Annual report of ELSA International 2013/2014

ANNUAL REPORT | 2013/2014

ABOUT ELSA The Association

ELSA Members x 40,000

The European Law Students’ Association, ELSA, is an international, independent, non-political and non-profit organisation comprised of and run by and for law students and young lawyers.

Founded in 1981 by law students from Austria, Hungary, Poland and West Germany, ELSA is today the world’s largest independent law students’ association.

ELSA Local Groups x 250

ELSA National Groups x 41

ELSA International

Partners

VISION

"A JUST WORLD IN WHICH THERE IS RESPECT FOR HUMAN DIGNITY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY"

CMS_LawTax_CMYK_over100.eps

ELSA’s Members ELSA’s members are internationally minded individuals who have interest in foreign legal systems and practices. Through our activities such as seminars, conferences, law schools, moot court competitions, legal writing, legal research and the Student Trainee Exchange Programme, our members acquire a broader cultural understanding and legal expertise.

ELSA is present in 41 countries Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom.

ELSA International 239 Blvd. Général Jacques B -1050 Brussels Belgium 2

Contact: elsa@elsa.org Website: www.elsa.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/elsa.org Twitter: twitter.com/elsainfo ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Contents International Board of ELSA 2013/2014

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A message from the President 5 Council of Europe and ELSA 6 Working together for a more democratic Europe

International Moot Court Competitions in ELSA page 20

CMS - Corporate partner of ELSA

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DLA Piper

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Communicating with our ELSA Network

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The great value of transparency and involvement

Funding for the development

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Grants in ELSA

INTA: Offering European Law Students a Flavour of Global Trademark Law

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List of ELSA Delegations

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A step towards our vision

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Good things take time 16 30 Years of a Successful Legal Traineeship Programme ELSA Day connected us for the second time page 25

Towards a global competition

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WTO‘s Support of the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO law

International Moot Court Competitions in ELSA 20

Content & Engagement Marketing - Proven to work 22 „All different, all together!“

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ELSA Day connected us for the second time

Legal Education Opportunities in ELSA page 27

Legal Education Opportunities in ELSA

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ELSA Summer Law Schools

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19 different Summer Law Schools all over Europe

When students are (already) real professionals

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State of the Network Report

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Final Accounts 13/14 33 ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

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International Board of ELSA 2013/2014

International Board of ELSA 2013/2014

Anneloes Dijkstra President Coming from The Netherlands ELSA in one word Future

Tino Boche Vice President for Academic Activities Coming from Germany ELSA in one word Opportunities

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Emil Nyquist Secretary General Coming from Sweden ELSA in one word Development

Oda Linneberg Uggen Vice President for Moot Court Competitions Coming from Norway ELSA in one word Engagement

Rebecca Yourstone Treasurer Coming from Sweden ELSA in one word Internationality

Petra Podgoršek Vice President for Marketing Coming from sLOVEnia ELSA in one word ADvance

Ana Roce Vice President for Seminars and Conferences Coming from Croatia ELSA in one word Creativity

Clemens Hartig Vice President for Student Trainee Exchange Programme Coming from Austria ELSA in one word Awesome

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

A message from the President

A year of communication, transparency and academic professional development “Quality over quantity“

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his year was a year of communication, transparency and academic professional development; a year in which quality stood before quantity. The foundations of our association are an essential part of the general development, so that is what we focused on.

With a full-time team of eight ambitious students from seven different countries, we had the challenge this year of managing a Network of 40 000 law students around Europe. Alongside a great team of 40 international directors and assistants and 6 000 active members, it was a very interesting year for ELSA, especially with regard to long-term vision and strategy.

Our international projects were thoroughly evaluated and were brought into a new light to become more professional and more accessible for all students.

Besides launching a new Strategic Plan for the upcoming five years, we also launched a new three-year International Focus Programme in the topic of Media Law, the 2nd edition of the Human Rights Moot Court Competition, the 12th edition of the ELSA Moot Court Competition and last but not least, the ELSA Law Review was brought back to life. Furthermore, within many other projects that ELSA provides to her students for the development of their legal education, many steps were taken to create innovative solutions to support the programs in quality and stability; the new online platform for the Student Trainee Exchange Programme being a great example of this.

A big focus this year was also put on financially stabilising the association. Not only was it one of the best

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

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Many steps were taken to create innovative solutions to support the programs in quality and stability... financial years of ELSA, it was also a year in which we expanded and improved our relations – internally and externally. A close connection to all national ELSA representatives was a priority as well as an honest and open relationship with our partners.

The challenge that we were facing from the beginning, turned into an incredible experience. I saw a great development, not just in the association itself, but mostly in many extraordinary students around me. ELSA brings much more than a contribution to legal education, cultural exchange and social responsibility. ELSA gives students the opportunity to develop themselves in an open, international and ambitious environment; the perfect environment for students to find out what they can do with their very promising future!

Anneloes Dijkstra President ELSA International 5

Council of Europe, Human Rights Partner

Council of Europe and ELSA Working together for a more democratic Europe

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he relationship between the Council of Europe and ELSA, initiated in 2007, has become broader and more comprehensive over the intervening years.

A shared focus, protection of legal and human rights standards, a similar geographical span and cultural diversity make both institutions natural partners.

The Council of Europe needs partners to better reach specialist publics and to disseminate its goals of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. ELSA helps to bring them to the attention of an important target group, namely 40,000 law students in 41 countries helping to raise awareness of the Council of Europe.

Cooperation with ELSA is based on a ‚Human Rights Partnership Agreement‘ which is updated annually by the Directorate of Communications to reflect the current priorities of both institutions.

The yearly planning of activities, the distribution of tasks, regular exchanges of information and monitoring of projects contribute to a successful cooperation.

The 2013 and 2014 major project was the second edition of the European Moot Court Competition on the European Convention of Human Rights. 105 teams from 73 universities in 33 countries applied for the competition.

Sixteen teams from ten countries who were accepted 6

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A shared focus, protection of legal and human rights standards, a similar geographical span and cultural diversity make both institutions natural partners. for the final round pleaded a fictitious case concerning freedom of expression in relation to defamation and hate speech. The winning team, students from City University London, was awarded a traineeship at the Court and the best orator was offered a traineeship at the Brussels Office. Moreover, diplomas were provided for the runners-up and the best written submission.

This large-scaled project, involving the European Court of Human Rights and the Directorate of Communications, was financially supported by the Permanent Representations of Austria and Ireland.

Initiated in 2013, ‚ELSA Day‘ is another initiative intended to raise awareness of the Council of Europe‘s main priorities in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law among ELSA‘s 40,000 members.

The 2014 edition has been dedicated to a highly toANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

pical issue - the protection of human rights on Internet. As many as 173 events, involving 10,743 law students, have been organised by ELSA‘s groups in 29 countries. The Council of Europe‘s documentation and visibility items were dispatched to the 17 most significant events in 12 countries.

Moreover, in November 2013, ELSA attended the second Word Forum for Democracy. Representatives from 15 associations took part in various workshops and sessions dedicated to legal and human rights issues such as digital human rights defenders, online petitions and film making.

The WFD was a great professional and personal experience for ELSA, which considered the event as ‚a jump into the real world of law‘.

All these projects and events have involved close cooperation with different parts of the Council of Europe: the European Court of Human Rights, the Department of the European Social Charter, the Media and Information Society Division, the Brussels Office and the Youth Sector.

