• Mainpage
• Proactive ThinkTank
• EESC: Opinon on Proactive Law
• Publications
• Events of Interest
• Links
• Contact us

• Future events
• University of Western Australia (UWA): Comic Book Contracts and Other Contract Innovations, December 7–8 2017
  

• Previous events
• Proactive Law Conference / IACCM Academic Forum
  "The Strategy of Change: Driving Commercial Success and Improving Business Functions" 24 October 2016, San Diego, CA, USA
  
  
• Proactive Law Conference / IACCM Academic Forum "Modern Contract Management: Integrating contract theory, law, and organization studies", 16 June 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark
  
  
• Proactive Law Conference / IACCM Academic Forum "Integrating Law and Contract Management: Proactive, Preventive and Strategic Approaches", 8 October 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona
  
  
• The XXVII Nordic Conference on IT Law "Internationalisation of law in the digital information society", 21-23 November 2012 in Stockholm
  
  
• The second European Proactive Law Conference "Proactive Law in a Global Business Perspective", at the Copenhagen Business School on 1-2 December 2011 in Denmark
  
  
• The first European Proactive Law Symposium "Contracting and Law: Proactive and Innovative Approaches", at the ICN Business School on 14 October 2009 in Nancy, France
  
  
• "Fusing Best Business Practises with Legal Information Management and Technology", Stockholm 12-14 June, 2005
  
  
• "Commercial Contracting for Strategic Advantage - Potentials and Prospects", Turku, Finland, 13-16 June, 2007
  
  

Welcome to the website of the Nordic School of
Proactive Law.

Recent

• The fifteenth ProActive ThinkTank email update is now available.
• The fourteenth ProActive ThinkTank email update is now available.
• The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) Opinion on the proactive law approach has now been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C 175 Volume 52 28 July 2009 (ISSN 1725-2423, available in all official EU languages) at page 26 onwards (PDF, English edition). More information about the Opinion is available in the section "EESC Opinon on Proactive Law".
• The fifth ProActive ThinkTank email update is now available.
• The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has recently adopted an Opinion on the proactive law approach. You can find links to the Opinion in all official EU languages and other related materials in the section "EESC Opinon on Proactive Law".
• The conference "IT Regulations and Policies - from theory into practice", which took place in Stockholm, November 17-19, 2008, featured a separate track dedicated to Proactive Law. You can find the speakers presentation material and information about the conference at their webpage, e-Stockholm '08 Legal Conference.
• Following the 2007 conference "Commercial Contracting for Strategic Advantage - Potentials and Prospects", the book "A Proactive Approach to Contracting and Law" has been published. More information about the book is available, as well as an order form.
• The IACCM October 2007 newsletter features an article by Helena Haapio on proactive contractual care. Read the article, "Prevention beats cure — proactive contractual care for successful supply chains"
• The IACCM June 2007 newsletter features an article on managing legal risk and the proactive law movement, inspired by speakers at the the recent "Commercial Contracting For Strategic Advantage". Read the article, "Best Practices: Assessing and managing legal risk"

The Idea

Proactive Law is a future-oriented approach to law placing an emphasis on legal knowledge to be applied before things go wrong. It comprises a way of legal thinking and a set of skills, practices and procedures that help to identify opportunities in time to take advantage of them – and to spot potential problems while preventive action is still possible. In addition to avoiding disputes, litigation and other hazards, Proactive Law seeks ways to use the law to create value, strengthen relationships and manage risk. This is of particular relevance in today’s information society where IT and corporate interdependence play a central role. Proactivity has existed in the legal sphere for quite some time but, compared with many other legal fields, the perspective has not been widely researched or practiced. The Nordic School of Proactive Law was established in response to a need to further develop practically oriented methods and legal theories of Proactive Law.

The Background

Proactive Law has its origins in Preventive Law comprising legal and practical principles for anticipating and avoiding legal problems. The National Center for Preventive Law (NCPL) was founded by Professor Louis M. Brown, known as the Father of Preventive Law, and is hosted by California Western School of Law, San Diego, CA. The NCPL website at http://www.preventivelawyer.org/ offers a general introduction to the theory of Preventive Law and how it applies to particular areas of practice. The first Conference dedicated to Proactive Law, “Future Law, Lawyering, and Language: Helping People and Business Succeed”, was organized in Helsinki, Finland in May 2003. For abstracts and visualizations, see http://www.ulapland.fi/?deptid=13095. A selection of the Conference papers is published in the Preventive Law Reporter, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Summer 2003). The second Conference on Proactive Law, "Fusing Best Business Practises with Legal Information Management and Technology", was organized in Stockholm, Sweden in June 2005. The Proceedings, together with other articles related to the topic, are published in Scandinavian Studies in Law, Volume 49, A Proactive Approach, see http://sisl.juridicum.su.se/

The People

The Nordic School of Proactive Law consists of both practitioners and researchers engaged in Proactive Law in each Scandinavian country. For additional information, please contact a member of the Planning Group listed here