Department of Law

Advanced Legal Pathways to Enhance Legal Resilience, Value Creation and Opportunity in a Technology Driven Era.

TalTech Journal of European Studies (TJES) is pleased to announce a call for papers for a special issue on Proactive Law as part I of a collaboration initiative between the Law Department of Tallinn University of Technology and the Faculty of Law at Lapland University. This first issue, guest-edited by Professor Soili Nysten-Haarala and Dr. Maria Claudia Solarte Vasquez, includes a preface by Gerlinde Berger-Walliser and Helena Haapio, who are among the most prominent of pioneers and leaders within the Proactive Law community, recognized internationally for their contributions. This initial volume focuses on the transformative capacities of Proactive Law, by integrating prevention, collaboration, and multidisciplinary strategies to tackle legal challenges. Together with the second part on advanced topics on law, technology and sustainability, our initiative aims to offer a comprehensive synthesis of perspectives that promote legal innovation and influence scholarly, policy, educational, and legal discourse.

We invite scholarly contributions that engage with innovative, principled, and collaborative proposals reflecting the Proactive Law approach. This approach represents a paradigm shift in legal thought, which involves prevention and foresight, responsiveness, and interdisciplinary insights that are best suited to address the complexities of an interconnected world in a technologically driven era. It supports legal solutions attuned to innovation, equity, and broader societal and environmental considerations by prioritizing responsibility, inclusion and human centricity, to produce legal solutions that are anticipatory, fair, and mindful of their potential and extended impacts. Originating from the practical realms of business contracting, Proactive Law has matured and demonstrates its efficacy as useful strategy to satisfy legal needs across sectors, promoting relational and ecological sustainability and forging a legal system that aligns with ethical, societal, technological and environmental imperatives.

The editors encourage manuscripts ranging from 6000 to 8000 words exploring the theoretical foundations, applications, and future directions of the Proactive Law practice. Submissions are sought from a broad spectrum of academic and professional backgrounds, to encourage a multifaceted discussion on the development of a regulatory landscape that is dynamic, adaptable, human centered, equitable, and forward-looking, while resilient and reliable. Papers examining the relevance and capacity of this approach to support technology-based innovation while ensuring legal compliance and ethical integrity are especially welcome. Similarly, discussions on the role of Proactive Law in promoting inclusive and responsible legal practices, enhancing access to legal knowledge, and improving legal literacy, transactional skills, and empowerment. Authors of these papers should aim to broaden our understanding by introducing new structures, rules, and procedures, while clarifying their relevance to either the public or private sectors.

We are particularly interested in research that investigates the intersections of Proactive Law with innovative transformative approaches like legal design, celebrated for its practical, empirically tested tools and techniques that help create a more accessible, comprehensible, and user-centric legal environment. Contributions may discuss case studies and practical applications, conduct comparative analyses, or offer future proactive perspectives related to any legal field. Please specify which of the following topics your submission addresses:

Proactive Law foundational aspects

• Past, present and future of Proactive Law

• Proactive law and legal theory

• Proactive legal education
   

Proactive Law in the public sector

• Legal development and inclusiveness

• Procurement law

• Tax law

• Digital transformation

• Automation (including proactive technologies)
   

Issues of AI trustworthiness, robustness and data governance and human centricity

• Human-technology interaction design

• Cybersecurity and cyberdiplomacy
   

Proactive Law, conflict management and dispute resolution

• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

• Procedural justice and procedural fairness

• Access to justice

• Digital and automated solutions for the judiciary
   

Proactive Law in contracting and contractual management

• Relational sustainability

• Supply chain management

• Contract negotiation and drafting

• Legal literacy and awareness for empowerment

• Contract design
   

Please submit your manuscripts via email to: tjes@taltech.ee. All papers should follow the TJES guidelines, available at https://sciendo-parsed-data-feed.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/BJES/Instructions_for_Authors.pdf  

Important Dates:

First submission deadline: 15.09.2024
Review period: 30-60 days
Expected publication date: December 2024

Contact Information:

For further details, authors may contact the editorial team at tjes@taltech.ee. Queries related to topic suitability or other editorial concerns can also be directed to this email: maria.solarte@taltech.ee.