The latter helped ELSA to carry out a legal research group ‚Online Hate Speech: right or crime?‘ connected to the Council of Europe‘s ‚No Hate Speech Movement‘. The conference closing the project, involving twenty national groups of ELSA, was organised by ELSA Norway in Oslo at the beginning of December 2013. It focused on a large number of issues linked to online hate speech, and hosted high-profile speakers on the topic.

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ELSA has proved to be an important multiplier for the Council of Europe‘s standards, conventions, campaigns and bodies. For its part, ELSA benefits from the Council‘s legal and human rights knowledge, expertise and institutional support.

All of these projects and initiatives show the mutual interest of both institutions in strengthening their relationship. ELSA has proved to be an important multiplier for the Council of Europe‘s standards, conventions, campaigns and bodies. For its part, ELSA benefits from the Council‘s legal and human rights knowledge, expertise and institutional support.

The Directorate of Communications would like to thank the professional and dedicated team of ELSA International 2013/2014 for their cooperation and commitment.

ELSA also receives communication support from the Council of Europe. ELSA‘s projects are promoted on our website, social media and through press releases. For its part, ELSA promotes our news programme, the ‚Journal‘, as well as legal publications.

Furthermore, the Council of Europe regularly contributes articles to ELSA‘s Synergy magazine. The latest issue featured an article on journalistic ethics and another debated the contribution of movies to a more democratic society. The magazine is distributed to our partner institutions and at a number of high-profile conferences.

Barbara Orkwiszewska Directorate of Communications Council of Europe

We are looking forward to a new project, designed to underline the importance of the European Social Charter in times of social and political crisis, to be launched in October 2014.

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CMS - Corporate Partner of ELSA

Your World First Delivering global results through personal commitment

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s one of the world’s top ten law firms, CMS operates as a truly international community.

We work from 58 offices in 32 countries offering clients of all kinds specialist expertise and local knowledge backed by experience in a wide variety of markets and jurisdictions. To meet client needs our professionals train and work in cross-border teams, sharing knowledge in key legal practice areas and industry sectors. And because CMS only exists to help its clients succeed, we have a shared philosophy that reflects our focus on delivering value through total client understanding and commitment. We call this approach ‘Your World First’.

The concept behind ‘Your World First’ is simple, powerful and motivational. Putting client success and the client’s perspective first in everything we do, providing solutions and making connections that add value to the client’s business, challenges every individual CMS team member to deliver. And that calls for a special kind of dedicated individual, the type of professional who is driven to be the best in their field, passionately curious about client goals and the forces shaping their business environment, and determined to make a difference.

We believe our approach is clearly in tune with ELSA’s role as an organisation that helps bright young lawyers acquire uniquely valuable perspectives as they develop as professionals and as individuals. Like ELSA, we see increasing benefits every day based on applied knowledge, international cooperation and cultural awareness.

This year we were again proud to host the third annual ELSA Partners’ Reception, held at the offices of CMS Belgium in Brussels in January 2014. With contributions from the World Trade Organisation, STEP partners from Pakistan and the Council for Europe, the event again underlined ELSA’s commitment to extending its commitment to international excellence in legal studies.

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We are proud to be ELSA’s main corporate sponsor and contribute to its mission to provide exceptional opportunities for law students in Europe and around the world.

At CMS we continue to extend our international reach in line with client needs. Over the past year we have opened a new office in Turkey, building on decades of successful work in this key country at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. In Europe we have extended the CMS presence in Switzerland and Scotland, welcoming new like-minded colleagues from ZPG Avocats in Geneva and Dundas & Wilson, one of Scotland’s longest-established law firms.

Even as we demonstrate the capacity to help clients with major transactions - such as Telefónica Deutschland’s acquisition of major telecoms provider E-Plus, or eBay’s development of its ticket reselling platforms – we at CMS are committed to learning and acquiring the fresh insights that make ‘Your World First’ a powerful statement of intent. We are proud to be ELSA’s main corporate sponsor and contribute to its mission to provide exceptional opportunities for law students in Europe and around the world.

Isabel Scholes Director of Marketing and Communications CMS Legal

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

DLA Piper

NEW partnership DLA Piper and ELSA International Promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion in the legal profession by collaborating on Break Into Law Programmes (BIL).

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he lack of diversity in the legal profession is an issue which persists throughout the world and, as a leading global business law firm, DLA Piper understands that it has an important responsibility and moral obligation to change this. BIL is DLA Piper’s first global signature community engagement initiative focused on removing barriers to careers within the legal sector.

Through the collaboration, DLA Piper and ELSA International will offer ELSA members access to BIL and DLA Piper lawyers’ expertise and experience on a variety of different topics. It will also provide opportunities for DLA Piper lawyers to communicate with the new generation of future lawyers, have an impact on the society, initiate change and make a difference in the communities we live in.

The BIL Programmes include mentoring schemes such as ELSA Moot Court Competition mentoring and specialised legal research mentoring. ELSA members will also have the opportunity to shadow a Corporate Responsibility professional working in a law firm and get unparalleled experience of coordinating pro bono and community engagement activities at an international law firm while gaining a broad understanding of what ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

it is like to work with the DLA Corporate Responsibility Team and build professional networks. BIL will also have career insight and employability skills programmes focusing on presentations skills, CV writing, interview techniques and networking skills. Legal education BIL Programmes will support ELSA’s summer schools and provide opportunities for ELSA members to attend seminars on topics such as legal ethics, pro bono and social change and other topics such as white collar crime, international arbitration and project finance.

The BIL Programmes of ELSA International and DLA Piper hope to broaden the horizons of ELSA members about the social issues in the legal profession. It will hope to inspire the next generation of future lawyers to be the change agents in the profession and bring business and society together to create shared values.

Rasha Kashkoush Community Engagement Manager Europe and Middle East and

Özgür Kahale Pro Bono Manager Europe 9

Transparency

Communicating with our ELSA Network The great value of transparency and involvement

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ifty percent of all the work you are doing should consist out of promoting the work you are doing”. I don’t remember where I heard this, but I greatly appreciate the person who once told me this. It was my main inspiration when conducting my work this year. Before I started my term, I knew it was going to be incredibly important to stay close to our Network. We, as the International Board, represent 40.000 law students across Europe, and in order to represent them properly, we have to involve them in everything we are doing. That is why we created our first International Board Blog – in the simple form of a Facebook group. We started writing updates in this blog from the very first moment we started Transition in the ELSA House (on the 1st of July 2013). During the entire month, we posted a picture or an update in the blog every day so that everyone could see what we were working on or where we were travelling.

From the 1st of August – the day that we officially went into office – we had gained more than a thousand followers. We kept updating all of our followers, but in a bit slower pace. During the entire year, whenever something special happened or whenever someone was travelling, we posted something in our Facebook group to let our Network know what we were up to.

Transparency and honesty became our key priorities in our communication with the ELSA Network.

In all the international meetings that took place, we were completely open and honest about our work and we involved everyone as much as we could in the developments that were happening. Even though the ‘gap’ between the International Board and all the Local Boards is still quite large, I believe we managed to bring our levels closer together this year.

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... we created our first International Board Blog - in the simple form of a Facebook group. We started writing updates in this blog from the very first moment we started Transition in the ELSA House (on the 1st of July 2013).

