Center for Applied Legal Research

The center for Applied Legal Research aims to promote studies and research focusing on the consistency and effectiveness of legal institutions and doctrines. The Center focuses on the issues relating to the use and operation of the legislation and the resources of authority available in the Brazilian system.
The Center aims to produce consistent data on the quantitative examination of the performance of agencies and institutions of the rule of law, the qualitative analysis of decisions and opinions, and other appropriate forms of diagnosing the social reality. It also provides creative criticism for institutional reform.
In the first phase, the priority areas of the Center are (1) criminal procedural law, (2) property, (3) environmental legislation and (4) access to justice. Permanent deliverables include the indexes of trust in the justice system, respect for the law, effectiveness of criminal findings and access to property and justice. The proceeds of the Center’s research must be innovative and creative legal thinking, meaning production and dissemination of concepts, interpretations and proposals able to change the doctrines, institutions and legislation where necessary, providing Direito GV with a qualified stance in the national debate. No legal production would be appropriate if the culture and doctrine that underpin and maintain the activities of lawyers and governments did not provide actual data and reasons for the execution or reform of the laws of a democratic order.
The research studies focus on the relationship between the social development sought and the effective performance of the legal system, assuming that in a democratic environment society must raise both a sense of autonomy from the state and the widespread respect for fair and unbiased laws. Development is understood as a social process in which not only economic weaknesses are redressed, but especially social inequalities to be widely discussed and thought at a legal and political level.