Geneviève Saumier (McGill University): Security for Costs and Access to Justice in Cross-Border Dispute Resolution

About the speaker:
Geneviève Saumier has been a Professor of Law at McGill University in Montreal (Canada) since 1996. She is the co-author, with Francisco Garcimartín, of the Explanatory Report on the 2019 HCCH Judgments Convention.

About the topic:
Several multilateral instruments prohibit, directly or indirectly, security for costs based solely on the foreign status of a plaintiff. Regional examples can be found in Europe and Latin America; two multilateral examples are the 1954 and the 1980 HCCH Conventions. The justification is typically based on anti-discrimination and access-to-justice arguments. The 2019 HCCH Judgments Convention has taken a slightly different approach following a lack of consensus among the negotiating states. Moreover, several states continue to impose security for costs on foreign plaintiffs. In this workshop, I will present the current results of comparative research on security for costs and seek to identify remaining barriers to its elimination.

About the virtual workshop series:
The virtual workshop series “Current Research in Private International Law” is organised by Ralf Michaels and Michael Cremer. The series features guest speakers and Institute staff member who present and discuss their work on current developments and research topics in private international law. The workshops are geared to scholars who are researching in the field of private international law, but attendance is open to all individuals having an academic interest (including doctoral candidates and students).