Choice of Law Dataverse Launch — Online Event
The announcement below is kindly provided by Agatha Brandão de Oliveira (University of Lucerne, Switzerland)
After several years of intensive work, the Choice of Law Dataverse (CoLD) is ready to be shared with the wider community. The platform is an open-access resource gathering more than 17,000 data points — including legislation, court decisions, and other materials from 100 jurisdictions around the world. After collecting and processing this information, we have analyzed and systematized these choice-of-law rules into pedagogical country reports, now freely available for research, teaching, and practice. The project was recently awarded the Swiss National ORD Prize 2025.
We would be delighted to share this milestone with colleagues whose work continues to shape the field.
Date and Venue
28.04.2026 | Tuesday, 11.30 a.m. CEST, Online via Zoom
No registration required, calendar invitation with connection link attached
Participants are welcome to join the full programme or drop in for individual sessions — the Zoom link remains open throughout the day, and no registration is required.
Programme
11:30 – Understanding the Choice of Law Dataverse
Agatha Brandão (University of Lucerne, Switzerland) will demonstrate the platform’s main features.
12h – Party Autonomy: Sacred Principle or Legal Fiction?
A debate not to be missed between Professor Horatia Muir Watt (Sciences Po, France), Professor Béligh Elbalti (University of Osaka, Japan), and Professor Gérald Goldstein (Université de Montréal), moderated by Professor Daniel Girsberger (University of Lucerne, Switzerland), on the myths and enduring significance of party autonomy in international contract law.
13h – Permanent Bureau Remarks on Ten Years of the HCCH Principles
Raquel Peixoto offers a retrospective on a decade of the HCCH Principles on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts — what has been achieved, what lies ahead, and how this work intersects with CoLD.
14h – Bilateral Q&A
Participants may also request a 15-minute private session to explore the Dataverse for their own research purposes, ask questions about the project, or sign up as a specialist for their jurisdiction.
17h – Using the Dataverse for Advancing PIL Research
A session we particularly recommend for doctoral candidates and young researchers: Rorick Tovar (University of Lucerne, Switzerland), Solomon Okorley (University of Johannesburg, South Africa), and Ying Wang (Université de Montréal, Canada) discuss how CoLD supports comparative law and case law analysis in their own research.
Further information: cold.global/event/launch
For any questions, please contact agatha.brandao@unilu.ch.
We hope you can join us online for our launch event!
CoLD
Choice of Law Dataverse
University of Lucerne