Magazine of the ELSA Lawyers Society
Nr. 3/2011
Newsletter by and for Alumni of ELSA International Board Who is the new IB?
National Celebrations Anniversary in Austria
STEP Campaign Let‘s support ELSA
Albert Schippers ● Aleksander Blahy ● Angel Rosse Tejano ● Annemarie Männikkö ● Antonio Luigi del Sole ● Artur Bunk ● Bago Simona ● Boris Inderbitzin ● Branislav Brocko ● Christian Hagstrom ● Christian Stroemlund ● Claas-Eike Seestädt ● Clara Hrabovec ● Dario Pantanella ● Delia Orabona ● Dominika Kupczyk ● Esra Ersoy ● Florian Möslein ● Frederique van Oijen ● Frida Orring ● Guillaume Tatoueix ● Hubert Gambs ● Ippolito Pucci ● Juridia Asianajotoimisto ● Kapp Margit ● Karolina Sicinska ● Katarzyna Maria Bugaj ● Kirsti Pent ● Krisztina Vattay ● Luca Barbero ● Maartijn Keijze ● Maitre Guill ● Malina Dolatowska ● Marcel Worm ● Marcin "Boulie" Krzysko ● Maria-Christina Binau-Hansen ● Marianne Pál Ortega ● Marie Tårup ● Michael Vetter ● Michael-Peter Oconnor ● Mirko Djukovic ● Nadiia Gaidak ● Nina Klotz ● Nina Prantl ● Nina Stensbol ● Pal Jakob Aasen ● Patrycja Zalewska ● Peter Mikletic ● Priskin Boglarka ● Roberta Rosignoli ● Roza Dembska ● Salo Kimmo Claud Kenneth ● Sandra Budimir ● Sarah Brock ● Sergii Portnoi ● Suvi Laes ● Tamara Kiss ● Teemu Puutio ● Timo Kortesoja ● Tobias Rehme ● Valentina Ilic ● Vanja Vjelancevic ● Willem Hoefnagels ● Aga Stobiecka-Kuik ● Andreas Popow ● Antonini Michelle ● Arnold Dikkers ● Blaz Golob ● Carmen Seiler ● Francia Emanuele Clemente Carl ● Halvor Lekven ● James Newmark ● Jeroen Koster ● Krzysztof Kuik ● Mette Darmgaard ● Richard Henderson ● Romero Matute Maria Carmen
WHY THEY
JOINED
Focus on Europe Helsinki,Nov 18-19 Lviv, Nov 11-13 Szczecin, Nov 17-20 National Council Meeting 30th Anniversary ELSA Poland
International Seminar on Mediation
30th anniversary celebration ELSA Finland in cooperation with ELSA Alumni Finland
Munich, Sep 30—Oct 02 ELS & EAD Oktoberfest
Triest, Apr 16-22 2012 IFP Mid-Evaluation Conference
Zurich, Oct 08 30th anniversary celebration Alumni Evening
Montepellier Final Round EMC² 2012
Viana do Castelo, Oct 06-09 Iberian Freshers Camp
Algavre Elected Host ICM Spring 2012
Palermo, Oct 23-30 ICM of ELSA
Oct 28 and 29 Assembly Meeting of ELS
Sarajevo, Nov 24-27
Tblisi
ELSA Ex-Yu Conference Elected Host „Status and applicance of the ICM Autumn 2012 Conveniton on the Rights of Children in BiH and the region“
For Seminars see www.elsa.org 2
Content / President’s Wor(l)d President’s Wor(l)d
Content Focus on Europe
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2
President’s Wor(l)d
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3
Why did I join ELS
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4
20 years ELS
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6
STEP—A win-win
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8
ELSA International 2011
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10
Academic Cooperation
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12
Train the Trainer Week
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13
Anniversary in Vienna
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14
ELS Gala Ball Vienna
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16
Weddings/Seniors News
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17
The year 30 ab ELSA condita and the year 20 ab ELS condita is coming to an end. It is incredible how fast time is fleeting. Going to the Octoberfest, flying to Palermo and it is time already to apply for the Christmas cocktail in the ELSA House. This year ELS, alumni and ELSA were celebrating the anniversary. The ICM in Palermo will again focus on ELSA’s birthday. ELS will elect the executive committee for its 21st year. I want to invite you to consider to fill a position in ELS. This year quite some persons (re-)joined ELS again. My invitation is aiming especially at the younger ELS members. To be able to consider all needs and expectations of our members, a board with alumni from different generations and backgrounds is needed.
ELS—The ELSA Lawyers Society President: Secretary General: Exec Members: Directors:
Robert Tremel Arabela Trifoi Claudius Krucker Pierangelo Graziani Johanna Kauppinen Ania Ziemnicka
But of course you can form the alumni association by attending the assembly meeting or give a proxy. I am looking forward to meet many of you in Palermo.
