Synergy #33 Spring edition 2003 - European Law Students ...

Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
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Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association

Contents
President’s word 4
Living & working or working & living in Brussels 4
International Presidents Meeting (IPM) 6
LexisNexis – ELSA’s new partner 7
ELSA Lawyers Society 8
Academic Activities, EMCC included 12
Selected Papers on European Law 13
ELSA & United Nations 15
Student Trainee Exchange Programme 16
International STEP Meeting (ISM) 17
Seminars & Conferences 18
Calendar of events through out Europe 22
Living as a human with Human Rights 26
International Focus Programme 29
Trainings in ELSA 30
Market Research 34
ELSA House Training Week 2003 36
National Council Meetings 38
Money around you 40
Editor’s letter
Andrius Vitkevicius
Colleagues,
The fact that you are reading Synergy makes it
special. It doesn’t matter if you are a law student,
professor, advocate or judge, the main thing is
that this magazine reached your hands. Going
through the magazine you will find yourself a part
of the ELSA world!
This is the 33 rd issue of Synergy printed since
1986 and it is obvious that the magazine has
proven its worth. Synergy is the hard copy proof
of the development in ELSA. For the past issues
the ELSA Moot Court Competition has been
featured and now finally the competition is taking
place. With the hammer slamming down on the
front cover we are stating the final hit and awaiting
the teams in Geneva in April. Quality is our motto
at this point and hopefully you will feel we reached
our aim after closing the last page.
The ELSA Lawyers Society is introducing you to
the opportunities you have after your time in
ELSA. They ensure you that the skills you gain in
ELSA do get you somewhere when it’s to grow up.
Pages dedicated to the International Trainers Pool
(ITP) will give you overview about our striving for
quality and professionalism in ELSA. You will find
out the value of having the ITP trainers who are
ready to pass on their great knowledge and
experience as soon as you ask them to do so.
This is the last time I have been trying to help you
to learn more about ELSA by editing this magazine.
Next time a new smiling face will be writing these
words and the ELSA story will go on. It has been
a great pleasure and a great challenge to keep up
the quality of Synergy and giving it my best develop
the concept of the magazine. Once again I was
convinced that ELSA is the place to prepare your
self for the future.
One more time thanks for my family and fellow
board members for their support and their smiles
they gave me when I needed them the most.
Magazine of of The The European Law Law Students’ Association
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President’s
words:
One of the main topics in Europe at the moment is
youth mobility. International bodies like the EU and
the Council of Europe are working hard on making it
easier for young Europeans to seize opportunities in
other countries. But there is still much work to be
done. This is where ELSA makes a difference.
For more than 20 years ELSA has worked to provide
opportunities for law students. By organizing activities
all over Europe we work to make law students more
internationally minded. Recognising that law is also
being affected by the globalisation processes this
has become more and more important if we want
to be skilled to face the challenges of the future.
Now the challenge is for all of us, students,
employers, institutions and universities to prepare
ourselves for the inevitable future.
Students: We have to learn how to work and deal
with other cultures. We have to learn more
languages. We have to have an understanding of
other legal systems. We have to keep improving
not only our legal skills but also our soft and social
skills. We have to engage ourselves and take
responsibility. We have to stop waiting for the
opportunities to come to us and seize them instead.
Employers: Have to appreciate and support
the efforts students do to enhance their skills.
Social and cultural understanding is just as
important as legal knowledge. Without it we
loose the perspective in the development of
law.
Institutions/ organizations: Continue supporting and
providing organizations like ELSA with the opportunity
to participate in events where we can practise our
legal and social skills.
Universities: Acknowledge and promote ELSA as a
way of improving your academic skills. Offer support
by providing speakers and academic assistance. Give
credits for participation in our activities.
Who are we to make statements like this? Well
our members are ambitious students who wish to
make a difference. Only through co-operation can
we make sure that the legal profession develops
and meets the demands of the market.
With these words on behalf of the International Board
I hope to inspire activities and co-operation between
the present and the future.
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Bettina Kuperman
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Living & Working or
Working & Living in
Brussels
Working on the International level.
The International Board entered an office 1 st of August. Many of our members are wondering what
we are doing. Well the International Board lives in Brussels, where the main office is situated. The
term lasts one year. Our main task is to co-ordinate activities within the network, which means the
activities of 38 countries. ELSA International represents the association towards international
organisations and firms. Most of our days are spent in front of a computer preparing materials and
replying to requests. The year is planned around the two International Council Meetings, the
President Meetings, the International STEP meeting and now also the ELSA Moot Court Competition.
The International Board is responsible for the preparation of these meetings that gather people
from all over Europe. ELSA International is supported by and works together with different firms
and institutions, including Clifford Chance, CMS, KLegal, LexisNexis, Microsoft, Thomson and the
European Commission. We also spend time sharing our experiences and learning from other
student’s associations.
The learning experience
Learning about the cultural backgrounds but most importantly learning about people prepares you
a lot for the challenges that we eventually have to face.
A year in Brussels is however a very small part of what ELSA is about. The 1997 International Board
of ELSA had the motto – “ELSA is a learning experience”. This is the ever-standing truth about
ELSA. Being an active member gives you the opportunity to develop your skills and prepare yourself
for the future. Even though we learn a lot about management and administration while developing
our social skills, the best way of learning from ELSA is by being active on the local level. All the
International Board members have been very active on a local level organising events and participating
in different activities. It is through the local groups the real experience is gained. When coming to
Brussels we realised how much the years in our respective local groups had actually taught us. This
is hopefully the experience you will all have when you start working after your studies. On behalf of
the International Board I can only keep encouraging you to take a look at all the opportunities you
have to learn more about the different aspects of law, yourself and your colleagues from all around
Europe.
Living in the ELSA house
The International Board works on a voluntary basis, it’s a non-paid position but we have accommodation
provided – the famous ELSA house! A 100 year old building with a ghost and a leaking roof, not to
mention artic temperatures and funky electric installations. The office and our rooms are in the same
house which makes it a bit difficult to figure out when you are working and when you are off but on
the other hand its quite easy to make it to the morning meetings. It is a house and office filled with
the energy of 7 different young people with different cultural backgrounds. A house where a well
developed sense of humour is your strongest asset, and where patience is the most valuable virtue.
