Kazuo Watanabe is Professor of Law at the University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo – USP) and Former Judge of São Paulo Court of Appeal (Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo). He holds a Master’s Degree and PhD from USP. He is also Doctor Honoris Cause from Keio University (Tokyo, Japan). He has served as a member of the legislative committee of several important laws in Brazil. His research resulted in several books and articles on the subject of access to justice, legal aid, and civil procedure, including “Acesso à Ordem Jurídica Justa” (2019); “O controle jurisdicional de políticas públicas”, co-authored with A.P. Grinover (2013) and “Os processos coletivos nos países de civil law e common law: uma análise de direito comparado”, co-authored with A.P. Grinover and L. Mullenix (2011).
LOCAL RESEARCHERS - BRAZIL
Maria Tereza Sadek is a Former Professor at the Department of Political Science – University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo – USP). She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from PUC-São Paulo (1977), a PhD in Political Science from USP (1984) and a Postdoctoral Degree from the University of California and University of London. She is currently a collaborator at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV-Rio de Janeiro), senior researcher and research director at the Brazilian Center for Judicial Studies and Research (Centro Brasileiro de Estudos e Pesquisas Judiciais). She is also member of the Commission for Advanced Studies in Administration of Justice (Comissão de Altos Estudos em Administração da Justiça) and member of the Interinstitutional Advisory Council of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo (Conselho Consultivo Interinstitucional do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo). She has large experience in Political Science, focusing on Political Theory. Her fields of interest include access to justice, Constitutional Law, access to justice, legal aid and studies of courts, prosecutor’s office and public defender’s office.
Amélia Soares da Rocha is a Professor at Fortaleza University (Universidade de Fortaleza – UNIFOR) and a doctoral researcher at its PhD and Master’s Program. She is the President of the Association of Public Defenders of the State of Ceará (Associação dos Defensores Públicos do Estado do Ceará – ADPEC) and also a Public Defender of the State of Ceara. She has published many articles in the field of legal aid, and the book “Defensoria Pública: Fundamentos, Organização e Funcionamento” (2013).
Franklyn Roger Alves Silva received his PhD in Procedural Law from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – UERJ, Brazil) in cooperation with University of Pavia (Italy). He is Professor at Foundation Superior School of Public Defender’s Office of Rio de Janeiro (Fundação Escola Superior da Defensoria Pública do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – FESUDEPERJ), where he teaches brazilian legal aid since 2012. He is also a Public Defender of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (since 2008) and works representing vulnerable people in civil and criminal cases. His research resulted in several books and articles on the subject of access to justice, legal aid, criminal and civil procedure, including: “Access to Justice in Brazil – The Brazilian Legal Aid Model”, co-authored with A. Castro, C. Alves and D. Esteves (2017); “Princípios Institucionais da Defensoria Pública”, co-authored with D. Esteves (2018); “O CPC/2015 e a Perspectiva da Defensoria Pública”, coordinator (2019); and “Manual de Processo e Prática Penal”, co-authored with L. Silva (2017).
João Eberhardt Francisco holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in civil procedural law from the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo – USP). His doctoral thesis analyzes theoretically and empirically the constitutionality of the limitations on individual access to justice resulting from the adoption of the aggregate judgment of repetitive processes, having been elected by the Brazilian Institute of Procedural Law as the best thesis of civil procedural law related to jurisdictional precedents in 2018. He teaches civil procedural law in the specialization courses at the Law Faculty of Fundação Getúlio Vargas – FGV Law / SP since 2013. He has been developing empirical legal research concerning access to justice and inequalities arising from the adoption of different means of technology in the judicial system within the access to justice and repetitive claims research group at USP and was a member of the jurists committee appointed by the Brazilian Institute of Procedural Law regarding the alteration of the costs of forensic services and free of charge of Justice. He is a lawyer in São Paulo.
Joaquim Leonel de Rezende Alvim has been Professor of Legal Theory at the Law School of the Federal Fluminense University (UFF), Rio de Janeiro since 1997 and currently is vice coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Sociology and Law (PPGSD) at UFF. Formerly, he was a member of the Commission of Experts on the Teaching of Law at the Ministry of Education (Brazil) (1997-2001); Scientific Adviser to the Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) – Brazil (1997-2017), visiting professor at Flinders University – Adelaide/Australia (2018/2019). Alvim’s principal teaching and research interests lie in the area of Legal Theory and Sociology of Law, with an emphasis on empirical work investigating citizenship, the judiciary, legal professions, legal ethics and legal education. Alvim’s doctorate was in political science from Montpellier I University – France (1997) and he has carried out post-doctoral work at the University of Paris X – Nanterre – France (2004).
