Litigation Committee

About the Committee

The Litigation Committee focuses on the legal, practical and procedural issues involved in conducting litigation. Differences and developments in individual jurisdictions are compared. The issues arising in international litigation receive particular attention, including issues such as jurisdiction, choice of law, and the role of international judicial assistance in dispute resolution. Practitioners involved in larger scale or international litigation can debate topical issues and share their experiences of handling and solving the problems arising from such disputes. In particular, the committee seeks to explore the differences of approach between the common law and civil law traditions, and to encourage a dialogue between practitioners from these two systems.

Close links are maintained with various organisations such as the American Bar Association Litigation Section, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association.

The committee meets annually at the main IBA Conference and also has a specialist litigation conference generally held in May or June each year, together with regular seminars and events organised by the committee’s local country chairs. The Annual IBA Conference also provides an occasion for the Young Litigators Forum to offer a forum for young lawyers to present papers and exchange ideas.

Committee members receive regular copies of the committee’s newsletter which provides details of the committee’s current activities plus recent developments in the law worldwide. Members also receive the biannual journal of the IBA's Dispute Resolution Section, Dispute Resolution International. Full details of the committee’s Executive Committee and its regional and country chairs are published in the newsletter, and are available on this website. The committee welcomes applications for membership from all lawyers with an interest in litigation.

Forthcoming conferences and webinars View All Conferences

IBA Asset Recovery Conference

06 Dec - 08 Dec 2023

Vienna , Austria

When arbitration meets crime

31 Jan - 02 Feb 2024

São Paulo , Brazil

IBA Annual Litigation Forum

17 Apr - 19 Apr 2024

Amsterdam , Netherlands

IBA Annual Conference Mexico City 2024

15 Sep - 20 Sep 2024

Mexico City , Mexico

Projects and reports

Report: Impact of Covid-19 on court operations & litigation practice (June 2020)

In light of the magnitude of Covid-19, the IBA’s Litigation Committee has prepared a special report that addresses the impact of the pandemic on the operation of courts and litigation practice in 37 jurisdictions around the world. Download report

Report to the HCCH Special Commission on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments:

The Hague Conference on Private International Law set up a Special Commission to prepare a draft convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in civil and commercial matters. The Special Commission published a draft convention in 2016 and finalised it in 2017.

The attached report (and annex) has been compiled by members of the IBA Litigation committee named in the report and focuses on specific issues and concerns in regard to the draft convention.

• Report: IBA Working Group Hague Judgments Project.
• Appendix 1: IBA Questionnaire Responses
• Second Report to the HCCH Special Commission On The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Judgments

Dispute Resolution International journal

Dispute Resolution International (DRI) is the journal of the IBA's Dispute Resolution Section, which includes the Arbitration Committee among other related committees. It provides in-depth discussion of current developments and topical issues in all areas of dispute resolution, including litigation, arbitration, mediation and other areas of alternative dispute resolution, as well as negligence and damages.

The latest issue of DRI is now available to access online for all members of the IBA Dispute Resolution Section.

Related links

EFFORTS – Towards more EFfective enFORcemenT of claimS in civil and commercial matters within the EU

The IBA Litigation Committee has joined the Stakeholders Cross-Border Committee of the EFFORTS Project, a consortium comprising the University of Milan (coord.), the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law and the Universities of Heidelberg, Brussels VUB, Vilnius and Zagreb, with financial support from the Civil Justice Programme of the European Union.

Embracing a practice driven approach, a group of renowned experts in international procedural law analyses the legislation and case-law of seven EU Member States (namely Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Luxembourg), promotes the exchange of practices among operators, and collects good practices with the purpose of assessing the interaction of the EU Regulations on the recognition and enforcement of judgments with national legislations.

The targeted EU legislative instruments are the Brussels 1a Regulation and the Regulations on the European Enforcement Order, the European Small Claims Procedure, the European Payment Order, and the European Account Preservation Order. The interaction of said EU instruments with national rules signifies a major weakness of the system, making it difficult for practitioners, and even more for consumers and businesses, to be aware of the mere existence and practical functioning of the available procedures and mechanisms.

The consortium will pursue clarity by means of seven Practice Guides on the cross-border recovery of claims in the targeted Member States. It will contribute to the improvement of existing EU and national legislation by drafting policy recommendations for national and EU policymakers. Finally, it will foster clarity and access to information by setting up the EFFORTS Network and a Working Group on the digitalisation of enforcement procedures. The project involves judges, enforcement agents, EU and national policymakers, lawyers, in-house counsel, consumer associations, and academics.

Additional information concerning the EFFORTS Project is available here

Subcommittees and other groups

The Litigation Committee also coordinates the activities of the following subcommittees/working groups.

• European Community Jurisdiction & Judgments Subcommittee
• Hague Conference on Private International Law Subcommittee
• International Litigation Conventions and Laws Subcommittee
• Litigation Committee Advisory Board
• Young Litigators Forum