It is an intense experience, we usually joke that the stress and the hard life takes 5 years off our lives
but that all the smiles and the friendships gives us 10 more years. While having had months without
sleep and our hands glued to keyboards we have also had the opportunity to travel and visit the
member groups as well as taking time to enjoy the international atmosphere of the nightlife of
Brussels. All of us are still studying while working here, with a bit of self-discipline everything is
possible.

What is the International Board?
The International Board is the supreme executive body of
ELSA. It is composed of seven positions, elected by the
Council at the Spring International Council Meeting for a
one-year period.
These members of the International Board work full-time in
Brussels at the International Headquarters of ELSA on a
voluntary basis.
The main activity of the International Board is to co-ordinate
the National and Local Boards of the member countries, by
collecting and redis-tributing the information provided and to
ensure the maximum active participation in all the events.
Another very important activity of the IB is to co-ordinate
the collaboration with externals, meaning International
organizations, firms, governments other students
associations, etc.
Magazine of The The European Law Students’ Association 55

International
Presidents
Meeting
The academic part
Two Year Tactical Plan
The most important and time consuming part of this IPM was giving
input to the IB on the next Two Year Tactical Plan (TYTP). It is
interesting and challenging to be a part of the group setting priorities
and goals for our organization for the next two years. Through various
analysis of the state of the network we had found the supposedly
weakest areas. With emphasis on these areas, input for the IB was
generated. Three overall goals, based on the results of the previously
mentioned analysis, for the next two years were stated:
*Solid transition throughout the network,
*A higher level of communication – both regarding quality and quantity,
and
*To build a Human Resources Programme to help ensure recruitment.
Our workshop split into three working groups each covering one of
the prioritized areas. The working groups broke down the topics and
presented a structured way of improving the networks flaws and
faults.
The outlook of this TYTP will somewhat differ from previous tactical
plans within ELSA. There will be a general introductory part covering
the three already mentioned areas. This is done to ensure awareness
of what to particularly focus on.
Following this general part will be the traditional listing of the priorities
within each area, including IFP and HR.
A main objective when working on this TYTP was to make the goals
more measurable than in previous tactical plans. The workshop wished
the IB good luck in continuing the work on the TYTP and looked
forward to finalizing it in Athens.
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Jonathan G W Sunnarvik
President
ELSA Norway
Vienna, winter – 2003
Statutes and Standing Orders
After a long process of updating ELSA International’s statutes
and standing orders, this IPM, unanimously, supported the IB’s
amended draft from Alanya, Turkey. This new and improved set of
statutes and standing orders will be voted upon in Athens.
International Focus Programme
On this topic the workshop had a roundtable on each and every
country’s opinion and use of the International Focus Programme
(IFP). The roundtable was concluded by providing for the creating
project groups on the implementation of the IFP in small, medium
sized and large ELSA countries.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
What is an International
Presidents Meeting (IPM)?
IPM’s are held twice a year, this
time in beautiful Vienna, Austria.
The meeting is of horizontal character
and is meant to be a tool
to evaluate the previous ICM,
follow up the work that was done
there and set goals for the coming
ICM.
The social part
Since announcing the date of the IPM at the ICM in Turkey, the OC had
promised us an exceptional social programme. This proved not to be a lie…
From the day of our arrival we were given the impression that this
IPM would be an example to follow due to the good planning and
genuine hospitality. We were picked up by car at the airport and
given a city tour on our way to the guesthouse.
Accommodation
All the participants were lodged in the same guest house, a mere 15
minutes walk from the city centre and were promptly picked up prior
to every event.
Food
Breakfast we heard was served at the hostel…
Most of the dinners were hosted by the cities popular CENTIMETER
restaurants. The traditional Austrian food wich was served in wheel
barrels was both a laugh and a treat. Add some Austrian quality beer to
the food and you’ve laid a great foundation for a long and enjoyable night
out!
The dinners were followed by bars, discos and clubs where ELSA
members ruled the dance floors. After the night at the town, what
else but a good old room party accompanied by, yes of course, national
drinks!
Conclusion
Being a law student, I feel like concluding. Just a couple of years ago
there was a discussion whether or not to cut the amount of IPM’s
from two to one. The main arguments were that the IPM seldom, or
never, reached a quorum and that the participation level in general was
low.
After having attended this IPM I hope it is clear to people that its
function is for too valuable to just erase. Two workshops were held,
two current IB members in addition to one IB director, several previous
IB members and ITP trainers and last but not least – 11 countries and
more than 40 participants made it to this IPM - one of the biggest and
best ever arranged!
I wish to thank the OC for a marvellous job in and a great programme
– you guys were always helpful and service minded in a way that
seemed professional, but was still warm and friendly – thank you!
Next IPM takes place in August 2003 in Malta

Lexis Nexis
Europe
Heike Bachmann
Dear Colleagues,
We at LexisNexis are really proud to be the new Web Development partner of ELSA.
Our partnership with the world’s largest independent law students’ association is a very
exciting prospect for the year ahead.
Over the next year we hope you will discover what LexisNexis can do for you. Whether you
are a student, lecturer, librarian or bookseller, we will endeavour to help you achieve your
maximum potential.
We can help you on your way with information on the latest cases, legislation, feature articles
and much more, all available in a number of different languages via online, print and
CD-ROM.
As a leading global provider of information comprised of some of the most reputed legal publishing
brands in the UK and continental Europe we aim to give you what you want and
what you need, to help you set off successfully on your chosen path. So over the next year
if you’d like information at your fingertips, knowledge that’s easy to acquire, and maybe
even fun then look no further than LexisNexis!
Feel free to come and meet at us at some of the many events organised by ELSA in Europe
throughout the year. In the meantime you can find out more about us and see for yourself
the breadth and depth of information we offer at www.elsa.org/partners
Wherever you are in Europe, on behalf of everyone here at LexisNexis I would like to wish
you the very best of success in 2003 and beyond.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
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Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association

Expat
Lawyers –
is the grass
greener
on the
other side?
Career, love or mere coincidence has lead many
members of the ELSA Lawyers Society (ELS)
to settle abroad. For some, it may be a break
of few years and for some, a choice made for
a lifetime. We met with three young lawyers
and talked to them about their lives.