Info@ELSlawyer.org www.ELSlawyer.org
Yours, Robert
Editor Newsletter: Robert Tremel 3
”Why did I join ELS?” by Nina Stensbol, Norway
ELSA has been an important part of our lives. Important because it has given us so many things. Like life changing experiences in wonderful places around Europe. It has given us new personal and professional skills. It has broaden our horizon, by showing us that borders have little meaning, and that people from different countries are not so different after all. One of the most remarkable parts is the people we meet, and the friendships that are made during our years in ELSA. Then one day it all ends, we graduate and start living the working life. When that happened to me, I questioned myself "why does it have to end here?, how could I still be supporting ELSA? and how could I continue meeting my friends to have fun but at the same time conserve all the networking?” Well visiting a few countries each year is very possible, but visiting 42 countries is not possible even if I would love to see every one of them. The answer for me was to join ELS. When my ELSA career started in 2007 in Norway, the ELS was not well known and very few students knew about the possibility of becoming a member. But during the last year there has been a change. The generation of people that leave ELSA now are more informed about the ELS, and they are more positive to join, or at least that is what the rumor says. I have interviewed a few of the newest members to see why they choose to join ELS, and also to see if it is true that more and more young people are joining now.
Barbara Sandfuchs, Germany 1. When did your ELSA career start and what was your previous position in ELSA? It started in 2006, my last position was President of ELSA Germany in 2009/2010. 2. Why did you join ELS? “Maybe it was ELSA that has brought us together, but now it is much more than ELSA that keeps us together.” With these words a Hungarian friend of mine described the fact that through the work in ELSA, we gained real friends. ELS offers the possibility to stay in touch with these friends and at the same time contribute to the work of the active ELSA generation. As I am convinced that I will continue to consider ELSA as an amazing network, I decided to join as a life-time member. 3. Is the rumors true that more young people are joining ELS now? Despite the fact that I do not know the statistics, many friends of “my ELSA generation” have recently joined. Therefore, at least I can confirm that there are many “young” ELS members. 4. Are you planning on participating in the ELS Assembly Meeting in the ICM Palermo in October or any other ELS international meeting the next year? I am in charge of organizing this year’s edition of the annual ELS Oktoberfest event in Munich. We are happy to host 50 participants from eight countries.
Marcel Worm, Denmark 1. When did your ELSA career start and what was your previous position in ELSA? The good question, when did I start in this fantastic association. I started in 2006 at my second year, where my 4
class had merged with another class. And here I met a guy who was active in ELSA, and before I could think about it, was I sitting at the council meeting and got elected as VP Marketing for ELSA Copenhagen, half a year after I got elected as VP S & C for ELSA Denmark. And then I was President for ELSA Copenhagen. So I have been around in the board, and that’s one of the best things with ELSA, are the possibilities. 2. Why did you join ELS? I know a lot of the people in ELS, and I know a lot of the new members in ELS, that have been joining ELS in the last couple of years, and all of them are great people, and people I have had a lot fun with around Europe. So I have never seen it as a “Why” to join, but more like a “When” to join. So I joined because, I still want the benefits from ELSA, as friendship, travel and a lot of fun around Europe. 3. Is the rumours true that more young people are joining ELS now? Hell yeah, I joined :) yes the rumours are true, we are a lot of young lawyers who can’t leave the network, and can’t live without the network. So we want to be a part of the European network for lawyers, and we want to help ELSA through the further history. 4. Are you planning on participating in the ELS Assembly Meeting in the ICM Palermo in October or any other ELS international meeting the next year? Off course, I got my tickets for Palermo, so I just need to pack my stuff and find the airport. So see you all in Palermo!
