The Center for International and Comparative Law

Research

CICL’s work is reflected in conferences, collaborative research projects, and publications that contribute to global debates on the following topics and issues:

Comparative and Transnational Procedural Law, Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Comparative Law and EU Law
Business and Human Rights

CICL welcomes visiting scholars and students interested in these areas to participate in research visits, collaborative projects, and academic study at Emory Law.

While our core research focuses on the areas outlined above (and described in more detail below), CICL remains broadly engaged with international and comparative law and welcomes visiting scholars and students interested in related or emerging fields. We are committed to expanding our research agenda through collaboration and intellectual exchange.

Comparative and Transnational Procedural Law, Litigation and Dispute Resolution

The Center for International and Comparative Law (CICL) at Emory University School of Law serves as a hub for research on transnational litigation, comparative civil procedure, transnational dispute resolution, and the evolving role of domestic courts in global legal ordering. Its work is reflected in conferences, collaborative research, and publications, including contributions to the Emory International Law Review (https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr/vol38/iss4/1/) and CICL-led initiatives, of which below:

Civil Justice Transformation

Civil justice systems across the United States, Europe, and beyond are undergoing significant transformation. Courts face rising caseloads, resource constraints, and increasing pressure to deliver efficient and accessible dispute resolution.

CICL’s research examines these changes across three core areas:

civil litigation reform (including class/collective actions),
alternatives to courts (ADR), and
costs and funding of litigation and ADR.

Civil Litigation and Class Actions/Collective Redress

In the United States, the civil process has shifted away from trial-centered adjudication toward settlement-driven, case-managed litigation. Class actions remain important but have been narrowed, while multi-district litigation (MDL) has become central in resolving mass disputes.

In Europe, reforms focus on expanding access to justice while modernizing procedural systems. The EU Representative Actions Directive has accelerated the development of collective redress, typically relying on authorized representative entities.

Across jurisdictions, collective litigation is expanding globally, particularly in areas such as consumer protection, digital harm, and regulatory enforcement.

Alternatives to Courts (ADR)

Civil justice increasingly takes place outside traditional courts. Systems in the U.S. and Europe have expanded:

arbitration and mediation,
ombudsman and regulatory redress schemes,
digital dispute resolution mechanisms.

These developments—ranging from public enforcement bodies in Europe to private platform-based systems in the U.S.—are reshaping how disputes are resolved.

Costs and Litigation/ADR Funding

The economics of litigation has become central to access to justice.

Legal aid and other public funding mechanisms are not sufficient.
Contingency and conditional fees (or other success-based ways of funding litigation) have grown in popularity.
Third-party litigation funding is now widely used in complex and collective disputes.
Regulatory approaches differ across jurisdictions, with ongoing debates about transparency, control, and fairness.
Funding plays a critical role in enabling large-scale and transnational claims.

ESG and Data Protection Litigation

Two rapidly expanding areas of litigation shape contemporary civil justice:

ESG litigation addresses climate change, sustainability disclosures, corporate conduct, and human rights, driven by both private claims and regulatory enforcement.
Data protection litigation, particularly under the GDPR in the EU, has generated large-scale collective claims involving privacy, cybersecurity, and digital platforms.

Both fields are closely linked to collective redress and litigation funding.

National Courts and International Law

CICL also examines how domestic courts function as engines of international law, adjudicating transnational disputes and shaping global norms.

These themes were the focus of the 2026 Bederman Symposium, Access to Global Justice: National Justice Systems as Engines of International Law.

Program: Bederman Symposium 2026
CICL overview and events: CICL at Emory Law

The symposium explored the role of national courts in enforcing international norms, the rise of strategic and collective litigation, and the impact of funding and procedural innovation on global justice.

Strategic Litigation

CICL’s work further explores strategic litigation as a tool for advancing regulatory, social, and environmental objectives across jurisdictions, often at the intersection of collective redress, ESG, and transnational enforcement.

Comparative Law and EU Law

Business and Human Rights

CICL is expanding its research in business and human rights (BHR) as a natural extension of its work on comparative law, EU Law, and transnational litigation.

This field reflects a broader transformation in global governance, in which corporate conduct is increasingly shaped by legal obligations that originate at the intersection of domestic law, EU regulation, and international standards. As businesses operate across complex global value chains, questions of accountability for human rights and environmental impacts ranging from labor conditions to climate-related harm have become central to both litigation and regulatory design.

Recent developments in EU law are particularly significant. The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) introduces a comprehensive framework requiring companies operating in the EU market to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence across their operations and supply chains. The Directive not only establishes preventive obligations (identifying and mitigating risks), but also strengthens pathways to civil liability and enforcement, thereby linking regulatory compliance with private litigation.

From a comparative perspective, the CSDDD is likely to:

influence national procedural systems and access to justice,
interact with collective redress mechanisms, including those developed under EU law,
and contribute to the emergence of transnational litigation strategies involving corporate actors.

CICL is particularly well positioned to engage with these developments. Its existing strengths in comparative civil justice, collective litigation, litigation funding, and the role of national courts as engines of international law provide a foundation for analyzing how BHR claims are structured and enforced in practice.

Research in this area explores:

the role of domestic courts in adjudicating transnational corporate liability,
the interaction between procedural law and corporate accountability,
the implementation and comparative impact of the CSDDD and related EU frameworks,
the rise of strategic litigation and ESG-related claims, and
the influence of funding and cost structures on access to justice in BHR cases.

By integrating business and human rights into its broader research agenda, CICL advances a comparative and forward-looking approach, examining how EU law, domestic legal systems, and transnational litigation together shape the future of corporate responsibility and global justice.

International/Comparative Scholarship of our Faculty: