Proposals submitted by authors from Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay were selected through a competition designed to highlight the impact of civil procedure reforms on the practice of law in Latin America. The competition was held in the context of the project “Improving Access to Civil Justice in Latin America” that JSCA is developing with the support of Global Affairs Canada.

JSCA Training Director Leonel González stated that the purpose of the competition was to encourage multidisciplinary research on how the practice of law in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean has been impacted by changes in this area.

“Having research on and information about experiences with the practice of law will allow us to expand our perspective on the role that these professionals play in ensuring that the people of Latin America have access to justice and in contributing to the design of public policies oriented towards eliminating the barriers to access that remain,” González said.

The selected proposals:

• Professional skills necessary for oral civil procedures: University training for the practice of Law.  The case of Córdoba. By Carolina Granja (Argentina)

• The relationship between the use of ICTs and the practice of law: A study of the Chilean reality By Carolina Salas (Chile)

• The implementation of civil oral procedures and their impact on the configuration of the public defender’s office: Mexico as a case study By Fernanda Arreguin (Mexico)

• Innovations of Uruguayan civil procedure reform in the area of professional fees: Lessons, challenges and problems to be solved By Ignacio Soba (Uruguay)

The research will be conducted by the winning authors under the direction of the JSCA Research and Projects Area. They will then be published in the second volume of the text “The Practice of Law in Latin America: In Search of a Work Agenda.”