Law students successful in ELSA European Human Rights Moot Court Competition

Second-year LLB students Reet Varma & Helena Rasch and LLM Public International Law students Jessica Appelmann & Dominique Mollet, coached by Dr. Aikaterini Tsampi and Dr. Antentor Hallo de Wolf (Transboundary Legal Studies Department), represented the University of Groningen at the 8th European Human Rights Moot Court Competition. This year, 68 teams from all over Europe competed for the chance to win an internship at the European Court of Human Rights. Upon receiving the casefile in late September 2019, two-and-a-half months of intense legal research followed for the team. And it paid off - the team received the 2nd highest overall score for their written submissions.

After a short winter break and exams, the team began training for the oral pleadings, faced by their coaches and strict (but warm-hearted) practice judges of the TLS Department, with special thanks to prof. Dr. Panos Merkouris. In February 2020, the team successfully completed the Regional Rounds in Göttingen, achieving a qualification score in the top 4 of the 18 teams moving on to the finals. This took place online this past June. Following three days of pleading, our students ultimately ranked in the top 8 of the competition. The team’s outstanding performance has once more shone a light on the UG’s reputation as a top university, worldwide, for international law.

The team learned and grew a lot throughout the eight months of the competition and is very proud of their achievement. They are extremely grateful for the tireless efforts of their coaches and others who supported them. Their sincerest thanks are extended to the Dean of the Faculty for facilitating access to Faculty facilities and to AV staff for providing tech support.

This article was published by the Faculty of Law.