Susanne Beyer Svendsen (35) from Germany
met the love of her life, and current husband,
Søren at an ELSA seminar in Göttingen in
1990. Susanne and Søren have lived in
Copenhagen for eight years and have two
children. Before coming to Copenhagen,
Susanne worked for two years in Brussels, in
a German law firm and at the European
Commission. Her first job in Copenhagen was
in a law firm dealing with Germany, which she
found through a tip from her husband. Susanne
was headhunted to work in the telecom sector
for a company called Orange and today she is
a contracts manager at a company called “3”.
Learn the local language
– “3” was one of the four companies in
Denmark that got an UMTS license and the
only Danish player who had not been in the
2G market before. So we are starting from
scratch. I am part of our technical department
and responsible for all contracts necessary
for the building and operation of a UMTS
network. This means the whole process from
doing the tender, writing and negotiating the
contracts and following up after the contract
has been signed.
When asked for three good pieces of
advice for young ELSA people wishing to settle
abroad Susanne says: Learn the local language
as soon as possible. And be warned – your
involvement in ELSA may change your life.
Christian Grønnerød (34) has been
active in ELSA Norway on the local and national
level during his studies, and he was the guy
behind the first website of ELSA International
back in 1994. Christian and his wife Siri have
followed Christian’s career and moved from their
native Norway first to Brussels, where Christian
worked for NATO, and then to New York.
Christian works as a Contracts Officer for the
United Nations Procurement Division, which is
comparable to being an in-house legal advisor.
– Culture shocks are part of the game.
Money is literally the thing that makes the
world go around here. I see a major difference
Johanna Stegard
ELSA Lawyers Society
between rich and poor that I have not seen in
European cities, Christian explains. On the upside,
Christian enjoys the amazing cultural variety
you find on Manhattan – shops, theater,
plays, exhibitions, you name it and you find it!
Just do it!
On strategies when moving to a new country
Christian advises you to get in touch with your
network – friends living in that country, your
own embassy or consulate. Talk to people who
live in the city and ask for advice. Finding a
place to live is always a test of stamina,
language and negotiation skills. It may be
worth while to live from a suitcase for a while
looking for a more permanent place to stay.
Try to track down your local
“national group”, and get involved so you
keep a little contact with home. Often
expats tend to mingle together and
become friends. Everybody knows that
you’re stationed for a period and that you
will leave again, but you can still become
good friends. In certain places – like
Brussels – the locals avoid the expats
because the expats will leave and locals
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
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will have wasted a lot of then be stranded
after using a lot of energy getting to know
you.
Want to settle abroad – here are some tips
from Christian:
* Just do it!
* The first months will be tough and you will
miss friends and family, but you have a unique
opportunity to prove yourself and demonstrate
that you are capable of handling a very
stressful situation.
* Remember to keep in touch with previous
employers and your social network, so that
you have the possibility to return home and
find a job.
* When you are outside your own country,
take a critical look at it and see if it really is
as good as you remember it. Going abroad
will expand your horizon and solutions that seem
obvious at home might seem strange in a
different light. You will be in for a surprise.
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– My ELSA experience has taught me
that people have different background
and agendas, but that through
co-operation and understanding you
can find solutions that will be good
for the larger group.
Blaz Golob (34) from Slovenia has lived for
two years in Seville, Andalusia together with
his wife Sabina, daughter Mia (3 years) and
son Mark (1 year and a half). Blaz works as a
National Detached Expert for the European
Commission Research Institute (IPTS). He
worked for the government of Slovenia and
was involved in network activities on the
debate on Future of Europe and EU
Enlargement. The project was co-ordinated
by the Commission and at the end of it, Blaz
was asked to come to Seville. He now works
on analysis of policies and institutions of the
future EU member states.
When asked whether this is his first
expatriate job, Blaz answers: It is my second
job abroad. My first job was working for ELSA
International in Brussels in 1996 with great
people the so-called “96 dream-team”
consisting of, Ligia (Portugal), Jennifer (USA/
Germany), Marit (Norway), Tommaso (Italy),
Juan (Spain) and Luigi (Italy/Croatia). My first
task was to take care of the garden in the
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
ELSA House at Boulevard General Jacques
239, my second was being the president of
the greatest association in the world – ELSA.
Heart of Spain
Blaz admits to no culture shocks – with
Flamenco, Sevillianas dance, Feria de Abril,
Triana, tapas bars, Cruzcampo, Calle Betis,
Ciudad Expo, siestas and fiestas - only
challenges. Andalusia is the Spain of Spain.
Many of the typically Spanish things originate
from Andalusia. The presence of Arabic
(Moorish) culture is incredible and more
than evident today. Sevilla as such has also
it’s own spirit and the way of doing things.
– Things we miss from Slovenia the city
of Ljubljana, skiing, family, friends. Nevertheless
friends and family come to visit us
and we feel sometimes that we have a hotel
with all the visitors we get. Together with my
family we are looking forward to going back
to Ljubljana after being a few years in
Andalusia. Home is still home and Slovenia is
on the move, being a young successful country
on the way to placing itself on the regional
and global stage. A lot of interesting and
exciting work is foreseen in Slovenia.
National legal education – handicap?
All three lawyers conclude that even though they
do not deal with German, Norwegian or Slovenian
law, a legal education has given a good basis.
– Law is different in each country, but
the basic principles seem to be similar
everywhere. I do not use specific knowledge
of German law, but I use by ability to analyze,
write memos, minutes, contracts and general
contractual knowledge, Susanne points out.
Christian works both with legal questions
and in policy development. The UN uses the
UNCITRAL Model Law on Contract as basis
for contracts and many of the basic principles
of contract law are used on a daily basis.
Negotiation skills are important, as well as
language. Christian also participates in policy
development and there his analytical mind is
used and he also has the opportunity to cooperate
with people from other ways of life.
Blaz believes that different subjects
teached at university are more and more
interrelated, law, economics, political science,
EC law, European affairs. He uses his basic
legal knowledge, updated to the job at hand,
LEFT: Blaz Golob together with his
daugther Mia. When moving to a foreign
country the most important thing is to
integrate into the local community. To
make friends with local people and to
enjoy local customs.
MIDDLE: Susanne Beyer-Svendsen has
lived eight years in Copenhagen. “I stay
until we decide to move – that can be
tomorrow or never.”
RIGHT: Christian Grønnerød lives in
Manhattan. From Norway, he misses the
possibility of walking almost alone on a
sidewalk on a Saturday afternoon. He does
not miss the exorbitant alcohol prices.
which at the moment is a lot of economics
and political science. As useful personal skills
– as well as basic ELSA skills – Blaz lists:
Believe in what you are doing, be able to build
your own teams, be your own advocate, be
motivated to be successful, be happy and
worry only when necessary.