One of the most inspiring things that came out of it for us as a board, are some great personal and professional relationships with active ELSA members from all over Europe. They became very involved on the international level and a lot of them have now been elected for the new ELSA boards of the upcoming year!

Anneloes Dijkstra President ELSA International

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Funding for the development

Grants in ELSA The importance of institutional funding for the development of legal education opportunities

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LSA works to ”contribute to legal education, to foster mutual understanding and to promote social responsibility of law students and young lawyers”. We do so by organizing events in which our members can come together to raise the awareness of important topics and to exchange knowledge and ideas with like-minded people from all over Europe. Being a non-profit student organization, it can sometimes be financially difficult for ELSA and our members to organize such events, especially if they have an international dimension.

Two terms in a row, we have been lucky to receive financial support from the European Youth Foundation, a fund created by the Council of Europe to financially support European youth activities, to organize two international conferences for our members.

During the term 2012/2013 ELSA International received a grant of 15,000 euro from the European Youth Foundation to organize an awareness raising conference about Online Hate Speech in December 2013. There had already been cooperation with the Council of Europe on the topic, as ELSA took an active part in their No Hate Speech Movement by doing legal research on the topic in 18 member countries. During the Hate Speech Conference, which took place in Oslo, Norway, participants from 21 countries gathered to help raise awareness of the difficulties regarding Online Hate Speech as a crime and the severe effects it can have.

Thanks to this grant, ELSA managed to organize an event on an important topic in a city where it would otherwise have been difficult to financially execute a similar event.

Furthermore, due to the great success of the Oslo Conference, ELSA International received a new grant of 17,000 euro this term from the European Youth Foundation to organize a follow-up conference on ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

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With financial support from foundations such as the European Youth Foundation, ELSA can raise the awareness of important topics

the topic of Freedom of Expression. Several of our member groups showed interest in organizing the event since they knew that there would be financial support for the organization of the conference. The decision was tough, but finally Zagreb, Croatia was chosen as the place to host the event this November.

With financial support from foundations such as the European Youth Foundation, ELSA can raise the awareness of important topics while gathering law students and young lawyers from all over Europe. Without this support it would be a lot more difficult, if even possible at all, to organize these kind of events.

Rebecca Yourstone Treasurer ELSA International

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International Trademark Association

Offering European Law Students a Flavour of Global Trademark Law

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he International Trademark Association (INTA) is a global association of trademark owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and related intellectual property in order to protect consumers and to promote fair and effective commerce.

Our Association has a long history of encouraging law students to pursue trademark/IP law and ELSA has provided invaluable support on this front.

In return, ELSA members have benefitted from exposure to a network of over 30.000 trademark professionals worldwide.

Since 2008, INTA members have volunteered to speak at ELSA conferences across Europe; INTA’s Europe Office in Brussels has welcomed various ELSA delegations for lectures on trademark law and career advice; and we have welcomed ELSA delegates at our own conferences. As a corollary to our winwin cooperation, we were invited to speak about our cooperation at ELSA’s International Council Meeting in April 2013 in Cologne, Germany.

More recently, in December 2013, we welcomed an ELSA delegate to our conference on “Hot Trademark Topics in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia Region (MEASA)” held in Dubai, UAE. The conference brought together over 250 participants including trademark lawyers from companies and law firms, government officials and others. They discussed trademark protection in sporting events, licensing, valuation, trademarks on the Internet and other topics, and learned how Dubai customs works with local schools to educate students about the dangers of 12

counterfeiting. The conference provided the ELSA delegate with a unique opportunity to network and to participate in an advanced-level legal education event.

INTA provides its student members with a number of opportunities to interact with the Association and develop their careers while still in law school. We particularly encourage students to compete in our annual Ladas Memorial Award Competition (open to all; visit www.inta.org/ladas) and in our Annual Meeting Scholarship Program where students can win a free meeting registration and travel allowance.

For more information about INTA and our student membership and activities visit www.inta.org/students, join us on Facebook (facebook.com/GoINTA) and Twitter (@INTA), or email us at brussels@inta.org. We wish ELSA continued success and we look forward to building on this cooperation in the years ahead.

Milesh S. Gordhandas Coordinator – Europe Representative Office International Trademark Association (INTA)

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

List of ELSA Delegations During the term 2013/2014, ELSA was present at the following sessions:

United Nations Educational,

8th session of the Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC)

Paris

Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) United Nations Economic and

Commission for Social Development, 52nd Session New York

Social Council (ECOSOC)

Commission on the Status of Women, 58th Session New York

Commission on Population and Development, 47th Session Geneva Committee on the Rights of the Child, 64st Session Geneva Committee on the Rights of the Child, 66th Session Geneva United Nations

Human Rights Council, 24th Session Geneva

Human Rights Bodies

Forum on Business and Human Rights Geneva

Human Rights Council, 25th Session Geneva The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 56th Session

Geneva

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 58th Session

Geneva

Human Rights Council, 26th Session

Geneva

United Nations

Working Group IV: Electronic Commerce, 48th session Vienna

Commission on

Working Group II: Arbitration and Conciliation, 59th session Vienna

International Trade Law

Working Group VI: Security Interests, 24th session Vienna

Working Group III: Online Dispute Resolution, 28th session

Vienna

Working Group V: Insolvency Law, 44st Session

Vienna

Working Group III: Online Dispute Resolution, 29th Session

New York

Working Group IV: Electronic Commerce, 49th Session

New York

Working Group V: Insolvency Law, 45th Session New York

Working Group VI: Security Interests, 25th Session New York 47th Commission Session New York Council of Europe

World Forum for Democracy Strasbourg

World Intellectual Property

Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), 20th Session Geneva

Organization (WIPO)

Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), 12nd Session

Geneva

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Working Group, 7th Session Geneva LTEC

LawTech Europe Congress 2013 Prague

International Trademark

INTA Conference Dubai Dubai

Association (INTA) ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

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ELSA Vision

A step towards our Vision Providing a platform for opportunity and cultural exchange by diversifying legal education

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he thing that inspired me the most this year in ELSA was the ambition of students around me. Starting Law School in Amsterdam, I was missing ambitious students around me who really wanted to do something special with their future. It is so incredibly important for me to be surrounded by people who challenge me. From the moment I joined ELSA, I knew I had found them. I became an active member very quickly and within three years, I decided to candidate for the position of President of this phenomenal Network.

I was elected in Cologne in April 2013 to manage a Network of 40.000 law students (6.000 active ELSA ‘officers’) together with my seven board members. As President, I became responsible for leading this board, as well as managing the external relations of ELSA and the expansion of our association to new cities and countries.

Board management, as a student, is in my opinion the most difficult task of the President. Luckily, I had the huge privilege of this year working with seven other very professional board members, who were all more than capable of both executing their own tasks and contributing to the general output of our board. From the beginning of the year, we put a big focus on creating strong personal relations between all of us in the board, in order to be able to get along professionally as well as personally.

Within a student environment, it is often underesti14

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We want our students to develop themselves as much as they can, and want, in legal knowledge, legal skills and legal experience. mated how important these personal relations are.