Joëlle Joosten, The Netherlands 1. When did your ELSA career start and what was your previous position in ELSA? I started my ELSA career in 2007 in ELSA Nijmegen, a local group in The Netherlands. After being director AA and President of that group I went on to become VPAA of ELSA The Netherlands for the past 2 years. 2. Why did you join ELS? I've spend the last 4 years of my life being active in ELSA both on a local and national level as on the international level. I have met many interesting people and some of them have become close friends of mine. The main reason for becoming an ELS'er are the people I've met during the years and would like to stay in touch with. Of course the (in)famous ELSA-Spirit plays a role as well. After 4 years it would be difficult, if not impossible, to just go 'cold turkey'. 3. Is the rumors true that more young people are joining ELS now? I certainly believe so. When I started in ELSA it felt like there was a great gap between the active students and the ELS'ers. Due to the changes within ELS and the big impulse the previous International Boards have given to ELS, it came back to life. In The Netherlands we have reconnected with our ELSmembers over an informal barbeque at one of the ELS'ers homes and have stayed in touch with them ever since. Many of them came to the ICM in Poznan and we had blast with them. Ever since this change more and more of my friends and fellow board members are becoming a part of ELS because the gap has been closed 4. Are you planning on participating in the ELS Assembly Meeting in the ICM Palermo in October or any other ELS international meeting the next year? I am certainly planning on going to the ICM in Palermo and I will participate in the ELS program there. I can't say for sure whether I will attend the other meetings because the end of student life means the beginning of working life and unfortunately I can't predict the future. 5
Twenty Years ELS by Robert Tremel, President, ELS
20 years ago, the ELSA Lawyers Society was founded. For 20 years now, a legal entity, an association, for alumni of ELSA exists. The teenage years of the association are over now and it is time to check if the association is really a “grown-up” now. Andy Unger, the first president of the ELS, described the reason why ELS was founded in the anniversary publication “Building a just world”: “… we decided to form ELS – so that we could carry on seeing each other and help ELSA too.” We are talking about a time when the internet only made its first timid steps. Contacts were really kept in books, printed directories and business cards collection were a treasure. The ELS directory exists since the very beginning of ELS. Are you on facebook? Quite a lot of my facebook friends are former (and current) ELSA members. When was it the last time you read an email on the ELS mailing list like “Who has contact to John Doe from Hobbitville?” Emails like this were quite common at the time before the area of “social networks”. Today we find contacts by typing the name in facebook, linkedin or google. Is ELS outdated? Is there still a need for ELS? Nowadays ELSA members form their personal alumni networks by adding friends in Web 2.0. Isn’t it enough to be “fan” of ELSA on facebook or joining a group on linkedin? Drawing a comparison to ELSA, I would say that ELS has three “key areas”: Personal relations/ social network, Professional relations/network and supporting ELSA. Let me start with the area “Supporting ELSA”: In fact many alumni support ELSA on all three levels. Alumni provide support as lecturers and teachers at seminars and law schools, as judges and advisors for the EMC², as trainers in and outside the ELSA International Trainers Pool, as auditors and advisory board members, as STEP employers and sponsors. Furthermore ELS itself supports ELSA financially – in this special year with about 15.000 EURO in total. Unfortunately the requests for help coming from ELSA at least via the ELS are pretty low. Nonetheless the relation between ELSA and ELS became closer with the anniversary. I think this also the “area” ELS has spent most of its resources for. This goes for the financial resources as it does for human resources and contacts. We want to strengthen the cooperation with ELSA and moreover provide not only financial resources, but also other support. The STEP campaign is a common project to raise STEP jobs for ELSA. We founded ELSA that we could carry on seeing each other, I quoted Andy Unger previously and the quote describes the area “personal contacts” pretty well. The anniversary celebration in Poznan was – like previous anniversaries – a good example for the social network. Our members did not go there for professional benefits, but to meet old friends, to remember the past and to
Friendship 6
behave like in the past. To stay in touch with friends the directory is not that important any more as it was in the past, as Web 2.0 provides other possibilities to keep in touch. But actually Web 2.0 had taught me that I made more contacts than only these few precious friends in stayed in contact with. Haven’t you also sat in front of a picture a facebook friend posted and tried to identify the person? At several ELS events I met people “I always wanted to get in touch with” again, but never did.
Supporting ELSA
Being a professional network has been the vision of some ELS members. The reality is, that only lawyers exchange mandates with ELS colleagues and ask for legal advice and help. Seminars, publications or other academic projects are rather a vision than an action. The touching points between the different legal professions and between the common legal rules are too narrow to find an interesting topic. Besides that they are several professional providers on the market who offer these legal services. I think that alumni of ELSA still are interested in all of the three aspects of being an alumni. I truly believe that there is demand for all three of them. Especially younger alumni often ask, what the benefit of ELS is for them and especially seek support in their career start. Back to the previous question if ELS is grown up: When you grow up, the tasks grow with you and they did with ELS. When ELS was founded, on the international level maybe a few hundred alumni existed. An ICM in 1984 had around 10 participants and around 1990 still not many more than 100. When ELS was founded the student days of the few alumni were only very few years ago. Keeping in mind that today ELSA already had about 170 IB members and many more national officers the group of alumni became much bigger. ELS always depended on the motivation and availability of individuals. Many of our members are willing to help, but many of them have limited time resources. A concept how to bundle these resources has not been found yet and I am not really sure if it can be found. But without resources ELS will never develop as much activity as some of our members want. If I look back now and have a look at ELS in 2001 it seems that there has not been any development. The number of members was pretty much the same and the level of activity was not really different. One could have the feeling, that ELS spent its teenage years with partying at ICM locations, the Oktoberfest and at the Gala Ball in Vienna. But in fact projects were tried like professional mailing lists. A contract with ELSA was made and this agreement is a stable basis for the cooperation. The ELS Grant was set up. ELS has passed its high school in its teenage years. I think a stable and solid basis for the 3rd decade of ELS was set. It is up to us to fill this decade with action, activity and life. ELS is entering its student years ...