Moving to a foreign country with your
significant other, husband or wife is a big
change for both of you. Finding a job for both
of you may not be easy – for example in the
US you first need a job before you can apply
for a work permit. However, you should look
at other alternatives – taking care of the
family, studying, doing voluntary work. Having
children also brings new possibilities of getting
into contact with local people. Blaz tells that
they have met their best friends through their
children – kids network.
Contact with ELSA
When asked whether these three ex-
ELSAnians come across ELSA nowadays, the
answers vary. Susanne gets invitations to
events by ELSA Denmark, but very seldom
has the opportunity to attend. Living in
Manhattan, Christian seldom gets in contact
with ELSA. But, he immediately declares that
he is very interested in the new IFP topic.
Blaz answers: with pleasure when I have
time and when I am invited. If I receive an email
request for advice or to help the local
group or any ELSA business, I give my best,
Blaz continues. He also co-operates with
International Board of ELSA from time to
time. The last concrete result was the preparation
of the 2002 BLED FORUM Declaration
on support to the establishment of the
International Criminal Court.
All three are members of ELSA
Lawyers Society. This means that they
receive regular information about current
issues in ELSA, including a copy of this
Synergy. Contact information to all ELS
members is listed in the Directory of
members, distributed to all National and
Local ELSA groups. If you are planning for
an event or project in your local or national
ELSA group – or even getting together at a
pre-Christmas dinner, have a look at the
ELS Directory and feel free to contact any
ELS member. And good luck with your plans
on becoming an expatriate yourself!

Who is
who in the
ELS
Executive
Committee
2003?
Erik Vrij
ELS President
Somehow it is always one of the first items in many ELSA or ELS conversations: who is
on the board? The variety of ELSA is well reflected by the group of people on the 2003
Executive Committee (“Exec”) of ELS, elected in Alanya: here is who they are and what
they do! Erik Vrij, President has been active in ELSA since ‘94, mainly as Director of
SAP and ELSA SPEL in ELSA International and afterwards Marketing & Recruitment
Officer of ELS. Erik works in The Hague as legal counsel in the investment management
unit of ING, a financial services group. Katarzyna (“Kasia”) Hebda, Secretary-General,
was active in ELSA Cracow (S&C), as auditor of ELSA Poland and on the OC of the
Warsaw ICM. Kasia continues as Sec-Gen. of ELS. Her paid job is with the Polish office
for European Integration in Warsaw. Taco Hovius, Treasurer did countless things in
ELSA Amsterdam and was on of its OC of its ICM. Later Taco took up the temporary
role of Treasurer of ELSA International when they were missing one. Taco is a fancy
lawyer with Loyens & Loeff‘s Amsterdam office. Pierangelo Graziani, ELS Trust Fund
Officer, is the real dinosaur in ELS and ELSA and knows more about anyone and anything
in ELS than the rest of the Exec together. Having been STEP officer with ELSA
International, he is now focusing on awarding scholarships to ELSA people (remember his
name) and other ways of spending excess ELS money… Pierangelo works in the field of
project development in Italy and deals with the law in practise… Johanna Stegard,
Information Officer is married to Norwegian ELS member Morten Stegard (it sometimes
happens…) and embodies the external information flow of ELS. Having been active in
Finland as president on a local and national level, she was the Sec-Gen of ELS before
Kasia. Johanna used to work in a large Helsinki law firm before leaving work for love in
Norway (taking up some Norwegian law nowadays I hear…). Frants Nielsen, Marketing
& Recruitment Officer, is a blond Viking with ELSA credentials in Denmark on the local
and national level (also as president: it’s not an ELS requirement, really…), and with
ELSA International. Having been the ELS Representative in a rather active ELSA alumni
group in Denmark, Frants will now focus on developing national groups throughout Europe.
Michael Sullivan, Data Officer, is fresh out of ELSA where he was the International
president, and prior to that president of ELSA Malta and on the OC of the ICM in ‘99.
Michael recently joined the Valetta law firm of Sapiano & Associates, and focuses in
the Exec. on ways to automate member data processing with Wojtek Wiewiorowski
and on forming national alumni groups like Frants does elsewhere.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
11

Academic
Activities
Academic Activities is different from
the other key areas in that it aims to
developing our members while producing
a result that contributes to legal
education in general. This is especially
true of the two projects currently on
our menu:
For starters we have ELSA SPEL. A
project that has been in ELSA has gone
through many incarnations, developing
in pace with the association. It is now
an online publication that is freely
available to everyone. The second
edition has been published recently. It
is the perfect outlet for ELSA Members
to publish their academic works
concerning European Law; allowing them
to show their academic prowess to the
whole world.
The main course is the ELSA Moot
Court Competition on WTO Law. It is
quite a big meal – involving 38 teams
from all over, but mostly from ELSA;
over 20 academics and experts in
WTO law; and one big budget. 5
National Rounds are also spread around
as a fancy side dish. The feast itself
will be taking place in Geneva where the
12 best teams will meet, argue and be
grilled by the judges to find the best
team of the competition.
If these only serve to whet your
appetite without satisfying you, no fear,
we are working on preparing even more
dishes. Everything for your personal
satisfaction. It’s just that they take
some time to prepare when there are
soo few cooks helping in the kitchen.
Oh well, with the number projects
currently in the kitchen, cooking… we
have something for all tastes - to make
sure you won’t starve. So, please, if
you really must insist on going hungry,
please tell us why. Please. Nothing is
more disappointing to the cook than the
guest who won’t eat his food.
All this talk of food has got me hungry.
I’m going to eat, see you….
12
Mark Refalo
Vice President
Akademic Aktivities
ELSA International
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
The end
of the beginning
Though it is yet too early to reflect upon the
issues that have arisen while organising our ELSA
Moot Court Competition on WTO Law (EMC2),
it is about time to sum up the efforts channelled
towards the implementation of this project. This
article pays tribute to the members of ELSA,
to the staff of various law faculties (schools)
and their students who acknowledged the
merit of EMC2, as well as to those academics
and practicing lawyers who have undertaken
a enormous task of Judging EMC2.
Teams
Once the final draft of the rules was approved
and an approximate budget presented in Coruña
the 2002 – 2003 EMC2 had a rough start.