Being with such a capable board gave me a lot of time and freedom to work on expanding our external portfolio. In the first two months of our term, we managed to gain three new partners for ELSA International, which gave us a great head start in finances and motivation. In the following months, we gained three more partners who were all very happy to support ELSA and to start a sustainable cooperation. Furthermore, besides these general partners, we also gained a lot of new partners who are specifically supporting some of our projects. I could not have wished for anything else. The feeling of support from external stakeholders, for the work we are doing to contribute to legal education, is extremely important. We want our students to develop themselves as much as they can, and want, in legal knowledge, legal skills and legal experience. Without ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

VISION

"A JUST WORLD IN WHICH THERE IS RESPECT FOR HUMAN DIGNITY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY"

proper financial stability and academic support, we would not be able to do that. I sincerely hope that all the partners that we have now will stay with us and support upcoming boards in their work.

As for expansion, we had a quite dynamic development this year. During the International Council Meeting in Malta, we welcomed ELSA Belarus into our Network. It was truly inspiring to see how the group has been developing there and how they were almost unanimously voted into the Network. Unfortunately, due to structural difficulties, we had to let ELSA Russia and ELSA Kazakhstan leave our Network. Hopefully, we will be able to welcome them back in the upcoming years.

At this moment, we still have groups of students in Moldova and Armenia who would really like to join our Network, so I am excited to see if they will become a part of ELSA this upcoming year!

Besides the basic duties of the President, I also had the task to think about the strategic development of our association. It was a great year to do so, since we accepted a new five-year strategic plan last year.

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The feeling of support from external stakeholders, for the work we are doing to contribute to legal education, is extremely important.

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

This year was the first year of implementation of this plan and a great year for brainstorming. During both our semi-annual International Presidents’ Meetings, held in Tbilisi and San Sebastian, we had a lot of time to discuss the processes of implementation and monitoring. In the end, we wrote a manual on how to implement these so called Strategic Goals ’18 and a handbook on strategic planning in general. I had two very motivated working groups, one for each document, who managed to contribute greatly to strategic knowledge management!

All in all, I feel ELSA has moved another step closer towards our vision: A just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity. Further in this Annual Report, you will be able to read about some innovative steps that were taken within our international projects that really contributed to this goal! By diversifying legal education and creating a platform for opportunity and cultural exchange, ELSA inspires its students to be more internationally minded. In this way, our students can personally develop themselves while creating their own vision for the future!

Anneloes Dijkstra President ELSA International

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Student Trainee Exchange Programme

Good things take time 30 Years of a Successful Legal Traineeship Programme

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he Student Trainee Exchange Programme, a programme that took a big part in ELSA’s history.

During the 90’s STEP reached its peak and this period is often referred to as the Golden Ages. Back in that time ELSA had around 500 STEP Traineeships!

I still remember the sub-headline in the last Annual Report of ELSA International “Connecting employers and trainees for almost 30 years”.

In the year 2001-2011, ELSA Officers were working on a new online system (ELSA Online) to handle this massive interest in ELSA’s Traineeships.

This year we are proud to say that STEP has been connecting employers and Trainees for 30 great years!

Sadly ELSA Online crashed and left a huge damage.

After this STEP was at its low point with nearly no traineeships and no applicants.

It is for sure not self-evident for a programme of an organization to survive 30 years and that is also what makes this programme so special.

But ELSA didn’t give up and built up the programme again.

STEP has had its up and downs, great moments and hard times, but today ELSA is a happy link between 192 Traineeships and 2191 applicants.

In the last 5 years, we have more than doubled the amount of Traineeships and received 7 times more applications than before.

Let us take a look in the past.

This doesn’t only show that the programme works, it also shows that students’ and employers’ trust in us is continuously increasing.This is partly because of some procedural changes and new implementations, but mostly thanks to the dedicated work of all the STEP Officers and all the others that have supported this programme in our Network.

In the year 1983, two years after ELSA was founded, seminars and Traineeships were discussed for the first time.

In the year 1984, ELSA Traineeships were implemented and it was the start of this 30 years long programme!

In the year 1985, the term “STEP” for “Short-Term Exchange Programme” was created!

Important to keep in mind is that this was before the fall of the Iron Curtain! We have to recognize that an association of young students set up an international programme that was connecting law from east and west, over a border that seemed to be unpassable and without technology like the Internet, e-mails, STEP Portals or Online Forms.

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Today we can count top firms in Europe like CMS, Deloitte, PwC, DLA Piper, Bird&Bird, and many more, as our STEP employers and enjoy their trust in our programme.

STEP is nowadays not only present at universities all over Europe and in traineeships in India, USA and the Middle East, but also on social media!

To reach as many students as possible and show them the great opportunities that are waiting for them, we

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

also make use of social media channels. Through Facebook we brought the STEP promotion to the next level. It started last year with the famous STEP Countdown that creates awareness among our members and a lot of students in general. With the final post of the countdown that announced the launch of the new traineeships on our STEP Portal we reached 81 856 viewers.

Speaking of the STEP Portal, we mean one of the new implementations this year.

Previous years, our traineeships were in a STEP Newsletter - a catalogue in pdf-form. With the growing number of traineeships this Newsletter was no longer user-friendly. This is why we created an online platform that shows all the traineeships, makes them look more attractive and gives us the opportunity to adopt many other features in the future.

The second big innovation this year was the Student Online Forms.

They will replace our old pdf-form applications and will hopefully make it easier for the applicants, as well as for the ELSA officers in the long-run. Currently, we are also working on the Employers Online Form, which will replace the pdf-form used to issue a traineeship. But of course these two steps are just part of a longer way.

STEP is an exciting and challenging experience to work with but an even better experience to participate in!

If you want to contribute to the legal future of Europe; if you want to be part of an educated, praxis orientated and skilled legal education; and if you can imagine how it was when you were a student or how it will be when you are an employer – then this is an option you seriously should consider!

Give traineeships or take part in them, no matter what you choose, it will be a unique experience!

Clemens Hartig Vice President for Student Trainee Exchange Programme ELSA International

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

STEP in numbers 2013/2014

192 TRAINEESHIPS

2 191 APPLICATIONS

EVERY

~ 11

APPLICANT SELECTED

27 COUNTRIES

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The World Trade Organization‘s support of the EMCC

Towards a global competition WTO‘s Support of the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO law

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y colleague Carlo Gamberale and I had the privilege of representing the WTO and serving as panellists for the inaugural African Regional Round of the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law. This Regional Round was hosted by the Mandela Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, which collaborated with the ELSA International team to ensure a well-coordinated, efficiently-run, and very successful first African Round. This Round included seven university teams from six different countries drawn from Northern, Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa. To say that the interest of the African universities and the diversity of representation at the inaugural African Regional Round surpassed expectations would be something of an understatement.

WTO trade-related technical assistance (TRTA) has manifested in several ways. In addition to the direct training of government officials of developing countries, the WTO also supports the global development of international trade law and WTOrelated studies. The WTO’s efforts under this latter category have thus far been managed under WTO‘s Academic Support Programme. The WTO has also supported several regional moot court competitions on WTO Law. Moreover, since its inception in 2003, the WTO has supported the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law, and we have, with great joy, watched it expand from a European-only contest, to an all-inclusive competition. With the launch of the African Regional Round this year, it has moved even closer to a truly global competition.

As we celebrate yet another successful year of the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law, I am humbled to have the opportunity to share a few reflections regarding WTO‘s role in trade-related technical assistance (TRTA) and more specifically its support and contribution for the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law, and the African Regional Round of this competition.

I share the view of many of my colleagues at the WTO that there are several benefits to be gained from Africa‘s participation in this competition. I will however highlight only two.

