run by a consortium composed of the European Lawyers Foundation (ELF) and the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). The project started on 1 February 2023 for a period of 24 months.
The project is derived from the Study on the state of play of lawyers’ training in EU, whose Recommendation 1 dealt with the possibility of developing a curriculum for lawyers in EU law, and recommended that the CCBE “promote a dialogue amongst Bars, Law Societies and other competent authorities with a view to obtaining an agreement on the EU-related outcomes of the training process in EU law that all European Union lawyers should possess on their entry into the profession”. Likewise, Recommendation 8 of the Study urged the organisation of “study visits in cooperation with one or several bars from other Member States to familiarise their lawyers with the EU institutions and bodies”. Both the development of the curriculum and the study visits are considered of crucial importance in the training of lawyers in order to improve their skills in EU law and their understanding of EU institutions. The importance of these two activities has also been underlined in the past by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers – DG Justice.
Needs assessment
BREULAW dealt with two sets of training activities that are considered necessary for EU lawyers, and were identified in the Study on the state of play of lawyers’ training in EU, previously mentioned.
The project’s first activity dealt with the development of a lawyer’s training curriculum in EU law. While substantial work in ensuring consistency between the various lawyers’ professions has been undertaken at EU level in different areas (for instance, in the recognition of training in other Member States through the EU co-funded REFOTRA project run together by ELF and CCBE), there are areas where work still had to be done. One of these areas was a model framework of competences for lawyers in EU law. A lawyer’s training curriculum was to complement the CCBE Recommendation on Training Outcomes for European lawyers (adopted in 2007).
The second target of the project focused on lawyers’ study visits to EU institutions. Whereas lawyers participate in visits to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the framework of other EU-funded projects, there had never been an EU-wide programme to enable lawyers to participate in study visits to Brussels to learn first-hand about the work undertaken by the EU institutions.
Objectives & activities
- To develop a European lawyers’ training curriculum following Recommendation n. 1 of the Study on the state of play of lawyers’ training in EU law, and also complementing the CCBE’s Recommendation on Training Outcomes for European Lawyers, which has been published as a non-binding model framework (non-binding because the competence for training lawyers belongs to the Member States).
- To organise study visits to Brussels for 46 lawyers, targeting 26 Member States (all except Denmark, which is not part of the EU Justice Programme), so that lawyers can become more familiar with the main EU institutions and learn about their role and functioning. These visits will be complemented by visits to the CCBE and, possibly, to the representative offices of national Bars in Brussels.
- To facilitate networking opportunities for lawyers participating in the study visits so that informal networks of lawyers can be created.
- To undertake communication activities about the project.
- To contribute to the EU’s objective of continuing training on EU law reaching 15% of lawyers in the EU by 2024.
Methodology
The methodology of the project was based both on its nature (cross-border activities focusing on training lawyers in EU law) and on its expected outcome: undertaking policy work (development of a lawyers’ training curriculum in EU law) and training activities (study visits by lawyers to EU institutions). The methodology has been adapted to the various needs in terms of training lawyers in EU law as covered by the project.
Results of the project
1. Lawyers’ training curriculum in EU Law (2024)
The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) and the European Lawyers Foundation(ELF) have produced an EU law curriculum for practising EU lawyers, as part of the BREULAW project, co-funded by the European Union.
This curriculum is unique and of great value to EU bars and law societies and institutions which train EU lawyers, because of its special features:
- it is targeted at the needs of practising lawyers in their daily work, rather than being a purely academic curriculum;
- its focus is on the practical and procedural aspects of EU law which are not already widely taught and where a gap in legal education is seen – for instance, apart from a strong focus on remedies and procedures, there is coverage of various EU-wide registries (business, insolvency and land), and there is a separate section on EU law relating specifically to lawyers; its level is aimed at use as part of the initial or qualifying training of lawyers, although it is also able to be adapted to continuing legal education courses; and
- it features many practical guides produced by various authoritative European bodies: the CCBE, the EU itself (through the e-Justice portal), the Council of Europe, and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
2. Two Study visits to the EU institutions in Brussels
Two study visits were organised to the EU institutions in Brussels. More than 45 lawyers from different EU Member States had an opportunity to learn first-hand about the work undertaken by the EU institutions and also receive a presentation on the CCBE activities.
Read the Lawyers' training curriculum in EU Law (2024)