Anniversary Logo 7
STEP can be a win-win for you and ELSA! by Johanna Kauppinen, Director Anniversary, Finland
“My heart is beating with ELSA and STEP is the blood that feeds that heart” says Umut Kurman, 33 years, partner at a law firm in Ankara, Turkey. Founded in 2004, Aydaş Liman Kurman Attorneys at Law has three partners and is active in commercial transactions and litigation. About half of their clients are international companies and the other half are Turkish companies and private persons. Aydaş Liman Kurman have hosted four STEP trainees in the past, the latest one in August, 2011. “Everyone of us seniors should support STEP”, Umut encourages. 47 % of students join ELSA because it gives them the opportunity to apply for STEP jobs. Through STEP students have a real opportunity to become “internationally minded and professionally skilled”. There is “hidden work” – tasks that the in-house counsel is too busy to do himself, but that would be too expensive to give to a law firm. For you as the employer, STEP can provide the following benefits: • • • • • • • • •
Motivated student with your chosen profile There are multiple tasks for a trainee, such as Legal research, comparative or otherwise Due diligence of past contracts Translations Archiving of legal documents (but not as an only task!) Contract drafting Assisting in negotiations and cases in general Having an international student at your office can be both fun and motivating for your other employees or colleagues
For Umut, the length of a typical traineeship has been four weeks and STEP trainees have come from the Check Republic, Germany, Montenegro and Russia. Each STEP trainee is asked to write an article of a comparative legal nature and the best of those may be published in the Ankara Bar Review. Trainees have also worked on client cases making comparative studies of specific fields of law in Turkey and in their home jurisdiction. “It’s all about similarities and differences”, Umut explains. “The client feels more secure if we can compare the Turkish legal system to how the same matter is regulated in his home jurisdiction”, he continues.
Key Area Meeting in September 2011. Some of the STEP officers enjoying as gala cruise in the archipelago of Turku: (from left) Lucia Palusova (ITP/Slovakia), Irakli Samkharadze (ELSA International/Georgia), Grzegorz Gajda (Poland), Dena Dervanovic (Montenegro), Jan Piza (Czech Republic), Theresa Gutsche (Germany), Madeleine Thörn (Sweden). 8
STEP – the Anniversary Campaign During this year and next, ELS is working with Irakli Samkharadze Vice-President STEP of ELSA International and the whole “STEP family” in order to bridge the gap between alumni and ELSA in the field of STEP. You can be involved in three different ways: •
We are looking for volunteers for the ELS STEP Support Team. If you are interested and have time to make some phone calls, please contact the undersigned.
•
The ELS STEP Support Team shall contact selected individual alumni in order to find out their possible interest for STEP. After the initial contact, responsibility is transferred to the respective local and/or national STEP officer.
•
If you are interested in having a STEP trainee during the next year, please contact either Johanna or Pierangelo and we shall guide you further.
Can we do STEP on behalf of ELSA? Definitely not. But we can open our minds and ears for the next phone call coming from the local STEP officer. Johanna Kauppinen
Pierangelo Graziani
ELS Director for Anniversary johanna_kauppinen@hotmail.com mobile: +358 40 551 7788
Executive Officer ELS Trust trust@elslawyer.org
Source: www.elsa.org 9
ELSA International 2011/12
It is time to introduce the International Board of ELSA - the people working full time for the Association. We are proud to continue the work of generations and generations of ELSA enthusiasts who have built up and supported our Network for 30 years. During these first months in office, it is time to look at the past year as well as to plan the upcoming year. Communicating and brainstorming with our alumni is part of this – benefitting from the experience and knowledge gathered during years of activity in ELSA and of working life. The connections and advice which ELS and its members can offer ELSA International and the ELSA Network are invaluable. After one exhausting month of transition we, as the new International Board of ELSA, are aware of the responsibility that the Network has put in our hands, of the responsibility to continue the great work of our predecessors and we could not be more confident: Thanks to a well-structured, patient and knowledgeable transition which they provided for us, we are now ready for one of the best years of our lives working for a Network with 42 countries. Our journey started after the election at the International Council Meeting in Poznan, Poland. We had the privilege of having an exceptional number of our alumni present celebrating with us. After the elections the International Board received two additions, resulting to eight people living together in the same house as numerous previous boards, working together for ELSA. Here are the people: Our President, Niousha Nademi, is a 25 year old law student from Stockholm, Sweden. He will focus on the External Relations of ELSA International, not only communicating with our partners but also accessing possible partnerships, not to forget cooperation with ELS. Furthermore, he will also try to expand our vision to the other European countries and universities where students are waiting to share the ELSA Spirit with other countries. During the year he will also be the responsible for board management. Jaana Saarijärvi from Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is the Secretary General. She is the overall responsible for the Internal Management of our beloved Association. The Network will be her focus, with specific points such as Human Resources, the International Trainers’ Pool, the Network Support System and ELSA Online. Also from Finland, comes the Vice President Marketing, Kaisa-Maria Kimmel. She is a law student at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi. She is the main responsible for Synergy and for website maintenance but also the person in charge of having new ideas for ELSA’s promotion. The top priorities in the Marketing area will be the Market Research and raising awareness of ELSA within the Network and in the outside world. The Treasurer, Ricardo Gomes, is a fourth year student at Faculdade de Direito de Lisboa, Portu10