One of the key objectives of the WTO is the „need for positive efforts designed to ensure that developing countries, and especially the least-developed among them, secure a share in the growth in international trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development“. Since the WTO‘s birth in 1995, its Members and the WTO Secretariat have made all efforts to situate the trade-related capacity building of developing countries, especially the least-developed countries, as one of the central pillars of the work of the WTO. 18

One immediate benefit, observed over the years, is that the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law has been instrumental in fostering awareness and in-depth study of the WTO and its dispute settlement system in universities in many parts of the world, by generating interest in the WTO, and providing invaluable learning as well as networking experiences for the participants and universities involved. I found this to be particularly true for countries in Africa, which like other developing countries, have few universities offering specialized courses on WTO law.

A second longer-term benefit is capacity building in the area of dispute settlement, where Africa has largely been inactive. As has been observed over time, ELSA Moot Court Competition participants go on to ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

The Final Oral Round of the 12th edition of the ELSA Moot Court Competiton on WTO law in Geneva.

careers in international trade law or economics as academics, private practitioners, or government officials.

Indeed, the WTO, and several of its Members have recruited interns and talented young trade professionals who became interested in the WTO through their participation in the ELSA Moot Court Competition.

The WTO has a long-standing tradition of supporting WTO moot court competitions by providing experts to serve as panellists, and by hosting competitions at the WTO premises in Geneva. For the launch of the African Regional Round, the WTO also made financial contributions to assist with the costs of hosting the event, as well as to assist with the costs incurred by the teams participating in the competition. Nevertheless, I should emphasize that the WTO‘s financial support for the African Regional Round is aimed at encouraging a „self-sustaining“ regional round in subsequent years similar to other regional rounds held in Europe, Asia and the Americas. In this regard, there are lessons to be learned from these other regional rounds on how they are able to support continued participation in this competition, despite facing economic difficulties.

I would also be remiss not to acknowledge the contribution of all of the sponsors, who have championed, alongside the WTO, the launch of the African ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Regional Round, and indeed the continued success of this global competition. With the sponsors’ continued involvement, not only will the African Regional Round meet its true potential, but it will also have positive effects on the quality of the global competition.

Finally, I wish to congratulate all the teams that took up the challenge of participating in a largely unknown competition in Africa, premised on a fairly complex area of law. These teams illustrated that, given the right opportunities, nothing is beyond reach. It is my hope that these participants continue in their newfound passion for WTO law and serve as a beacon to all who will follow.

Chibole Wakoli* Dispute Settlement Lawyer, Appellate Body Secretariat, World Trade Organization

* The views expressed in this article are personal and not attributable to the WTO.

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Moot Court Competitions

International Moot Court Competitions in ELSA

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oot Court Competitions, simulated trials, are one of ELSA’s key projects in relation to contributing to legal education of law students and young lawyers.

It has been another eventful year for ELSA regarding moot court competitions. After a busy autumn and winter with yet again more than 100 registrations for the European Human Rights Moot Court Competition and a remarkable similar amount of registration for the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO law, we were starting to look forward to a series of oral pleading finales and semi-finales that would take place not only within prestigious legal institutions in Europe, but also all over the world.

The European Human Rights Moot Court Competition, a relatively new project organized by ELSA in cooperation with the Council of Europe, had its first edition in the term 2012/2013.

As the first moot court competition on the European Convention on Human Rights in English, the initiative was very well received, and the success continued this year with the second edition.

In the end of February 2014, the International Board of ELSA was on their way to Strasbourg to take part in the Final Round of the competition together with representatives from the Council of Europe and the permanent representations, distinguished lawyers and judges from the ECHR, as well as 16 teams from 10 different countries around Europe.

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Moot Court Competitions, simulated trials, are one of ELSA’s key projects in relation to contributing to legal education of law students and young lawyers.

With the help from the Permanent Representation of Ireland, who hosted a wonderful Opening Ceremony, the Austrian Permanent Representation who kindly sponsored the Award Dinner, a lot of academic support from the European Human Rights Association, and massive financial and technical support from the Council of Europe, the Final Round in Strasbourg was a great success.

The 16 teams from Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Romania, Serbia, Sweden and UK who participated in the Final were all winners, considering the several hundreds of students who participated in the written round. After the Final Oral Round, they could all travel back home with the unique experience of having plead a case in the prestigious courtrooms of the ECHR in front of human rights experts. The best Orator from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, received a traineeship at the Council of Europe Brussels office, and the lucky winners of the competition will each have a traineeANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

The Final Oral Round of the 2nd edition of the European Human Rights Moot Court Competition in Strasbourg.

ship at the European Court of Human Rights itself.

With the 2nd edition of the European Human Rights Moot Court Competition concluded, the eventful semester of international moot court competitions in ELSA had only just started. Directly following the Final in Strasbourg, ELSA went on its world tour of semi-finals for the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO law, a simulated hearing of the WTO dispute settlement system.

During March and April 2014, more than 80 teams took part in one of the Regional Rounds located in Kuala Lumpur, Washington, Prague, Warsaw and Johannesburg. There was also an International Written Round for Middle Eastern teams. The new aspect for this edition, which makes the competition more global than ever, was the very first African Regional Round, which could finally take place thanks to the substantial financial support from the World Trade Organization.

After having worked with the case since autumn and after participating in the Oral Regional Rounds where renowned World Trade Law experts participated in the panels, the teams who advance to the Final Oral Round already demonstrate a high level of legal knowledge and pleading skills. In May 2014, 20 teams from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Lesotho, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands and USA competed to be world champions. In the Grand Final of the competition, which took place in the WTO headquarters, The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens won against Harvard Law School.

sponsors: Altius, IELPO and World Trade Institute for the long term cooperation, making this competition happening for many years now. Furthermore, we would like to thank our new sponsors: King & Spalding, Van Bael & Bellis, Sidley Austin, The Graduate Institute Geneva, Society of International Economic Law and Akin Gump for helping establishing the first ever African Regional Round and for contributing to a very successful Final Oral Round in Geneva.

Moot court competitions will continue to be one of the key projects of ELSA, with the ability they have to build capacity among law students from different countries worldwide on different important subjects of law. With these competitions, ELSA is making an actual impact by teaching students about other cultures and legal systems, assisting them in being internationally minded and professionally skilled, enabling them to act for the good of society in the future. We are now looking forward to our 3rd and 13th edition!

Oda Linneberg Uggen Vice President for Moot Court Competitions ELSA International

ELSA International would like to thank the long term ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

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Marketing

Content & Engagement Marketing – Proven to work…

Almost 10.000 NEW followers on the official ELSA Facebook page, a NEW Marketing Handbook, a Synergy (re)structuring and the ELSA Shop ‘opened’

Just yesterday I sent the new marketing handbook to be proofread. In a good week or two it shall be published and Marketers of ELSA will have a new useful tool to use. Now, I am sitting at the airport in Istanbul waiting for a connected flight to Georgia, to see my Coaching Country in action (for their National Council Meeting), to deliver workshops about marketing to approximately 120 young law students and to experience the adventure of a country I have never visited before. Since the journey is quite long, I have time to make business cards for the newly elected board that will soon come to Brussels for Transition, to read the applications for the Regional Rounds organisers of the next-already 13th-edition of ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO, to send the reminders for the Early Bird discount offer weeks to the potential advertisers for the 56th edition of our international members’ magazine Synergy and to exchange a few emails with our Partners regarding promotion… In the meantime, I also have some time to reflect on my ELSA year and all the adventures that happened.

