Another year of successful participation of Leiden Law School in the 2021 European Law Moot Court Competition
This year’s regional finals of the European Law Moot Court (ELMC) competition took place online. The 32 teams that qualified from the written rounds competed in two regional finals: the Schuman regional final on 17-20 March 2021 and the Adenauer regional final on 24-27 March 2021.
Leiden Law School was represented by students and staff in both regional finals. Three teams of students from the European Law (LLM) and the Advanced LLM in European and International Business Law submitted written pleadings but only two of them made it to the regional finals of the competition. The Leiden team composed of Carina van Os, Jari Boekhorst and Milo O’Shaugnessy, all students of the European Law (LLM) programme, appeared before the judges at the Schuman regional final. It was a pleasure to see the Leiden team plead in one of the semi-finals.
The second team from Leiden participated in the Adenauer regional final and consisted of Tatiana Podstolna, Angelika Krężel, Méliné Jakhian and Julia Choldzynski, all students of the Advanced LLM in European and International Business Law. Tatiana Podstolna, in the role of Advocate General, pleaded on the second day of the competition in an impressive semi-final. Unfortunately, both teams did not make it to the all-European Finals, however they were among the best teams and Advocates General of the competition.
In addition to the teams, Prof. Christa Tobler, Prof. Stefaan Van den Bogaert and Prof. Jorrit Rijpma acted as judges in the ELMC in both regional finals. Finally, the ELMC case this year was written by Prof. Jorrit Rijpma and Ms Elske Raedts, Principal Associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The case combined current issues of EU asylum law and EU competition law, while also touching on important legal issues that have emerged with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ELMC is the most prestigious moot court for European Law and Leiden has a proud tradition of participating and winning prizes. Previous prizes won by students include Best Team (2013), Best Written Memorials (2015), Best Advocate General (2016), Best Advocate General (2020). This year’s teams were coached by Dr Darinka Piqani, Barbora Budinská, Veronika Yefremova and Dániel Dózsa.
Once again congratulations to both teams for their great effort and successful participation!