From the very beginning it was determined
that 12 teams would participate in the Finals
in Geneva, selected either by their written
memorials or by competing in one of the 5
National Rounds: Hungary, Norway, Malta,
Portugal and Romania. The dream was to
have 32 teams participating. Few people
believed in this target… until enquiries
began arriving from every corner of the
world (even Australia!), which translated
into 38 teams from Europe and 2 from US.
Judges
The year started out with an impressive list
of experts providing their support and advice
to the EMC2. This expanded even more
impressively after the International and Local
organising committees met in Geneva and
things began to fall in place.
The EMC2 requires a substantial
commitment from judges - assessing teams’
performances during both oral and written
rounds are strenuous and time consuming
tasks, not to mention all the work which has
to be carried out in preparing from the case.
ELSA will always be in debt to these judges
who have devoted their time and effort in
making the Competition possible in the first
place. Further, there is no doubt, that ELSA
could not have been able to ensure such the
high quality of EMC2 in its launch year if it
was not for the people listed herein.
The mayhem in the ELSA House and in
Geneva
The astounding results of the EMC2 were
extremely gratifying except for the fact that
there was tons of work to be carried out by
the International Organising Committee, Local
Organising Committee and the ELSA groups.
Ieva Zebryte
Director for
Moot Court Competition
ELSA International
The results of the work done by the various
ELSA groups with their teams will only be seen
after the EMC2 runs its course; however
some groups have already arranged matters
such that their teams would have most of
their expenses covered and others are preparing
in case of success during their National
rounds.
As regards the IOC… None at the
ELSA House could fail to notice the sudden
influx of emails, the hard copies of memorials
blocking passage ways and the thousands
of charts, tables, and systems trying to
make the allocation of memorials a piece of
cake. As the “outgoing” memorials and incoming
marks had to be tracked, the deadlines
were approaching fast, a conference was
yet to be organised, judges’ schedules had
to be coordinated and an ICM had to be
survived.
Prospects of the EMC2
With all of the above in mind it was time to
think of the future of the EMC2 as well. There
have already been some concerns, expressed
by the network, specialists and organisers,
as to the structure of the EMC2. Being the
pilot year of the EMC2 this was, of course,
expected. Therefore new proposals based on
the present experience started coming in and
a number of possibilities are to be examined
over the next two council meetings. For the
EMC2 to develop into a flagship for the
network however, greater commitment must
be shown by the ELSA groups in planning and
implementing the 2003 – 2004 Competition.
In conclusion...
The geography of EMC2 teams and judges
illustrates the truly global nature of the
competition, though only 12 lucky ones will
enjoy the Swiss hospitality and the company
of eminent lawyers in the field of WTO Law.
All in all, in order to ensure both quality and
popularity greater commitment of ELSA
groups is expected in planning and implementing
the 2003 – 2004 Competition. The
EMC2 is an international project to improve
the practical law skills and knowledge in international
trade law for and by ALL OF ELSA.
This will be most effective only if the global
rather than European perspective is upheld.
While some changes are inevitable and
professionalism in the organisation is yet to
be attained, it is not too optimistic to expect
the success of the EMC2 worldwide.

Selected
Papers
On European
Law:
ELSA’s Online
Law
Review
Richard Crowe
Course Director at the
Academy of European Law
SPEL
ELSA Selected Papers in European Law (ELSA SPEL) is a
collection of legal papers on Private and Public European Law.
Its primary aim is to provide students with the opportunity to
publish their work on an international level, however it also
includes articles written by academics and other professionals.
It is published twice a year on our website, providing YOU with
an international readership for your work.
The current edition contains articles on European Company
and Competition Law, Internet Law, Pharmaceutical Law and
even on the topic of Tobacco Tort Litigation. While the authors
are just as varied: Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
and Poland. Now it is YOUR turn to have your work published!
www.elsa.org
ELSA’s commitment to producing a quality law review which
would afford talented students a first opportunity to publish
their research at European level and which would facilitate a
wide distribution of new student scholarship across the
continent can be traced back to 1987, when the ‘ELSA Law
Review’ was launched. In 1996, the name of the review
was changed to ‘ELSA SPEL’ and a new printing and distribution
agreement was reached with a Belgian publisher.
Unfortunately, the costs involved in this publishing deal were
not sustainable from ELSA’s perspective and regular
publication of SPEL could not be maintained after 1998. All
subsequent efforts to find a new publisher failed and SPEL’s
future looked very bleak indeed.
It was in 2001, just as complete aban-donment of the
SPEL project was being considered, the idea of transforming
SPEL into an online law review was first proposed. Webbased
legal journals were gaining in credibility across the world
and an examination of pioneering European web publications
such as the European Integration Online Papers, the Web
Journal of Current Legal Issues and the Jean Monnet Working
Papers showed that leading European professors and legal
practitioners were increasingly contributing articles to online
journals and using such journals for research purposes in much
the same way as they would use regular printed journals.
Online publication was an especially attractive alternative
for SPEL in view of the recurring financial difficulties that it
had experienced over the years. The lower publication and
distribution costs involved would reduce reliance on sponsors
and external publishers in ensuring production of each individual
edition. As a result, publication could be guaranteed on a
regular basis without interruption. This would be an important
incentive for potential authors and readers alike. Furthermore,
online publication would facilitate wider circulation of the
review as almost every law student in Europe now has
access to the internet at his or her university and so is in a
position to download interesting articles at minimal cost.
A web page for SPEL was established at www.elsa.org/
publications/papers1.asp at the beginning of 2002 and the
first edition of SPEL in its new online format appeared on the
site in June 2002. Although the format is new, the guiding
philosophy and overall SPEL editorial policy remain faithful to
the ideals of the review’s founding fathers. SPEL will continue
to be published twice yearly and the tradition of including
contributions from leading professors alongside the best
articles submitted by students will be maintained. A wide
range of topics will be covered and the articles selected for
publication will continue to reflect the broad geographical spread
of ELSA membership. The two most recent editions, for
example, contained articles on such diverse topics as EU
constitutional law, internet law, environmental law, patent
law and world trade law, by authors coming from Finland,
Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland, Turkey, Italy and Denmark, to
name but a few! The prestigious SPEL Editorial Advisory
Board, which comprises many of the greatest and most
celebrated jurists of European law, continues to oversee
the more general editorial direction of the review.
