From Gavel to Grid: Reimagining Civil Justice in the Digital Era

Special Issue of the Italian-Spanish Journal of Procedural Law (RIEDP)

Guest Editors (in alphabetical order)

• Professor Gina Gioia, University of Tuscia
• Professor Jordi Nieva-Fenoll, University of Barcelona
• Dr. Seyedeh Sajedeh Salehi, University of Ljubljana

Submission Link:

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rejudgeit2025

Overview

The rapid incorporation of technology – particularly artificial intelligence (AI) – into legal
systems is reshaping the administration of civil justice globally. Judges, court staff, court-appointed experts, legal practitioners, and litigants are increasingly utilising digital tools such
as e-filing systems, automated case management platforms, AI-driven legal research tools, and algorithmic systems for legal analytics and decision-making purposes. These innovations are redefining procedural norms and fundamentally altering how civil justice is delivered. Among these technological advances, the use of AI-powered systems has emerged as both a significant opportunity and a complex disrupter, raising critical legal and ethical questions that demands rigorous scholarly and practical exploration. This Special Issue seeks to foster scholarly debate within the legal community on the importance of embracing innovation in civil justice systems while also addressing the risks of integrating technology into courts, with a view to ensuring fair and efficient access to civil justice.
This call for papers invites high-quality and original contributions that examine the evolving
role of technology – especially AI – in civil justice systems from legal and/or ethical perspectives. Empirical studies and comparative analyses are particularly encouraged.

Relevant topics and sub-topics include, but are not limited to:

• The transformation of civil justice through emerging technologies;
• AI and judicial decision-making;
• AI and online dispute resolution;
• Human-centric AI in civil justice systems;
• Generative AI and access to justice;
• Regulating AI across jurisdictions;
• Ethics, fairness, and accountability in tech-driven justice;
• The role of AI and its intersection with fundamental rights in civil dispute resolution;
• Comparative regulatory approaches to the governance of AI in civil justice systems.

About the Special Issue

This Special Issue aims to feature leading research and emerging perspectives on the
intersection of civil justice and digital innovation. It focuses on the transformation of civil
proceedings and the evolving landscape of access to justice in the digital age.

Note: This is not a conference. Accepted papers will be published in a peer-reviewed journal
special issue.

Important Dates

• Abstract Submission Deadline (approximately 250–500 words): 30 September 2025
• Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 January 2026
• Notification of Acceptance: 28 February 2026
• Revised Version Deadline: 15 March 2026
• Publication Date: End of March 2026.

Submission Guidelines

• Submissions must be original, unpublished, and written in English.
• All papers will undergo a double-blind peer-review process.
• Formatting requirements (for full manuscripts):
• Summary: Max. 500 characters (including spaces).
• Keywords: Max. five words.
• Main Text: Times New Roman, 12 pt; Citations: Times New Roman, 10 pt.
• Paragraph spacing: 12 pt.
• Length: 6,000 to 8,000 words (including footnotes).
• Citation style: APA 7th Edition
• References: Full bibliography at the end of the manuscript.
• Acknowledgements: If applicable, indicate research project code and funding agencies.

About the Guest Editors (in alphabetical order)

Gina Gioia is a Professor of Civil Procedural Law at Tuscia University. She earned both her
Law degree and Master’s in Law from the University of Naples, Federico II, and completed
her PhD in Civil Procedural Law at the University of Rome, La Sapienza. She previously
served as a researcher, lecturer, and senior lecturer at the University of Padua, where she taught labour procedural law for eight years. She was also a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, spending two years at Humboldt Universität in Berlin. She is currently a visiting professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She has authored over one hundred articles and two monographs, with a strong focus on civil and civil procedural law. She is also the editor of several books exploring the intersection of civil procedural law and technology. In addition, she has coordinated and participated in several EU-funded projects, particularly those related to the digitalisation of civil proceedings and dispute resolution at both national and cross-border levels within the EU.

Jordi Nieva-Fenoll is a full Professor (Chair) of Procedural Law at the University of Barcelona.
Visiting Professor at various foreign universities (Münster, Würzburg, Bologna, Lyon, Libre
de Colombia, Pontificia de Valparaíso, Pontificia de Peru, Central of Venezuela, Antofagasta,
etc). Author of 16 books and over 90 papers. 4 Doctorates Honoris Causa (National University
of Ucayali, José Carlos Mariátegui University, National University José Faustino Sanchez
Carrión and National University of Piura). Lecturer in more than 80 international congresses.
Member of the Associazione fra gli Studiosi the Processo Civile (2015), International
Association of Procedural Law (2011), Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Procesal (2006),
Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für Internationales Verfahrensrecht (2005). Founder, with
Michele Taruffo, of Collection ‘Proceso y Derecho’ of Marcial Pons Editor, co-directed with
Eduardo Oteiza and Daniel Mitidiero.

Seyedeh Sajedeh Salehi is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ljubljana, conducting
her work under the EUTOPIA-SIF Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellowship under
supervision of Professor Katarina Zajc. Her research focuses on online dispute resolution and
the digitalisation of legal proceedings, including their ethical implications, with the aim of
improving access to justice in the era of artificial intelligence. She has published several
scholarly articles and co-edited some books on the digital transformation of civil dispute
resolution and the evolving role of AI in shaping the future of civil justice.

Neither Guest Editor has conflicts of interest to disclose.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact gina.gioia@unitus.it and seyedehsajedeh.salehi@pf.uni-lj.si.