gal. However, he was born in a small town called Guarda. His main responsibilities are the Financial Management of ELSA and the assets of ELSA International. His main focuses during this year are the financial stability of our Association as well as taxation. He is also the Chairman of the ELSA Development Foundation. Irakli Samkharadze from Tbilisi, Georgia is the Vice President for Student Trainee Exchange Programme (STEP). His main goal is to provide law students with the unique opportunity of working abroad while improving soft skills and contributing to the internationality of law students in Europe. Zosya Stankovskaya, originally from Chernivtsi, Ukraine is the Vice President for Seminars and Conferences, and thus one of the people responsible for the Legal Education challenges in ELSA. She will focus on promoting the International Focus Programme (IFP) within the Network. She will also focus on the quality of the S&C events and on continuing the cooperation on the field of Delegations. With one position vacant after the elections, we appointed Khrystyna Brodych, also from Ukraine, as the Director for Academic Activities. She will coordinate the Academic Activities of ELSA focusing on Legal Education, promoting legal writing and legal research, mainly innovating and improving the area. Last but not least, the International Board 2011/2012 will have the great help of an eight person living in the House. That person is the Director for Moot Court Competitions and her name is Liisa Oravisto, from Helsinki. She will be the person in charge of the Moot Courts of ELSA, the successful ELSA Moot Court Competition on World Trade Organisation Law (EMC2) and the challenging project of the Human Rights Moot Court organised in cooperation with the Council of Europe. These eight people will contribute to the fulfilment of ELSA´s Vision: “a just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity”. We set our main goals and focus in our One Year Operational Plan (OYOP) and we are fully motivated in the achievement of these defined objectives. We will have one year to develop, to consolidate and to live ELSA and we want to include our alumni in achieving these goals. The years 2011 and 2012 are crucial years in ELSA’s history. We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of our Association and this moment is important for gathering the past generations and for thinking about the future. We started this process during the anniversary debate in ICM Poznan, receiving inputs from alumni on how ELSA worked during their time in the Association as well as their point of view on how we can be proactive in including alumni in our projects. As a consequence, ELSA will work closely with ELS in transferring contacts for providing STEP traineeships in cooperation with alumni. Furthermore, ELSA officers are more aware of their possibilities for finding speakers and academic support from alumni through ELS. The new International Board of ELSA is looking forward to this year and to working together with our alumni. The basis for more effective communication and cooperation has been set – now let us build on it! 11
ELS and ELSA working together on – and at – academic events by Sofia Kallio, VP S&C, EI 2009/2010, Director for IFP, EI 2010/2011 Member of ELS and ELSA Alumni Finland
sibilities for cooperation between ELSA and ELS. The academic programme of the Conference was compiled with the help of JUDr. Ondřej Dostál, Ph.D., Health Law was elected as the topic for the IFP LL.M., himself for the period 2010–2013 at the International a former ELSA member, who also gave inspiring Council Meeting (ICM) in Malta, spring 2010. The lectures during the event. Moreover, some other Opening Conference of the current topic took speakers of the event, including Egle Graziera nd th place in Prague, Czech Republic, on the 22 – 27 and Natalia Lojko, have been ELSA members February 2011 with the tremendous effort of during their student years. In addition, the ELS Martina Kalapáčová as the Head of Organizing Exec held their meeting at the time of the ConferCommittee and Jiří Mačát as the Responsible for ence and was able to attend the academic and sothe Academic Programme. The programme con- cial programme. sisted of lectures from international and Czech I can say without a doubt that it makes a differexperts on health law, such as Egle Granziera ence for a young ELSA member to meet the profrom the World Health Organization (WHO), André den Exter from the Erasmus Observatory fessionals that once started their careers with a similar path. It motivates, gives the student a feelon Health Law of the University of Rotterdam ing of having a mentor, and builds a bridge beand Iain Byrne from Interights. tween the ELSA generations. The lectures and interactive workshops covered various issues related to Health Law, since the aim I encourage the ELS members and other alumni was to introduce the topic broadly as an opening to take an active role in supporting the ELSA event. The themes included, inter alia, malpractice Groups and creating such ways to cooperate on the local, national or even international level. One liability, informed consent, pharmaceutical law, euthanasia, health insurance companies, comple- of the highlights of the IFP during the following year is the IFP Mid-Evaluation Conference with mentary medicine and patient mobility. the focus on Mental Health Law which will be held in Trieste, Italy (16th – 22nd April 2012). The Opening Conference was not only a grand opening for the three years of focus on Health Law, but also served to show the pos- How many ELS members will we see there?