Transforming SPEL into an online law review has been
a great challenge for all involved and nobody would deny that
there is still plenty of room for improvement, both in terms
of presentation and in terms of content. What is most
important right now, however, is that SPEL is once again
being published on a regular basis and the once proud law
review, which appeared just a couple of years ago to be
heading for extinction, can at last look forward with confidence
to a very bright and prosperous web-based future!
Further information on how to submit articles for SPEL
can be found on the SPEL web pages at www.elsa.org/
publications/papers1.asp.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
13

In short, we accepted. There is however
slightly more to it than that!
The Beginning
The idea to create a legal research group on
the national implementation measures taken
by countries in light of the ICC’s Rome Statute
had been kicking around the “ELSA world”
for some time. ELSA’s previous legal research
group on the “Election of Judges to the ICC”
was so well received by NGO’s and academics
that the ELSA delegation to the Xth Prep
Com decided that now was the time to “Carpe
Diem”! The assembled team looked pretty
good, after all we had lots of ex prep comers,
the ex IB Director for Human Rights Connie
Schneider, Mr “Future Secretary General of
the UN”, Espen Nakstad, Matthias Goldmann
and Roberta Ferrario both of whom had worked
on the LRG on the election of judges, as well
as fresh talent in the form of Andreas Stomps
(soon to become International Marketing
Coordinator for PINIL) and Myriam Bouazdi
(the current HR Director of ELSA France and
now one of our Outreach Coordinators). After
lots of meetings with the NGO representatives
at the PrepCom, three nights of not
much sleep, a ridiculous amount of pizza and
many, many internal meetings in the basement
of the YMCA we managed to draft a project
outline for the LRG.
Amongst all the general mayhem of
the PrepCom we managed to get our
proposal printed and distributed it to
most of the NGO’s present as well as
some of the delegates. We also managed
to use this opportunity to get some
letters of support, from amongst other
Ben Ferencz (a well known face to all
those who have attended PrepComs).
And then came the summer holidays…
After having promised to do huge amounts
of work on the project over the summer
and stick to our highly ambitious and slightly
unrealistic timetable there was in fact
complete silence over our email list. Espen
did of course try to encourage us, however
in between writing emails from café’s in
Barcelona, attending the ELSA House
training week and doing two (yes that’s
14
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Project on ICC
National
Implementation
Legislation
(PINIL)
Ann Swampillai
PINIL International coordinator
right for those of you who didn’t know!)
degrees he was fighting a losing battle.
So summer came and went and eventually
we all got back to our respective
countries, with suntans, lots of rolls of
undeveloped film and sand still stuck in
between our toes and it was only then our
LRG finally got moving!
ELSA House Meeting
It was decided, wisely in my opinion, that we
should all meet up again to try and get things
going. There was “so much to do and so little
time”! The question was then where to meet?
Ideally of course we would have liked to hold
the meeting in a beach hut on a little island in
the south pacific, but failing that, Brussels
seemed the obvious choice. We were however
a little worried about approaching the IB and
asking whether we could basically take over
the ELSA House for a weekend, however they
could not have been more welcoming and
accommodating. We even got to take over
the IB meeting room for the whole time we
were there, which I hear is a privilege usually
only accorded to visiting Heads of State and
minor royalty.
With all the arrangement made, on a very,
very cold night in Brussels I got off the Eurostar
and headed to the ELSA house; sure of the
incredible amount of work that lay ahead that
weekend, but unsure of how much real progress
we could actually make. I should also mention
that by this time our team had grown to include
Isabelle Walther (who now doubles as our web
diva and one half of the academic double act) as
well as Danielle Kurpershoek (One of our
International Fundraising Coordinators who also
mans our official office in the Hague).
Well to cut a LONG story short, we made
real progress! Matthias and Isabelle drafted the
academic outline, Andreas and Espen got started
on the marketing materials, Danielle and I
worked on the budget, Connie started work on
the content of the website, Myriam looked into
all matters relating to National Coordination of
the project, we all spent AGES deciding on what
to put in our “executive summary” and we had
a meeting with Irune from the Coalition for
the International Criminal Court. We also got
Your mission, should you choose
to accept it, is to form a new legal
research group which looks at the
ICC national implementation legislation.
This LRG should involve
all 38 ELSA Groups, have support
from a whole host of academics and
NGO’s, involve a researchers’
conference hosted in an as yet
undisclosed location and result in a
high quality publication which should
be internationally distributed.
This message will self destruct in five
seconds……
lots of helpful feedback during a meeting with
the IB who were very supportive of our
project. We even had the privilege of having
our budget looked over by the IB Treasurer
(thanks again Ivan!). At the end of the
weekend we all had our official titles assigned
and all the tasks were distributed; and what
had looked like “mission impossible” only a few
days ago was beginning to look more like,
“mission : could do this if we all work really
hard”.
What Happened Next…..
Well after Brussels things have moved pretty
fast, we have applied for funding (• 150,000
to be exact, so if you have any spare change
lying around….), the website is now up and
running, we have an official office in the Hague
courtesy of the Grotius Institute for
International Law, a group from the
International Coordinating Board attended the
International Criminal Law Network’s annual
meeting in the Hague and picked up more
letters of support and a new member of the
International Board (Gian Carlí Stäubli Fioroni
from Switzerland), Julia Vaas the IB’s Human
Rights Director has given the “thumbs up”
to our project, we have a package ready for
distribution to the network to publicise the call
for national coordinators for our project,
Roberta Ferrario is now an official Outreach
Coordinator and Liza Popova from Latvia was
recruited as a Outreach Coordinator for
Eastern Europe, and we have presented ELSA
PINIL at the German NCM and will hopefully
present PINIL at the ICM. Lastly, but of course
most importantly, our project has been
endorsed by Mr ELSA Online, Thomas Fraiss!
What more could we reasonably be ask for?
And Now………
Now we are looking for LOTS of enthusiastic
people to help with National Coordination of
our project as well as National Researchers!
I have purposefully not spoken too much
about the contents of the project here, as
there is simply too much to say! If you
would like to get involved or would simply
like to find out more then please visit our
website @ www.elsa-pinil.org.

The
United
Nationswhat’s
up
next?
Espen Rostrup Nakstad
Director for UN
ELSA International
The United Nations has been at the focus of
international media for decades, but never to
the extent it is today. The organisation tops
daily news bulletins around the world and is
debated on every corner of every city. Yet,
to most people the images of UN’s conference
rooms remain a picture on the TV screen.