José Augusto Garcia de Sousa is a Professor at State University of Rio de Janeiro (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – UERJ), since 2002, where he teaches civil procedure law. He received his PhD in Law (2017) from UERJ, Brazil: his doctoral thesis analyzes the process timing in Brazilian civil procedure law. He is a Public Defender of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, since 1988. He is the current director of the Legal Studies Center of the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Centro de Estudos Jurídicos da Defensoria Pública do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – CEJUR). He published several articles on the subject of civil procedure law, legal aid and access to justice. He also organized three books on the subject of Public Defender’s Office: “A Defensoria Pública e os processos coletivos: comemorando a Lei federal 11.448, de 15 de janeiro de 2007” (2008); “Uma nova Defensoria Pública pede passagem: reflexões sobre a Lei Complementar 132/09” (2012); e “Coleção Repercussões do Novo CPC – Defensoria Pública” (2015).
Júlio Camargo de Azevedo is Master in Civil Procedural Law by the University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo – USP), where he developed a research about access to justice for vulnerable people. He is a Public Defender of the State of São Paulo (Brazil), since 2014, where he represents people with disabilities and women victim of violence, both in civil and criminal cases. He published several articles on the subject of legal aid, and the book “Prática Civil para Defensoria Pública”. He is also graduated in transformative mediation, leader of the Civil Procedure Study Group of Public Defender’s Office of the State of São Paulo and winner of the VII Award “Justice for all – Josephina Bacariça”, conceived by the civil society in the Public Defender category.
Pedro Lenza has been a law professor for over twenty years. In addition to teaching thousands of law students, he has also given lectures throughout Brazil, including the Supreme Court, Superior Labor Court, and for several state judges and prosecutors. He completed his Masters (2002) and PhD (2006) in law at the University of Sao Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo – USP), which is one of the most respected Universities in Brazil, supervised by Professor Ada Pellegrini Grinover, a distinguished and renowned legal scholar in that country. As a Visiting Scholar, his post-doctorate at Boston College Law School (2018/2019) will be an important step forward in his academic and professional career. Author of the celebrated and best seller “Direito Constitucional Esquematizado®” (his Constitutional Law Treatise), Pedro Lenza is the author of “Teoria Geral da Ação Civil Pública”. 3rd ed. São Paulo: Editora Revista dos Tribunais, 2008. 477 p. (General Theory of Class Actions – Monograph) and Res Judicata “Erga Omnes” in Brazilian Law: class action, constitutionality control and binding precedents, and he is also the coordinator of a collection of 22 titles in other areas of law.
Rafael Vinheiro Monteiro Barbosa received his Mater Degreee and PhD in Civil Procedural Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo – PUCSP). He also has specialization in Criminal Procedural Law and Criminal Law from the Federal University of Amazonas (Universidade Federal do Amazonas – UFAM). He is the Chief Public Defender of State of Amazonas and Former Director of the Superior School of Public Defender of Amazonas (Escola Superior da Defensoria Pública do Amazonas – ESUDPAM). He is Professor of Civil Procedural Law at the Federal University of Amazonas (Universidade Federal do Amazonas – UFAM), Former Assistant Professor of Civil Procedure Law at the State University of Amazonas (Universidade do Estado do Amazonas – UEA), and guest Professor in postgraduate courses in Civil Procedural Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas – PUCCAMP), Itu Faculty of Law (Faculdade de Direito de Itu – FADITU), Superior School of the Judiciary of the State of Amazonas (Escola Superior da Magistratura do Estado do Amazonas – ESMAM), Federal University of Mato Grosso (Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso – UFMT), Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas – PUCCamp), and North University Center (Centro Universitário do Norte – UNINORTE). He also is the Deputy General Secretary of the Brazilian Institute of Procedural Law in the State of Amazonas and Coordenador of the Center for Process Studies at the Federal University of Amazonas – NEPRO / UFAM.
Roberta Alvim is a Federal Public Defender with a Master in Public Law Studies. Member of the Migration, Stateless and Refugee Working Group of Federal Public Defender’s Office, Roberta coordinates projects related to granting access to justice and law for migrants in Brazil’s justice system, including projects in partnership with United Nations’ agencies since 2017. Her research resulted in many publications on equal access to justice for migrants, including the article “A Review of Brazil’s Public Defender’s Office Work on Protecting Migrants Rights of Venezuelan Citizens” (2018).
Susana Henriques da Costa is Professor at the Law School of the University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo – USP) and visiting Scholar at University of Wisconsin/Madison and at University of Firenze. She is also Public Prosecutor at State of São Paulo.