(Written on June 4th 2014)

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arketing is a very diverse and dynamic area – timing, good structure and a valuable content are the necessary ingredients for a good output. On the other hand, proper insight, knowledge and motivation are the basics your team needs, to be able to go in the same direction, to strive towards the same goals! This is related to all internal and external communication, to our members as well as Partners, sponsors and other stakeholders!

To implement and deliver all this in practice is a challenge. Why? ELSA is the biggest law students’ association in the world which consists of 40.000 members, present in 41 countries and at almost 300 faculties around Europe – meaning a huge number of members with many different cultures, legal systems etc. Following ELSAs’ vision ‘A just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cul22

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Involving our stakeholders and inviting them to participate in our activities is crucial for the development of ELSA. We want to perfect the ELSA brand together with our members and partners! tural diversity’, we try to improve our activities to come (A)symptotically close to it. And how exactly did we do it in our ELSA year? We believed in ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

transparency, team work and quality over quantity.

Content marketing – the present and future of marketing Knowing your own product is a precondition to sell it. And to sell it, you need the content. That is where we started…

We (re)structured the Synergy magazine, which now has different sections (Partners’ & Externals’ Perspective, International FOCUS, ELSA Interview, Cultural & Legal Diversity etc.). Our readers now know what to expect in every edition. With its’ 10.000 copies and upgraded structure, Synergy has developed over the years into an important publication with many legal experts writing for it.

The new Marketing Handbook is another example of this, and it truly connects both - content and engagement marketing. Without ‘compass’ a lot of people who love to travel get lost, and the same is with marketing – many people would like to do it, but don’t know how to do it properly. Therefore, we created the marketing compass, the handbook (with the group of marketers) that will help our officers during their term in office. It is a necessary tool to get to know ELSA projects, show the way to promote them and enable members to shape our association.

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Engagement marketing “Together, we can make it better!”

Involving our stakeholders and inviting them to participate in our activities is crucial for the development of ELSA. We want to perfect the ELSA brand together with our members and partners!

If one of the target groups is not aware of the general strategy, marketing simply can’t work. There are two very explicit examples from our year and how we approached this to avoid this happening. With the partners of ELSA International, we made a very strict schedule of promotion. In the beginning, they were asking us why they needed to send their (art) work 3-5 days before it was to be published, but when we explained that a proper timeline for visibility, promotional balance and technical checking is necessary, it was well perceived and it also gave them the right insight on our way of working professionally.

Another example is the informational flow within our huge ELSA Network. It needed to be adjusted - adjusted to the public and the way our communication channels were used, to be able to reach them. That is why we created a Facebook group for our members, to give them an insight in ELSA projects, in 23

Team work Impressions

Publications Information

CAMPAIGN

Opportunities

Storytelling

Synergy

Copy

USP

Competition

Investment

Exchange

Creative

Adrema

Corporate Identity

Advertising

Process

AIDA

Slogan

EMC2

Market

Design

DAGMAR

Brief

Image

“A just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity”

Communication Analysis

L@W

BRANDING

Facebook

Value “All different, all together!”

Media

Targets

S&C

PLAN

Strategy

CUSTOMER

AA Awareness

STEP

Face-to-Face Evaluation

Fonts

Performance

PUBLIC RELATIONs 4P’s Channels PEST

Listening Promotion

Needs

Strength

Stakeholders

SWOT

our plans as a board, important highlights and to be transparent. Our members were immediately updated about new developments. One of the most vivid and measurable results in marketing is almost 10.000 new followers on the official ELSA Facebook Page in one year, from August 2013 until August 2014.

And one last note for the ELSA Marketing Team 2013/2014 - Don’t forget:

Also, the ELSA Shop opened its ‘doors’ on the 14th of January 2014. The ELSA Shop is an online platform that enables the overview and exchange of ELSA products and gives the opportunity to all ELSAnians to contribute to recognisability of our beloved association.

by Regis McKenna

To make ELSA Network more connected, engaged and involved in a team concept atmosphere, we created a general slogan ‘Together, we can make it better!’, to show that we really mean it and believe in this!

It was an unforgettable year and hopefully we left some valuable inputs that will reflect in a good output for the future generations and ELSA in general.

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“Marketing is everything and everything is marketing”

Petra Podgoršek Vice President for Marketing ELSA International ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Human Rights

„All different, all together!“ ELSA Day connected us for the second time

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n the 5th of March, the ELSA Network Body Library’ – an event in which people with difdecided to focus on human rights topics ferent backgrounds came together to openly discuss for an entire day for the second time in their status in society, with regards to Human Rights.

ELSA history. This year, we decided to have a more specific focus and to organize projects on the toIn Brussels, we organized a Panel Discussion on pic of protection of Human Rights on the Inter“Online Hate Speech” in the European Parliament. net. The ELSA Network recognized this We were happy to welcome members issue as a current problem in most of from all over the ELSA Network who th our countries, a problem that we wanted came to participate in our event and to address and to give a contribution to share the ELSA Spirit with us. During of March 2014 in order to find solutions. We did this the panel we presented a comparison by organizing 173 different events in of all national reports made during 29 countries in our Network and giving the Legal Research Group on Online our members an opportunity to learn Hate Speech and we also presented countries involved about it and develop their opinion. The the Guidelines on moderating online portfolio of events was as diverse as our hate speech that were the outcome of Network, so that everyone could find a the Oslo conference on Online Hate type of event suitable for them.

Speech. The event was co-hosted by human rights events two MEPs, Mr Andrej Plenkovic (forTo put an even bigger focus on visibilimer president of ELSA Internatioty of Human Rights and encourage our nal in 1993) and Mr Dimitrios DroutLocal Groups to focus not only on members but also sas (former president of ELSA Austria). on the society and community that they are part of, we organized the ELSA Day Visibility Competition.

For the second time, the ELSA Day connected us In Czech Republic and Croatia our members were as a Network - it showed us how much we can do teaching high school students about Human Rights together and how much we can learn from each and in the United Kingdom they issued an ELSA Day other. It united us in all our diversity and we proudly publication with legal articles. Our winner was ELSA stood behind our vision: A just world in which there Istanbul with their special event called the ‘Human is a respect for human dignity and cultural diversity.

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ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

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More information: elsa.org/page/elsa-day

Join us in raising awareness of human dignity and cultural diversity by spreading the word about the ELSA Day!

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In Czech Republic and Croatia our members were teaching high school students about Human Rights and in the United Kingdom they issued an ELSA Day publication with legal articles. Our winner was ELSA Istanbul with their special event called the ‘Human Body Library’...

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Overwhelmed by this edition, the ELSA Network has already started preparations for the next edition where we will show for the third time that we are all different, all together.

Ana Roce Vice President for Seminars & Conferences ELSA International

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Legal Opportunities

Legal Education Opportunities in ELSA ELSA aims to think outside the box and outside the normal curriculum of European universities

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he year 2013/2014 was particularly successful in increasing the focus and the range of legal education opportunities within the European Law Students Association. It was clear since the beginning of our term that a special priority would be put on the development of possibilities within the international level of ELSA. An interesting aspect of this work was the selection of potential projects. The decision was made to keep the focus on Human Rights, while looking at the curriculums of different European universities and finally combining both aspects to establish new forms of legal education for our members all over Europe.