The International Focus Programme (IFP) collects and guides the efforts of the whole ELSA Network in order for the members to reach common goals and academic results within one hot legal topic. The programme has been running since 1994 with various topics that have been current during their time. There are many examples of ELSA members who have actually found their field of law for their legal careers through organizing and attending IFP events and projects.
12
Train the Trainers Week by Arabela Trifoi, Romania and Katrien Willems, Belgium
Event: Date: Location: Participants: Trainers:
Train the Trainers Week (TTTW) 02 - 09 July 2011 Büdingen, Germany 12 former/current ELSA members from all over Europe Jochen Hoerlin, Nina Klotz, Koen Klootwijk and Rudolf Reiet
Just as a reminder, the International Trainers Pool (ITP) has been established in 2000 being the main training body in ELSA. The aim of the ITP is to improve the quality of the human resources amongst the ELSA members through the aid of former ELSA members who voluntarily deliver trainings in the whole ELSA Network with the offered facility that the travel and accommodation expenses are covered by ELSA. What’s specific about ITP trainers is that they benefit from annual sessions organized by ELSA International which ensure a proper formation and information of the trainers. Basically there are two centers of interest in which ELSA International invests: forming the trainer’s training skills and keeping his ELSA knowledge up to date.
day of intensive working and learning under the guidance of Jochen Hoerlin, Nina Klotz and Koen Klootwijk, all three ITP trainers and ELS members as well. Content-wise we were led through themes such as learning typologies and the 4-MAT teaching technique, team phases and training design, how to structure and deliver trainings, behaviors in communication, sides of a message, body language, moderation and conflict management. We also experienced this trainings week very intensely. Not only had we learned about training skills, but we also learned about ourselves as being a trainer. To guide us through the week, we also were appointed a “buddy”, to whom we could tell everything during this week. Such method of experiencing this training week was definitely a plus. The end of the week was the beginning of a new step in our ELSA carreers as it left us with the motivation to start giving trainings to the network. The Train the Trainers Week was a very succesfull event, professionally organized but still full of ELSA Spirit, difficult but still leaving us with the feeling that we’ve learned a lot. We therefore would like to thank the trainers and participants for their trumendous effort and guidance throughout the week.
Every two years ELSA International organizes one Train the Trainers Week(-end) and before every autumn ICM, a Refreshment Week-end, the first is meant to give a serious trainer ed-ucation to future trainers facilitated by experienced trainers, the second to refresh the skills of the ITP The next Train the Trainers Week is scheduled in the summer of 2013. If you have any questions members. about training or the ITP, do not hesitate to So far we have experienced the Train the Trainers contact ELSA International: training@elsa.org. Week. This year, the event took place in Germany, in a small city near Frankfurt, and it consisted in a week-long process which resulted in the formation of 9 new trainers for the International Trainers Pool (ITP). We had 12 hours per 13
Bridging all generations: ELSA’s Anniversary Celebrations in Vienna by Gregor Wenda, Austria
It all began in January of 2011. Tobias Birsak, then President of ELSA Vienna, got in touch with me and some other Austria alumni in quest of material for the new ELSA archives. In his email he described how many items had disappeared after ELSA Vienna’s move and how he was looking to collect stuff from previous decades. I decided to meet with him and his colleague Milorad Erdelean to discuss further details but it took another month until we finally came together in “Café Maximilian” near Downtown Vienna on 22 February. Said café was ELSA Vienna’s favourite gathering point in the mid-nineties so some sentimental feelings inevitably touched me. I had brought a couple of thick binders with old ELSA documents along and while we leafed through lost treasurers, Tobias mentioned some initial plans for an Austrian ELSA anniversary later in the spring, probably around 6 May. The party was supposed to be organized by ELSA Vienna in co-operation with ELSA Austria. When Tobias asked me whether I could help him contact some of the alumni of “my time”, I immediately caught fire. My active ELSA time had ended 10 years ago, after chairing the “Anniversary ICM” of ELSA in March 2001 in Vienna. Since then, I had lost track of many former ELSA-friends and -colleagues and it seemed to be just the right time to get back in touch and invite them for an anniversary party, which should bring together ALL the ELSA generations in Austria. My first and perhaps biggest challenge was to reconnect with the two Austrian ELSA founders, Ernst Wurz and Michael Goldinger. I had met both of them during the 2001 anniversary celebrations and, several years later, also bumped into Michael Goldinger again at an evening reception. Nevertheless I knew that both “founding fathers” were busy men