Every year, AG Advokat awards a grant of SEK 50.000 to the law student who has produced the best degree project focusing on an issue that has commercial relevance for the real estate and construction industries. This year’s grant goes to Karlstad Business School alumni Isa Movitz.
Isa Movitz, tell us about your degree project, titled “Global Claims Compatibility with the Requirements of the Code of Judicial Procedure Regarding a Distinct Claim and a Detailed Account of the Circumstances Relevant to the Claim”.
– During a construction project, a number of different events can occur, which causes disruptions in other areas. In other words, there is a loss in efficiency which in turn can result in increased costs for the contractor. In complex construction projects, such disruptive events often have very complex interconnected causes. For the contractor, this can make it virtually impossible to allocate consequential costs to a single disruptive event.
When the contractor presents their claim for consequential costs that cannot be allocated, it is sometimes presented as a so-called global claim. For example, the contractor can present one, or possible a few, claims that cover the collected costs connected to the overall effect of several disruptive events. The effects of each isolated event are not specified. What makes this so complicated is that according to the Code of Judicial Procedure, claims must be distinct and the basis for the claim must be specific. My degree project is about whether a global claim is compatible with the Code of Judicial Procedure in this regard.
Why did you choose this topic?
– It’s an often-discussed topic within the field of construction contract law which raises many interesting questions. I found that global claims in relation to procedural law was particularly interesting, since it illustrates the relationship between substantive and procedural law in a way that perhaps no other legal issue does. That’s why I chose to focus completely on this issue.
Why do you think your degree project was chosen?
– Many people who work within construction contract law find the topic both interesting and important, from a practical perspective. The issue I’m examining illustrates how the complexities of the real world relates to the Code of Judicial Procedure’s requirements regarding distinct and specific claims. In my project, I’ve chosen to focus on an in-depth discussion of these procedural issues, from a civil procedure perspective.
What are your plans for the future?
– I have recently started working with dispute resolution at a legal law firm in Gothenburg.
The jury’s statement
AG Advokat’s grant for 2023 is awarded Isa Movitz’s degree project, “Global Claims Compatibility with the Requirements of the Code of Judicial Procedure Regarding a Distinct Claim and a Detailed Account of the Circumstances Relevant to the Claim”. Isa Movitz systematically examines the difficult legal issues that construction lawyers are often faced with when the complexities of real world construction projects is to be turned into specific claims that meet the formal requirements of the Code of Judicial Procedure. This is an excellent example of a well-written and cohesive legal analysis.