To law students in Europe it is different.
Through ELSA’s cooperation with the United
Nations there is always a conference to
attend, either at home or abroad. But
unfortunately not all students are aware of
the opportunities offered to ELSA members.
Marketing is a key to success in ELSA.
In the past 6 months several groups of
students have attended UN conferences in
Europe and US, thanks to good marketing by
their respective national and local groups. Last
July two dozen students attended the ICC
Preparatory Commission in New York. A
new delegation of eight students then
attended the first annual meeting of the ICC
Assembly of States Parties at UN
Headquarters in September. A detailed report
from this historic meeting has been compiled
and is available in the ELSA ONLINE archive.
ELSA students have also visited the UN
Department of Public Information, New York,
and represented our association at the
autumn meeting of the CICC steering
committee - the advisory board of the NGO
Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
The Coalition has recently set up an office in
The Hague, The Netherlands, in addition to
its European office (Brussels) and main office
(New York). It offers many useful contacts
for ELSA. From 18 – 22 December an ELSA
delegation of six students attended the
International Criminal Law Network
Conference in The Hague, The Netherlands.
A special discount was negotiated for ELSA
students at this high-profiled convention.
One of the new activities that relate
to ELSA and UN activities this year is the
new “PINIL” legal research group. In
recognition of the coming into force of the
Rome Statute on 1 July 2002, ELSA has
created its legal research “Project on ICC
National Implementation Legislation”
(PINIL) to examine the conformity of national
criminal laws with the Rome Statute.
The website www.elsa-pinil.org will provide
you with further information.
As of spring 2003 a call for applicants
for the UNCITRAL Commission at UN
Headquarters has already been made. The
second annual meeting of ASP in New York
(September) has also been advertised and
ELSA International will consider sending a
delegation to the resumed ASP meeting at
UN headquarters in April 2003 and to
regional UN meetings in European capitals.
The opportunities are only limited by the
wishes of your ELSA group! So, before
you decide on plans for the coming six
months, check out ELSA ONLINE and
download the ELSA UN Handbook! It will
definitely help you on the way..!
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
15

STEPStudent
Trainee
Exchange
Programme
The job market is becoming bigger, borders
are being erased and the world is
becoming smaller. With this, the
demands on the future lawyer are increasing
as well. The tasks and
expertise of the lawyer are going to be
quite different from what they are now
in a few years time.
As a student participating in STEP you
are going to be able to compete in the
international market with the knowledge
and experience you acquired. You are
going to be prepared for your future
job like nobody else since you already
gained the practical skills on your
traineeship abroad.
Legally skilled, internationally minded,
with knowledge of other cultures and
legal systems.
As an employer we can offer you the
opportunity of meeting future lawyers
who will meet the requirements of the
market. This can however only happen
if we work together in achieving this
goal.
We have a programme educating the
future lawyer through putting the
theoretical knowledge acquired at Law
School into practice through the exchange
programme. Not only do the students
obtain the legal skills but also meet the
demands of the international scene.
Read about the programme and decide
if you want to participate.
We have the programme, we have the
students, now we need the opportunity!
16
Jenny Piipponen
Vice President STEP
ELSA International
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Exchange
STEP
The Student Trainee Exchange Programme
is a quality programme for law students and
young lawyers, that provides the students the
opportunity to go abroad and learn about
another legal system and culture. Every year
we offer our members several hundreds of
traineeships all across Europe in various law
firms, courts, public institutions and faculties.
Students
At University you learn the theory, but you
might perhaps not have the opportunity to
put this theoretical knowledge into practice.
Remember... your education doesn’t end in
the classroom. STEP gives you the opportunity
to gain first hand experience of the
substantive and procedural law of another
country. ELSA provides you with the opportunity
to increase your knowledge of law, to
meet and exchange ideas with employers
abroad and to establish useful contacts for
your professional careers.
Employers
A STEP traineeships lasts between 2 weeks
and 18 months, and can take place in a law
firm, court, public administration office, university
of other institution and the legal
department of a bank, company or corporation.
Former employers include Freshfields,
Ernst & Young, Bang & Olufsen, Coca Cola
Bottlers, Coudert Brothers, UNHCR and
Linklaters & Alliance.
Whether you need a trainee with a
specific knowledge in commercial law in France
or a student able to translate from Polish into
German, ELSA can provide you with someone
who will meet your requirements. Particpating
in STEP is a simple and effective way to broaden
your horizons and create an advocate
for your firm. Thereby, your firm could effectively
attract young lawyers. Having a trainee
working in your law firm is a valuable investment
for the future.
Internationalisation
The world is becoming a smaller place. Over
the last decade there has been developments
Jenny Piipponen
Vice President STEP
ELSA International
in Europe that have brought a greater need
for integration and versatile expertise amongst
legal professionals. Participation in the STEP
programme aids a better understanding of the
legal realities across Europe. It gives a better
contact for future legal reference in your
preferred country or field of law.
Quality
The exchange is managed in ELSA ONLINE,
which is a modern matching system ensuring
quality. All traineeships and applications are
entered online. The filtering system then
selects the most suitable applicants for each
traineeship ensuring qualified applicants. ELSA
ONLINE guarantees an accurate exchange
while being efficient and effortless.
Service
During the traineeship, the ELSA local Groups
provide assistance to the trainees by finding
accommodation and helping them with
formalities; visa, work permits and taxation
issues. ELSA organises social and cultural
events to introduce the trainee to the country
and seeks to involve the trainee in the life of
the city.
How to apply?
As a student contact your local ELSA office
and register your CV at the website. Present
the appropriate certificates and attestations
to your local ELSA group. ELSA will thereafter
activate your application form, which you can
access with your chosen password and user
name. Once activated you have access to
ELSA ONLINE for one year.
Search and apply online for the traineeship
of your choice. You will be automatically matched
to the traineeships available in the database and
the traineeships that you qualify for will be listed
on the screen. This list is being updated regularly
as the pool of available traineeships changes. You
can only apply for one traineeship at a time.
How to participate?
Contact ELSA International at www.elsa.org
or elsa@brutele.be

STEP by
STEP to
Maastricht
Insomnia, Super fun and Many
people from all over Europethose
are the three most remarkable
things I will remember
from my second International
STEP Meeting which took place
from 13th to 16th February
2003 in the beautiful Dutch city
of Maastricht.
