Op-Ed: “Severing the ‘inadmissibility Ouroboros’? Universität Bremen (C-110/21 P) and ‘independent’ legal representatives before the EU Courts” by Cian Kinsella

Introduction

On 14 July 2022, the Court rendered judgment in what can be seen as the latest episode in a series of cases regarding Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Statute), and more specifically, the criterion that lawyers pleading before the Court be ‘independent’. Universität Bremen (C-110/21 P) concerned an appeal against the General Court’s judgment dismissing as manifestly inadmissible the action for annulment brought by the applicant, the University of Bremen, against a decision rejecting a funding proposal submitted by the University.

The legal representative of the University before the General