This is how the idea of the reestablishment of the ELSA Law Review was born after its absence for almost seventeen years. This legal publication from students for students aims at providing a young and dedicated international readership with a source of legal topics and issues that rarely finds its way to the regular legal periodicals and is written by students and young professionals in the scope of their legal courses and practical experiences. Furthermore, the mission of the ELSA Law Review is to create a forum for analysis and discussion dealing with the named topics. The Review serves as a venue for ELSA Members to publish their work outside the scope of their typical legal curriculum.

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

ELSA delegation at the World Forum of Democracy in Strasbourg.

Besides this new opportunity, we were also aiming to support the implementation and knowledge of “Media Law� within our network since it is our International Focus Programme and therefore has a special relevance for our projects. The results of our Market Research also indicate a striking preference of European law students for subjects such as Human Rights and Criminal Law. We started already during the last year to work with these topics by issuing an international Essay Competition in cooperation with one of our most valued partners, the Council of Europe, dedicated 27

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In cooperation with Missing Children Europe, ELSA is involved in another Legal Research Group and European project to identify the manner in which the 28 EU Member States have been transposing the provisions of the Directive 2011/93/EU on the fight against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of Children and Child Pornography. to Online Hate Speech. This topic was afterwards evolving as one of the most interesting legal questions throughout the year since we also had a Legal Research Group following with the same topic again in cooperation with the Council of Europe and special support of the Directorate of Communication and the Information Society department.

The latter provided the Academic Framework of the project which became a collection of 11 questions answered by 16 different European countries from various cultural backgrounds. The results of this initiative will be published by the Council of Europe and were finally concluded in December 2013 during a Final Conference on Online Hate Speech in Oslo. One of the main achievements of the participants after working among other things with case law from the European Court of Human Rights were Guidelines, including practical advise on how to handle with cases of Online Hate Speech as a moderator on the internet.

This was not our only cooperation with the Council of Europe as ELSA International since we also continued our engagement in the campaign “European Youth against Online Hate Speech”. This was and is another opportunity for our members to get involved with extracurricular activities in the fields of social responsibility and Human

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Rights. Another remarkable opportunity for our members, again thanks to the fruitful cooperation with the Council of Europe, was the participation of ELSA as a delegation at the World Forum of Democracy in Strasbourg - a special occasion to discuss concepts for the future and general ideas of democracy in a multinational environment.

This idea of promoting and encouraging the discussion of legal aspects and Human Rights can also be found in our latest project. In cooperation with Missing Children Europe, ELSA is involved in another Legal Research Group and European project to identify the manner in which the 28 EU Member States have been transposing the provisions of the Directive 2011/93/EU on the fight against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of Children and Child Pornography. These results will be discussed in a final workshop with all involved partners and will also help to give students a platform to present their results and legal opinions in matters of interest and importance.

With special satisfaction, as the contact person for the Council of Europe for the term 2013-2014, I can conclude that ELSA can make a difference.

Aiming at our strengths and bringing our partners like the Council of Europe in contact with dedicated members, it is possible to offer a diverse portfolio of opportunities and projects from students for students to fill the gaps within the diverse curricula as well as to provide an interesting and adjuvant addition to the legal education of law students and young professionals in Europe.

Tino Boche Vice President for Academic Activities ELSA International

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Law Schools

ELSA Summer Law Schools 19 different Summer Law Schools all over Europe

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ur Network organizes Law Schools during the summer all over Europe! It’s the perfect opportunity for students to continue their learning experience during the summer, in an academic and social way.

Recognizing the capacity we have, we decided to provide this opportunity on a larger scale to our members this year. Our Local Groups accepted the challenge and this year we can proudly present 19 Summer Law Schools all over Europe in cities like Lisbon, Dublin, Vienna, Zadar, Bucharest, Istanbul and more. In every part of Europe during the summer, ELSA members can learn about different topics, discover new cultures and build a Network of open minded and ambitious law students. The summer months will be a great month of development for all our ELSA members.

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Banking and Finance law- Brasov, Romania

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Codification, De-codification and Unification of Law (Italian Law – Chinese Law) – Brescia, Italy

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Competition law – San Sebastian, Spain

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Corporate Finance and Law – Dublin, Ireland

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Dispute Resolution - Vienna, Austria

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Energy Law - Brasov, Romania

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European Company Law; European impact on Business law – Bratislava, Slovak Republic

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Human Rights and Globalization – Zadar, Croatia

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Intellectual Property Law – European Unitary Patent – Poznan, Poland

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Intellectual Property: Challenges for the Future, Lisbon, Portugal

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Internet Law Summer School- The jurisdictional aspects of mass media – Iasi, Romania

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International Business Law – Braga, Portugal

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IT Law – Brno, Czech Republic

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Maritime Law Dispute Resolution – Odessa Turkey

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Media Law and International Standards on Access Informations, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Mergers and Acquisitions - Istanbul, Turkey

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Online Privacy – Rotterdam, The Netherlands

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The Media and the Criminal Law – Izmir, Turkey

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WTO Law - Cluj – Napoca, Romania

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

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AIJA

When students are (already) real professionals

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n my role of Association Manager at AIJA, International Association of Young Lawyers, I had the true pleasure to work with the ELSA Board in the last year on revamping the cooperation between our two respective associations. AIJA and ELSA were like cousins who have not seen each other for years. That was a pity!

After some reflection, we have agreed on an interesting collaboration in the framework of the STEP Programme. AIJA has proposed to their member firms to offer traineeship placements to ELSA members.

AIJA members have immediately shown interest: “We do have international trainees anyway so why don’t we rely on a consolidated programme managed by a recognized European organisation?” Placements offered by AIJA include locations like Milan, Paris, Brussels, Mumbai, Bangalore...

I must admit I was rather impressed by the level of professionalism of the Board of ELSA: the way they communicated with the members of AIJA, the process in place for supporting firms to recruit top level trainees and the overall implementation of the STEP programme are absolutely up to very high quality standards. And, not surprisingly, great standards are ensured also by the trainees (indeed ELSA members) provided to AIJA members who have shown so far commitment, motivation and willingness to learn!

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Placements offered by AIJA include locations like Milan, Paris, Brussels, Mumbai, Bangalore...

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AIJA and ELSA were like cousins who have not seen each other for years. That was a pity!

This is a story of success where two organisations are working together on a common project, setting the basis for a longstanding relationship. This is not only about a great traineeship programme: we can work well together because we share the same values.

ELSA and AIJA are both young organisations run by dynamic people with a passion for the rule of law and who believe in multicultural cooperation and friendship as essential elements for personal and professional development.

It is not a surprise that many current AIJA members are also ex ELSA members. The ELSA spirit (of learning and growing in a friendly international environment) is very similar to our famous AIJA spirit which since 1962 allows top-level international lawyers to network and expand their personal and professional horizons.

This is only the beginning. It is in the DNA of these two great associations to stay close and grow together.

Giuseppe Marletta Association Manager of AIJA, International Association of Young Lawyersl ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Internal Management

State of the Network Report The internal progress of ELSA

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or us in the International Board the internal developments of ELSA are of big interest since it tells us a lot about the direction of our organization. To map out these developments, we have a biannual state of the network survey before our International Council Meetings take place. The survey is mainly directed at statistics and it covers key numbers for each area of operations. Also, as of this year, we included a Strategic Development section to measure the progress of implementation of our new five year strategic plan. This instrument has become progressively more precise because all ELSA groups in the Network over the last two years have filled in the survey – which means that we have had full participation.

