Menu for Justice - Towards an European Curriculum studiorum on Judicial Studies

Basic data for this project

Description

A common legal framework and a convergent judicial culture represent one of the pillars on which the European integration process has been established. Today more than ever, understanding and maintenance of the pace and direction of European integration needs to rely on a common language with which European citizens and policy makers can develop a dialogue that bridges domestic and cultural differences. Menu for Justice is the first European project that takes seriously the issue of how the new generation of Europeans should be trained in law and legal matters and how experts in law and the judicial process can develop new skills and competences to effectively face the challenges of a common judicial space. By devoting three years to joint working among fifty partners in Europe, this project aims to assess the key gaps in legal and judicial education in all European countries at all stages of education: from undergraduate to graduate and PhD programs in universities to vocational training of lawyers and judges. By assessing the "state of the art" of education for law students, lawyers and judges in Europe, Menu for Justice aims to provide vital information to policy makers considering the development of an innovative curriculum studiorum in judicial studies. It will also provide European institutions and the public with basic guidelines for monitoring the way legal and judicial training are changing in Europe. Aims MFJ aims to offer an overview of the regulatory and practical barriers European countries are confronting when it comes to the reform of legal and judicial training programs. The project aims to conduct a critical review of the contents of training. Legal scholars and judicial actors will be particularly affected by choices concerning what to learn and how to teach. We intend to map out the possible contents of a curriculum studiorum in judicial and legal studies, to be used to compliment existing programs of legal and judicial training in European countries.