and hard to grab. Luck was on my side and I finally reached both of them. They immediately agreed to do anything they could to join ELSA’s birthday party in May. What followed was week after week of more or less intensive “detective work”. Some of those people I had worked with in ELSA became and stayed close friends so it was no problem to drop them a line or a call. However, some other former board and team members had basically disappeared off the face of earth. You think the internet has made it easy to rediscover them? Not really! In some cases, Google didn’t reveal any suitable hits and even Facebook was only partly helpful as not everybody was listed there. What finally helped the most was working contacts who asked somebody that asked somebody. As it seems, spreading the personal word is still a useful investigative tool in the 21st century. Without really planning it, I became some kind of adjunct member of the “OC” getting involved in more and more questions surrounding the party – and I must admit that I enjoyed it! Working together with Tobias Birsak and with Nina Wanke, then President of ELSA Austria, was a pleasure. The old ELSA senses came back to life and it 14
was a lot of fun to receive news from people you hadn’t talked to in a decade. Other ELS folks like President Robert Tremel and Austrian Representative Franz-Martin Orou also shared their knowledge and contributed precious contacts. The list of participants gradually grew and when the evening of 6 May 2011 was finally here, around 70 former and present ELSAnians gathered in the traditional wine pub “Wolff” in Vienna to raise their glasses. In addition to active members from most local groups, ELS President Robert Tremel, then IB member Laurits Ketscher, and numerous alumni from the past thirty years had followed the “party call”. ELSA founder Ernst Wurz gave the key note address. Paul Hochbaum, former President of ELSA International, me, and Martina Berger, ELSA Austria President some two years ago, shared their personal recollections with the audience. I had prepared a set of power point slides with photos and stories from 1995 to 2001. How time flies! It was an evening full of memories, old and new friendships, laughter and tears, thanks and wishes. Never before did one see so many different Austrian ELSA generations in one place. ELSA Vienna and ELSA Austria, together with the assistance of ELS, organized an unforgettable event – and I was proud and grateful to contribute to it. Ad multos annos!
Alumni at the National Council Meeting by Gregor Wenda, Austria
The spring National Council Meeting (NCM) of ELSA Austria in Fürstenfeld was special in many ways. Not only did it mark the election of a new National Board, it was also dedicated to ELSA’s 30th anniversary and an intensified cooperation with Austrian ELSA alumni. The most prominent guest on 4 July 2011 was ELSA founder Michael Goldinger. He had established ELSA together with Austrian Ernst Wurz and colleagues from Hungary and Poland in 1981. Michael could not attend the anniversary party in Vienna on 6 May but promised to come to Fürstenfeld for a podium discussion on the past and future of ELSA insteas. He was the farthest travelled person on that evening as he had come all the way back from a business trip to Russia. Other ELSA alumni on the podium included Gregor Wenda, former President of ELSA Austria 1998/99, Ines Wolfbauer, former
Treasurer of ELSA Austria 1998/99, and Jürgen Schenk, former Vice-President Marketing of ELSA Austria around the millennium. The questions from NCM participants revealed that ELSA challenges haven’t changed too much over the decades and that it can sometimes be tough not to “reinvent the wheel”. The dialogue between active ELSAnians and alumni continued long after the formal part was over – and led to plans for further co-operation in the next year.
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Where fairytales come true ELS Gala Ball in Vienna by Guido Costantini,Italy and Simona Adamcova, Czech Republic
In the long gone March of 2001, I participated for the first time in a gala ball in Vienna, celebrating the 20th anniversary of our gloriole association.
And yet the weekend wasn’t finished and we still had a lot to experience. The two of us (always striving for culture) went to see Carmen on one of many stages that Vienna offers. Afterwards, despite being tired from the gala ball we could not miss the occasion to visit of the typical après-ski-designed restaurant/disco where, besides the great beer, you can enjoy delicious Austrian specialties like “Kaiserschmarrn”.
That event, glamorous and unforgettable as it was between the typical ICM atmosphere and the Wiener waltz, would have remained an isolated event in my life, had I not decided, almost exactly a decade later, to participate in what remains, inexplicably, a niche event of our association: the ELS gala ball in Vienna. Taking place right inside the imperial palace, that evening saw a dozen of ELSA seniors and one ELSA member first having a classy “aperitivo”, based on champagne and delicious tarts, in an exclusive venue of the „Alt-Kalksburger“ Club (alumni association of prestigious Catholic private school which dates back to 1856) and then losing themselves among hundreds of attendees of one of the several university gala balls that annually take place in the Hofburg.
