Laura Ervo

Laura Ervo is a Professor of Law at Örebro University's School of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences, where she has held a professorship since 2011. She served as director of the law division Juridicum at Örebro University from 2020 to 2022. With a doctoral degree from the University of Turku (2005), she maintains docent positions at three Finnish universities: University of Turku, University of Helsinki, and University of Eastern Finland. Her professional background includes practical experience as a law clerk and judge at Turku District Court in Finland.

• Doctorate: University of Turku (2005)
• Docent positions: University of Turku, University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland
• Professional experience: Turku District Court, Finland
• Teaching since 1989 across all levels of legal education
• Visiting Professor at University of Valencia, Spain (2011-2012)

Laura Ervo specializes in all three fields of procedural law—civil, criminal, and insolvency law—with particular focus on human and fundamental rights within procedural contexts. Her research extensively examines fair trial principles, evidence law, paternity cases, and litigation costs. She frequently employs comparative methods, especially analyzing legal positions and practices in Sweden and Finland. Additional research interests include forensic linguistics and higher education teaching methodologies. Her work often explores how language, behavior, and culture impact fair legal proceedings, with significant contributions to understanding multiculturalism in courtroom settings.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on procedural law evolution in Nordic contexts, with increasing attention to digitalization's impact on justice systems, cross-border cooperation mechanisms within the EU framework, and the implementation of European legal instruments in national contexts. Her work demonstrates strong engagement with contemporary challenges in procedural law, particularly regarding victim protection, alternative dispute resolution, and sustainable justice frameworks.

• Excellent Teaching Practitioner (2011)
• Board Member, International Association for Procedural Law
• Extensive publication record across multiple languages

Professor Ervo actively supervises doctoral students, serving as principal supervisor for one student and assistant supervisor for two others, while having previously guided five students to completion of their doctoral degrees. Her teaching qualifications include specialized training in higher education pedagogy, creative technology use in teaching, and doctoral supervision. She has coordinated university-level courses for over 30 years, primarily in procedural law.

She is actively involved with the Centre for Violence Studies (CVS) at Örebro University and participates in multiple research groups including Procedural Law Research, Criminal Law, European Law Research, and Family Law Research. Her current research projects address civil procedural reforms in societal context, modern criminal proceedings, and Swedish criminal law, while previously completed projects have examined topics such as children as victims, language in fair trials, and civil mediation in Europe.