Pablo Cortés

Professor of Civil Justice 
Email: pablo.cortes@le.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)116 252 5332

Personal details

Licenciado (Vigo), LLM (Limerick), PhD (Cork), Member of the Spanish Bar, Ávila (non-practising), Certified as Catedrático in Spain (ANECA)

I have a chair in Civil Justice at Leicester Law School where I teach and conduct research in the field of dispute resolution, civil procedure and consumer law. My publications have consolidated my standing as a recognised researcher in civil justice throughout Europe and beyond. I have been invited to speak in international conferences in over 20 different countries and to participate in expert meetings, including by

• the UN Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL WG III)
• the European Commission (DG SANCO and DG JUSTICE)
• the European Parliament (IMCO and JURI)

I act regularly as an independent adjudicator or arbitrator for a variety of civil disputes, including aviation, water, telecommunications, landlord-and-tenant, and domain names.

I am a fellow of the National Centre for Technology and Dispute Resolutions (University of Massachusetts) and in 2012, I was a Gould Research Fellow at Stanford University.

I am a member of the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Taskforce of the International Mediation Institute and of the ODR Advisory Group of the Civil Justice Council.

In the 2014 REF, I was selected as one of the Impact Case Studies for Leicester Law School based on my role assisting the European Commission in the drafting of the ADR Directive and the ODR Regulation.

Research Interests

• Online courts
• Online Dispute Resolution
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Civil Procedure
• Comparative Law
• E-commerce
• Consumer Law

I have recently completed two research projects with a budget of over £100k. The first one was a research grant awarded by the European Commission as part of a consortium of universities with the task of proposing legislative action to promote online mediation for civil and commercial matters. The second grant was awarded by the Nuffield Foundation to evaluate from a socio-legal perspective the main consumer ADR schemes operating in the EU.

Publications

• The Law of Consumer Redress in an Evolving Digital Market (Cambridge University Press, 2018) xiii + 328 pp. Foreword by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (2013-2017).  https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139940900
• (ed) The New Regulatory Framework for Consumer Dispute Resolution (Oxford University Press, 2016) xxviii + 471 pp. (I wrote five chapters and edited the book).
• Online Dispute Resolution for Consumers in the European Union (Routledge, 2010) xxi + 260 pp.  https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203847756
• “Using Technology and ADR Methods to Enhance Access to Justice” (2019) 5(1) International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution 103-121.
• “Consumer ADR in Spain and the United Kingdom” (2018) 7(2) Journal of European Consumer and Market Law 82-88.  Open access version
• “Legislating for an Effective and Legitimate System of Online Consumer Arbitration” in M. Piers and C. Aschauer, Arbitration in the Digital Age: The Brave New World of Arbitration (Cambridge University Press, 2018) 207-243 (with T. Cole).
• “The Online Court: Filling the Gaps of the Civil Justice System?” (2017) 36(1) Civil Justice Quarterly 54-71.  Open access version
• “The Need for Synergies In Judicial Cooperation and Dispute Resolution: Changes in the European Small Claims Procedure” in B. Hess and X. E. Kramer (eds.), From Common Rules to Best Practices in European Civil Procedure - Studies of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law, no. 8 (Hart Publishing, 2017) 379-401.
• “Enforcing EU Consumer Policy More Effectively: A Three-Pronged Approach” in S. Drake and M. Smith, New Directions in the Effective Enforcement of EU Law and Policy (Edward Elgar, 2016).
• “Online Mediation in Cross-Border and Commercial Matters in the UK: A Proposal for a European Legal Framework” and “The Electronic Mediator in the UK” in L. Bujosa Vadell ed., Electronic Mediation and E-Mediator (Comares, 2016) 23-31; 161-170.

• “The Impact of EU Law in the ADR Landscape in Italy, Spain and the UK: Time for Change or Missed Opportunity?” (2015) 16(2) ERA Forum 125–147.  Open access version,   https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-015-0388-x
• “A New Regulatory Framework For Extra-Judicial Consumer Redress: Where We Are And How To Move Forward" (2015) 35(1) Legal Studies, 114-141.  Open access version,  https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12048
• “Consumer Dispute Resolution Goes Online: Reflections on the Evolution of European Law for Out-Of-Court Redress” (2014) 21(1) Maastricht Journal 14-38 (with A. Lodder).  Open access version,  https://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X1402100102
• “Building a Global Redress System for Low-Value Cross-Border Disputes” (2013) 62(2) International Comparative Law Quarterly 407-440 (with F. Esteban de la Rosa).  Open access version,  https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020589313000109
• “A Comparative Review of Offers to Settle – Would an Emerging Settlement Culture Pave the Way for their Adoption in Continental Europe? (2013) 32(1) Civil Justice Quarterly 42-67.
• Full publication list (pdf)

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