The brunch on Sunday showed the typical ELSA workshops atmosphere when we ended up discussing the new ELS logo. As usual, our association brings work and fun together and after all, this event wasn’t so different. Although I admit that “fruitful discussions” were not as emotive as on ICMs it was definitely nice to see our alumni being interested in future progress of their association and in making it more attractive for the new members.
In the end, it was an unforgettable experience that saw, to borrow a line, "the best dressed ELS members I’ve ever seen in my life" and one that we fully plan to repeat, hopefully with more of the ELS members now realizing how such an event cannot be missed. And finally, an immense thank you to Franz-Martin Orou for the organization, great job well done and hopefully see you and many others participating on the Vienna fairytale event in 2012! For the waltz-impaired, different halls offered vari- (Simona) ous kind of music, rating from the polka to the latino rhythms, but not - traditions be praised - disco For many years two events became a tradition in ELS. At the beginning of the year, Franz-Martin music of any kind. Orou on behalf of the Austrian alumni invites to Having set an hourly meeting point, the ELS(A) peo- an Austrian Gala Ball. Thank you very much. ple lost themselves in the revelry and, truth to be The second event is the Octoberfest. Jochen Hörtold, after the first couple of successful rallies, it lin, Meinhard Schröder, Nina Klotz and Stephan was not until the day after when the most of us met Dobrowolski were the main responsibles. Since again for a late lunch in a pretty special location, this year younger alumni took over and Barbara half restaurant - half greenhouse garden called Pal- Sandfuchs took the responsibility. Thanks for menhaus. That was also a calm place to talk and many Oktoberfeste and thanks for many more to better know each other. (Guido) come. Whoever had expected tuxedoes and gorgeous night dresses would not have been disappointed. More than that, one could had seen many people dressed in the typical Austrian costumes and in costumes from all around the world as foreign students paraded in Scottish tartans, Indian and Chinese silks, South American velvets and even in what looked like authentic zebra skin.
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WEDDINGS
The ELSA International Team 2008 met on May 21st to celebrate a high level ELSA and ELS wedding: Jean-Marc Lauwers, Treasurer IB 2008/09 and current auditor of ELS married Katrien Willems, Dir EI 2008/09 and ELS represenative for Belgium. Karina Sultanova was president of ELSA Kazakhstan, SecGen of ELS and is trainer of ELSA. On July 23rd she married Joss Bolton in England. They are both working for Shell and are moving to Paris.
Ruta Zarnauskaite was president of EI in 2001/02 and is one of the judges at the EMC², Gijs van Iersel was SecGen of ELSA Maastricht in 2001/02. On June 10th they got married in Ruta‘s home town Vilnus. Cristian Elull married Karolina, who is originally from Bratislava, on Aug 13th in Malta. Chris was on the National Board of ELSA Malta—well—a few years ago. 17
MORE WEDDINGS
Leonid Cherniavskyi, last years president of ELSA International married Masha Drozdova on 10.09.2011. Obviously presidents know what they do ...
Maria Cruz Ferrera Costa was VP Marketing in the IB 2003/04. She got married on 14.08.2011 and invited some of her ELSA friends to La Corunna.
Zagreb 03.09.2011
Silvia Grabovac VP S&C ELSA Croatia 1997/98
Fabrizio Cancedda VP AA ELSA Italy 1996 18
Seniors‘ News On 20th May Ludmilka was born. Her father Jan Slanina and her mother Lucie Wachtlova were both in the NB of ELSA Czech Republic.
Rebekha is the daughter of Nikki (nee Camilleri; VP S&C of ELSA Int. 2000) and Adrian Mallia and since June among the youngest inhabitants of the ELSAfamous island of Malta.
Hennica was born on the 17th April this year: First she will become director of ELSA, like her mum Kristina Juth was in 2001/02 and 2002/03. Then she will become a successfull Finish tax lawyer like her mum and her dad Raimo. Anyone missing? Please help us collect information about our members and friends. If you hear about a marriage, eg. about two former IB members who might get married this autumn (the third IB-IB marriage and no—it is not the couple we are waiting for 10 years now). If somebody posts an ultra sound image on facebook, let us know. You will read who the lucky partents are in the next issue of our newsletter.
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Assembly Meeting of ELS Anniversary Celebration Palermo/Italy October 28th and 29th Assembly Meeting ELS Participate in the future of ELS and in the election of the future Executive
Anniversary Day (28.10.) Gala Ball (27.10) Sightseeing
APPLY UNTIL 25.09. AT
www.elsapalermo.org 20