PATFox Final Project Report published

The Pioneering anti-SLAPP Training for Freedom of Expression (PATFox) project, co-funded by the European Commission, formally concluded on 1 March 2024. PATFox was designed to upskill the cadre of European lawyers who defend journalists and media organisations, NGOs and activists against the companies and governmental figures who use lawfare to shut down legitimate criticism in some of the countries with Europe’s worst SLAPP problems.

Over the two-year duration of the project, the Consortium managed to train 364 lawyers in 11 Member states: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Germany, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

The target groups reached during the life of the project were general lawyers, human rights lawyers, independent lawyers focusing on environmental cases, lawyers working with or for independent media and NGOs, representatives of bar associations and associations of lawyers, state attorneys and lawyers from public institutions.

In addition to doing the practical training, we designed, developed, and implemented the first European anti-SLAPP curriculum, based on video lectures, case studies, and handbooks.

All materials are freely available in all 11 languages on the Curriculum Hub section on the project website. This Final Report documents all the project's activities and results as well as evaluate its success.