Westminster & Holborn members in top three orators in European competition

INTERNATIONAL

Westminster & Holborn members in top three orators in European competition

The Federation of European Bars FBE Human Rights Oratory Competition took place in Bilbao in September, with two of our junior members in the semi-final.

Lianne Walters of Leigh Day, and Laurent Sammouri of Kings College, were among 17 young lawyers who competed with their speeches on the topic “War Crimes”. The judges heard very different narratives and approaches from the participants who came from Romania, France, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, Italy and the UK. It was no surprise to the audience that both of the WHLS members received the highest marks in the semifinal. The judges were looking for advocacy skill and content. The competition took place over two days, and the results of the semi-final were given at the end of dinner in one of the best restaurants of Bilbao.

On Day two of the competition, the four contestants in the final, our two members and a lawyer from Romania and a lawyer from Italy, were put into two teams at random and given the subject “The Ukraine justice system can give a fair trial to Russians accused of war crimes” to debate. Given only 90 minutes to prepare, the contestants made it very hard for the judges, as they were very persuasive. As the tension mounted in the hall of the Bilbao Bar, the results were announce, with a narrow win for Ronald Elek from Romania, and coming a close second, Laurent Sammouri of Kings College, third Liane Walters of Leigh Day.

At the House of Lords WHLS Autumn event our two winners were presented with their awards by WHLS President Matthew Allan. WHLS are proud to support junior lawyers and any members who would like to know more should contact: sarachandler.lawsociety@gmail.com.