The upcoming European Law Institute (ELI) conference in Dublin will hear from a stellar line-up of speakers.

These include the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Slovenian Marko Bošnjak, who succeeded Ireland’s Síofra O’Leary in July, former Director of the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency and recently appointed Commission for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Ireland’s Michael O'Flaherty, as well as Attorney General of Ireland, Rossa Fanning, SC.

This year’s conference theme was inspired by Dublin’s status as the European capital of the tech titans.

It will concentrate on topics relating to digitisation, including the broad theme of digitisation’s impact on fundamental rights, and improving European legal frameworks.

The conference will also feature a dedicated session on bridging gaps between new AI regulations and existing GDPR laws at a session that will also hear from leading data-protection authorities.

Advancing the law

Established in 2011, the ELI emulates the American Law Institute and focuses on advancing all areas of law across Europe and beyond.

“We are the only institute in Europe that covers all potential areas of laws and brings together all the various legal vocations from across Europe and beyond, with a view to improving the law,” explained Dr Vanessa Wilcox, Secretary General of the European Law Institute.

“It is open to all of our members to support us in the fine-tuning of our projects,” Dr Wilcox said.

Three pillars

Projects are subsumed under three different pillars: rule of law, law and governance for the digital age, and sustainability, chosen by an elected Executive and adopted by an elected governing Council, which includes Irish solicitor Paul Keane and Irish Supreme Court judge, William McKechnie.

Dr Wilcox explained that the Executive and Council are instrumental in defining the Institute's project portfolio and in identifying those who would lead and work on the projects.

“And there are various mechanisms through which the entire membership can be involved in contributing to projects before they are actually voted on by the Institute’s Fellows and go out into the public domain as an ELI product,” she added.

One of the key forums is the annual conference, taking place next month in Dublin, at which projects will be presented to internal and external stakeholders, and then refined.

As the premier Institute of its kind in Europe, ELI brings together over 1,700 jurists – including academics, judges, and practitioners – to enhance legal systems through collaborative projects.

It also has almost 150 Institutional Members – including several EU institutions, supreme courts, law firms, professional legal associations and academic institutions in Europe.

Spotlight on legal issues

This year’s conference from 9-11 October at the King’s Inns, and other venues, will spotlight significant legal issues and feature a new element, an industry event aimed primarily at the legal community in Ireland and their clients.

It will focus on AI and GDPR — a highly relevant topic given Ireland's prominence as a tech hub.

"The Law Society of Ireland, at Blackhall Place, has extraordinarily for the benefit of ELI, taken on the task of the promotion and staging of the latter event," Dr Wilcox said.

In addition to the Law Society and the King’s Inns, the 2024 conference is supported by Dublin firms Reddy Charlton and Philip Lee, and Fáilte Ireland, among others.

Conference highlights

The AI and GDPR event will leverage the expertise of leading speakers:

• Pascal Pichonnaz (ELI President and Professor at University of Fribourg),
• Sir Geoffrey Vos (ELI Vice-President; Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales),
• Jeremy Godfrey (Chair Comisiún na Meán, Ireland’s Media Regulator),
• Emma Redmond (Assistant General Counsel for privacy and data protection – Open AI),
• Irene Nicolaidou (Deputy Chair of the European Data Protection Board),
• Gerard Hogan (Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland and former Advocate General of the European Court of Justice).

Attendees will also hear from Barry MacCarthy (President of Law Society of Ireland) and Frances Fitzgerald (MEP, July 2019–2024)

Other key conference speakers include:

• Chief Justice of Ireland Donal O’Donnell,
• Vice-President of the General Court of the European Union.
• President of Austrian Supreme Court,
• President of Estonian Supreme Court,
• Director of American Law Institute,

Several EU representatives and ambassadress will also be present.

Algorithmic contracts

As part of the ELI project on algorithmic contracts, consumer-law researchers exploring the use of AI-driven digital assistants in the life-cycle of a consumer contract will present their most recent findings on Friday, 11 October.

On that day, there will also be a discussion on extra-judicial administration of justice in cross-border family and succession matters.

Registration for the conference is now open.

The draft agenda is available here.

Register for the AI and GDPR event here.