The numbers and figures of the year are only one way of measuring our internal developments though. During the year, a number of projects have been running to improve the internal status of ELSA International and the ELSA Network as a whole. In the following text, I will attempt to exemplify some of the developments of the year.

Geographical spread and coverage

Starting off with some indication of the size of our organisation, ELSA is as of 2014 represented in 41 countries. According to our internal survey, in these 41 countries, ELSA is present at 358 out of 700-800 law faculties. ELSA currently has 248 local groups and in 9 of our countries ELSA is only represented by a National Group. A number of Local Groups, an example being ELSA Berlin, covers multiple universities/law faculties, which shows the discrepancy between the number of Local Groups and the number of faculties covered.

We are happy to see that the total number of groups and covered faculties has been steadily rising over the ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

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...this year, we included a Strategic Development section to measure the progress of implementation of our new five year strategic plan.

past year, going from 230 groups covering 331 law faculties in spring 2012 to 257 groups covering 358 groups in spring 2014.

Human Resources

With an increased number of Local Groups it is natural that the increase of the number of individual members is equally steady; the number has gone from 35 000 in spring 2012 to 38 000 in spring 2014 and in the end of the term 13/14 going up to 40 000 individual members. Out of these 40 000, as many as 20% of our members have contributed to the organisation voluntarily with a lot of working hours. The lion share of the people who are working with ELSA are active locally at their law faculties. However, around 6001000 people are working nationally and internationally as well.

Moving on within the theme of human resources and specifically human resources development, I would like to give a quick overview of our internal training system. The trainings in ELSA are mainly focused on 31

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risdiction, human rights direction, strategic development, marketing, summer law schools and more.

According to our internal survey, in these 41 countries, ELSA is present at 358 out of 700-800 law faculties.

skill development of our active ELSA members, such as soft skills (presentation skills, negotiation skills, time management, risk management etc.) and specific hard skills in different areas of operation (fundraising, strategic planning, public relations etc.). Different National Trainers Pools, the International Trainers Pool and external trainers, facilitate these trainings in ELSA. ELSA International manages the International Trainers Pool; it consists of 43 trainers based all over Europe and works on a voluntary basis. The pool provides between 30-40 trainings on a yearly basis, which represents 1/8 of trainings within the whole organization.

Operative development

Over the past year, we have also been working on developing our operations. Our main way of doing this was to appoint working groups for the different areas. During the term 13/14, as many as 12 working groups have been producing a number handbooks, guidelines and reports in fields such as effective ju-

On the structural side of our work, we have been taking a new approach to the work in ELSA International. Instead of having only individuals (directors or assistants) who were responsible for certain projects, we worked on a team based approach this year by having committees and teams working with the International Board being. The ELSA International team grew to a group of 40 people who were all working full of motivation and team spirit.

Summing up, ELSA is a continuously growing association focused on being the best in providing legal education opportunities, international exchange and promoting social responsibility.

Emil Nyquist Secretary General ELSA International

DO NOT FORGET TO FOLLOW ELSA VIA INTERNET! WWW.ELSA.ORG YOUTUBE.COM/ELSAINFO FACEBOOK.COM/ELSA.ORG TWITTER.COM/ELSAINFO

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ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Final Accounts 13/14

Treasurer’s report Overview The 2013/2014 term has been financially stable for ELSA, without any major financial threats and a more positive result than expected at the beginning of the term. Throughout the year ELSA has had good liquidity without any problems meeting payments. Thanks to the good financial situation, ELSA managed to pay off the remainder of the debt for the Youth in Action grant from 2010, put all the EDF funds in a separate account from ELSA’s current account and increase our buffer of liquid assets.

ELSA was no longer eligible to apply for the EYF operational grant that was granted for the operational year 2013.

The overall sound financial situation can be explained by several factors. Firstly, ELSA signed several new sponsorship agreements during the year resulting in a higher income than expected at the beginning of the year. Secondly, both the two moot court competitions, the HRMCC and the EMC2, had positive results for this year’s editions.

Prognosis for the forthcoming reporting period For the upcoming term, ELSA will start off the year with a good liquidity and no major debts, which will give the Association a good starting point.

Thanks to the buffer built up during this year, ELSA should have no problems keeping to its financial obligations for the forthcoming reporting period.

Changes in income or expenditure ELSA has had an increased revenue and income from operational grants of EUR 31 032 compared to last year. This is partly due to the new sponsorship agreements that were signed during the year, but also thanks to the positive financial outcome of the two moot court competitions, the HRMCC and the EMC2. The HRMCC made a profit of EUR 7 618, mainly due to the large amount of voluntary contributions and the HRMCC grant of EUR 10 000 from the Council of Europe. This profit has been retained and should be used to support next year’s edition of the HRMCC. Also the EMC2 made a large profit this year of EUR 18 603. This was mainly due to all the new sponsors that provided monetary support for this edition of the competition. The profit from the EMC2 has been retained and should be used to help finance next year’s edition.

For the upcoming period, ELSA should do proper research to get a better overview of the new grant programme, the ERASMUS+, to allow ELSA to gain more income from grants in the future. Another challenge will be to manage all the new partners to ensure stable, long-term cooperation.

Regarding ELSA’s expenses during the year, the major change in expenses concerns the printing of Synergy, ELSA’s membership magazine. ELSA changed the printing company for the magazine during this term, which resulted in significantly lower costs (EUR 20 130 for the 2013/2014 term, compared to EUR 34 121 for the 2012/2013 term).

Rebecca Yourstone Treasurer ELSA International

Due to large restructuring of the major European grant programs, ELSA did not receive any new operational grants during the year. Due to the restructuring ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

33

Final Accounts 13/14

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

Continuing operations

Year ended 31 July 2014 EUR

Year ended 31 July 2013 EUR

Revenue

197 963

189 185

Other operating income Administrative expenses Project expenses Depreciation, amortization and impairment expense

46 838

24 584

(110 940) (97 498)

(135 908) (65 444)

(2 648)

(2 752)

33 715

9 665

303 -

213 (1 150)

34 018

8 728

Income tax expense

-

-

Profit for the year

34 018

8 728

-

-

34 018

8 728

Operating profit Finance income Finance costs Profit before income tax

Other comprehensive income Total comprehensive income for the year

34

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Final Accounts 13/14

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

ASSETS Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment Intangible assets Current assets Trade and other receivables Cash and cash equivalents

TOTAL ASSETS

At 31 July 2014 EUR

At 31 July 2013 EUR

1 454 714 2 168

2 715 1 195 3 910

40 081 103 498 143 579

31 972 71 041 103 013

145 747

106 923

44 436 28 144 72 580

13 213 25 349 38 562

10 050 63 117 73 167

18 787 49 574 68 361

145 747

106 923

EQUITY & LIABILITIES EQUITY Retained earnings Other reserves LIABILITIES Trade and other payables Deferred revenue TOTAL EQUITY & LIABILITIES

The Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and the notes to all statements can be found in the full Consolidated Financial Statements of the European Law Students’ Association for the year ended 31 July 2014

ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

35

ELSA International 239 Blvd. GĂŠnĂŠral Jacques B -1050 Brussels, Belgium

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