Urška šadl

Urška Šadl

Professor of Law

Appointed professor at the EUI in September 2016. Her primary research interests include the empirical studies of European courts and their jurisprudence, the language of courts, the theory and practice of judicial precedents as well as topics in European constitutional law more generally. She is joining the EUI after working at iCourts centre of Excellence for International Courts at the Faculty of Law in Copenhagen. She obtained her BA and Master degree in law from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. Urška also holds a LL.M. degree in Legal Studies from the College of Europe in Brugge and a PhD degree from the University of Copenhagen. She has completed research stays at King’s College, London, Institute of European and Comparative Law at the University of Oxford and most recently visited the University of Michigan as Michigan Grotius Research Scholar. Her research appears i.a. in the European Law Journal, the European Law Review, the European Journal of Legal Studies and the European Constitutional Law Review.

Research Projects

NoLesLaw (Network of legal empirical studies), with Johan LINDHOLM (Umeå) and Suvi SANKARI (Helsinki), an initiative funded by the Nordic Research Council (from January 2017 – December 2018). No-Les-Law brings together a group of original thinkers, motivated by the desire to develop and promote novel approaches to legal research that favor data over speculation. The initiative is primarily motivated by the desire to investigate the empirical foundations behind theoretical claims, and examine the potential impact of legal rules on daily practice and policy making of European and international legal institutions. Furthermore, the initiative is striving to develop a continuous dialogue between legal scholars and social scientists that ask the research questions of how law and courts work, and computer scientists and mathematicians who have the necessary technical expertise in developing novel research methods that can answer these questions. Finally, the initiative is driven by the lack of dissemination outlets of legal empirical research, which does not follow the large-N research agendas common in the United States, including discussion platforms such as workshops, data sharing websites, and empirically oriented law journals.
D2D (From dogma to data), with Henrik Palmer Olsen (Copenhagen) The project is funded by the Danish Free Research Council (December 2014 – November 2017). The project investigates how international courts make law through case law, using automated processing of textual contents and network analysis of legal texts.

Supervision Interests

“I welcome PhD proposals that deal with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice, and all matters judicial law making. I will be particularly happy to supervise students that are willing to develop novel research methodologies to gauge legal change or are up to the challenge of applying existing legal empirical methods. I give priority to proposals, which focus on judicial responses to broader developments (and current issues) in the European Union. For more information in this regard please see current courses and teaching activities.

As a supervisor I am easily approachable and considerate. I value straightforward communication and constructive criticism. From my supervisees I expect commitment to their project, clear focus on their goals, and the ability to work independently”

§ Unpacking the Self-Portrait of the EU Legal Order in the Pre-Accession Case-Law Dossiers; The CJEU, Law and the Economy, International Workshop, Helsinki (September 2014)

Fragments of a Judge-Made Constitution: A Network Based Analysis of Constitutional Change in the EU; The Centre of Excellence in Foundations of European Law and Polity 5^th Annual Conference; Helsinki (September 2013)
Law Via Case-Law: Is effectiveness a Law-Making Argument of the Court of Justice of the European Union?; European case-law methods in action; Copenhagen (April 2013)
European Citizenship and Identity: a Seamless Web?, EU Enlargement: Identities, Values and Market; Jean Monnet Chair of European Public Law; Dubrovnik, Croatia (April 2012)
A Theory of Adjudication for the Sui Generis Legal Order: A Mine Run Approach, Constitutionalization in Question: revisiting the Foundational Logics of European Integration by Law; Copenhagen (December 2011)
Sturm und Drang in the Legal Reasoning of the European Court of Justice – Making a Case for Citizenship, EURECO International Conference: Europe in the World – Challenges and Dynamics; Copenhagen (September 2010)
Comparing precedent, International Graduate Conference, King’s College, London (April 2010)

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

Member of the Slovenian Bar Association (Ministry of Justice, Slovenia)

Member of the European Society for International Law

LANGUAGES

Slovene (mother tongue); English, Danish, German, Croatian (all fluent), French (good command)

SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS

2016 Grant to organize a series of workshops and establish a network of legal empirical scholars (NoLesLaw), awarded by The Swedish Research Council for Independent Research

2013 Sapere Aude – research talent award by Danish Research Council for Independent Research

2013 Individual research grant, awarded by the Danish Research Council for Independent Research

2009 PhD Scholarship, The Danish Ministry for Science and Education, Faculty of Law, Copenhagen

2003 LLM scholarship of the Government of Slovenia (College of Europe, Bruges)

2003 LLM scholarship of the Central Bank of Slovenia (College of Europe, Bruges)

RESPONSABILITIES / EVENTS

2017 – NoLesLaw: workshop series and network of empirical scholars (convener, with Suvi Sankari and Johan Lindholm)

2016 – Constitutional pluralism, the European way: Dead or alive? (International seminar, iCourts Centre of Excellence, Copenhagen (convener)

2016 – The practice of interpretation of European courts: International workshop, iCourts Centre of Excellence, Copenhagen (convener)

2014 – 2016 Co-Editor of iCourts Working Paper series

2014 – 2016 Convener of Science Lab, the iCourts work in progress research seminar

2013 – 2014 Responsible for the organization of iCourts lunch seminar series and guest lectures

2013 European case-law methods in action: International workshop, iCourts Centre of Excellence, Copenhagen (convener, with Anne Lise Kjær)

2011 – 2012 Member of the PhD committee, Faculty of Law, Copenhagen

2010 Law and politics after Lisbon: International post-graduate conference, Faculty of Law Copenhagen (organizer)

TEACHING

At the University of Copenhagen:Advanced EU constitutional law (MA level), Advanced EU constitutional law – essay class (MA level), EU litigation practice (BA level, Fall 2015), Empirical research methods in law (PhD course with individual feedback on PhD projects, convener, Fall 2015), supervision of BA and MA projects in EU law (general), and European Constitutional Law,

At the European University Institute: Network approach to case law (Fall 2016), Current issues in EU law (Spring 2017), Theory Lab (December 2016, short course), Research Question workshop (December, 2016)

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