Bartlomiej Pikiewicz
VP STEP
ELSA Poland
My sleepless time began at 7 p.m. when I sat
down in the bus. For the next 22 hours my
back had to suffer the many discomforts of our
travel to Netherlands. Finally, the group from
Poland reached the target - Bunde – a small
town next to Maastricht.
For the following four days “ELSA Spirit”
chased away bad moods and allowed us to forget
about our few inconveniences. We started
breathing with an “international atmosphere”.
It was quite a heartwarming experience to see
people from 14 countries eagerly participating
in different trainings provided by ITP trainers
and IB members as well as celebrating the
Limburgian carnival. We also had an opportunity
to visit the city of Maastricht - the oldest one
in the Netherlands and at the same time an
example of a modern United European City.
Everyday we were experiencing Dutch
hospitality, the visible signs of which were:
the charming smile of Miriam Hirdes - head
of OC - and Philip’s fast driving, reminding
us about our stomachs during the daily trips
from Maastricht to Bunde.
The unforgettable parties allowed us to
feel that our vision of “the World where there
is a respect for cultural diversity” comes
true. All of us were speaking one language –
the language of ELSA, which made a great
impression on me once again. But all in all,
the main point of the agenda was of course
the workshops. Those of us who were STEP
beginners could see how ELSA ONLINE
works. Those more experienced had an
opportunity to discuss the main problems of
our network. Besides that, there was a lot
of time in our timetable assigned for
improving our skills by trainings provided by
International Trainers Pool and International
Board members. All of the participants could
check their negotiation skills, take part in the
discussion on “Marketing in STEP” or expand
their knowledge of job hunting.
ELSA is not however only an organisational
structure. The most important
element of our assotiation is people. ISM is
one of those projects where one can meet
people - both active ELSA members and our
Seniors from many European countries. It is
a wonderful thing to debate with an older
generation of ELSAnians about STEP issues
that appeared during the last couple of years.
The only bad thing about ISM is that
it merely lasts for four days and then you
have to go back to reality. In my opinion however
the motivation, new skills and many
new friendships will ensure this project is successfully
continued in the years to come.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
17

18
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Irena Bojadzievska
Vice President Seminars & Conferences
ELSA International
S&C -a
synonym
for:
- Motivation – well, if you have a look at the Synergy
articles in the previous editions of our magazine, it’s very easy
to see that people who wrote a column expressing their
excitement of attending a seminar, in one of the next editions
show up as authors again. Only this time they are acting not as
participants but as a member of an organising committee. Seems
like joining our events is an experience, which turns into an
ambition to reconstruct the feeling in your own city.
- Commitment - a great number of the international
events organised within the network, especially our law schools
and the institutional study visits are accomplished in co-operation
with the European Institutions or they are done under a hot
topic related to Human Rights, which is one of the fields our
association is committed to. Moreover, it was proved once
again that our key area is the perfect opportunity to implement
the International Focus Programme. Namely seeing that a few
months after the new IFP topic has been selected, there are
many seminars and even a law school being organised in relation
to it.
- Challenge – well at least I would call it so. The events
we organize give us the opportunity to learn from people with
great academic accomplishments. The academic level of the
events organised is impressing and puts us one step ahead. So,
is it a challenge attending our events? Mmmm, let me see,
what more can any student wish for then getting tutored by
the top legal minds?
- Creativity – no need to be modest. We are law
students after all, modesty is not our strong point but only by
joining our events will you see how creative people turn out to
be when it comes to the social programme. At the parties we
share a part of our culture by introducing our national drinks to
each other. Standing there trying to pronounce the name of
the drink you are having you realize that it’s not just any crowd
but a crowd of 20 different nationalities 20 different cultures
and 20 different languages. It makes you realize how important
it is to have not only academic knowledge but also cultural and
social skills.
- Tradition – When I was in primary school, I remember
my physics teacher saying: “If something happens once, there
is a chance that it never happens again, but if it happens twice,
then for sure it will be happening in the future again”. So what
is the connection between S&C and physics? Well the network
is a good jury. The good news about a quality and successfully
organized event is easily spread around the network. And then,
we have plenty of our members who are just looking forward to
the same event and plan their trip ahead. The organising group
just has to look through the files from last year and learn from
the experiences made – good and bad. This is the way our
most successful events turn into annual projects, becoming a
part of the ELSA tradition.
Charlotte Tvede Andersen
Head of OC
Business as
usual
… or is it?
As every year we started to prepare for the summer seminar.
We came up with a topic: International Trade Law and the
Environment - The Regulation of Trade in an Environmental
Perspective.
The globalisation has created a greater coherence and
dependency between decisions made by international players. The
derived effect of both economic and political decisions made by
States and other international players, e.g. multinational companies
and nongovernmental organizations, have diverted and perceptible
effects in other parts of the world. Relations which sovereign
States could earlier regulate on their own are now being heavily
influenced because of the international context.
Earlier trade politics were merely a question of tariff rates
and importation quotas. However the development has shown a
need to involve more issues under the trade agenda. Issues which
as a starting point are not trading political - but are important for
the interplay of the international trade, e.g. labour law, nutrition
security, consumer law and last but not least environmental topics.
The environmental issue has gained more attention both national
and international. It has been recognised that an effective protection
of the environment cannot be attained without international
collaboration. At the same time it has been questioned whether
environmental regulation, or the absence of such, could be an unfair
competition advantage for both free trade and the environment.
The World Trade Organisation, WTO, is the centre of the
global trade negotiations and deserves a closer look and
examination. This is one of the tasks of the seminar.
Enough said about the topic. I hope this has caught your
interest.We are preparing and planning everything. And the only
thing we need now is participants. That is were you come into the
picture. We need you. As former “social team” responsible (yes,
I was in charge of the parties the last two years, and now I am
responsible for the whole seminar, so don’t tell me that dreams
don’t come true) I can assure you that the social programme will
be beyond every expectation, too.
Because we are among friends I will give you ELSA Copenhagen’s
recipe for a successful seminar:
60 happy law students
5 great parties
3 exciting lectures
2 exciting workshop
A lot of sun and summer
And last but not least a big amount of Gammel Dansk (You can’t
expect to come to Denmark without getting a lot of that).
And we promise you that you will have a lot of good stories to tell
your grandchildren. All this takes place from the 29th of
July to the 3 rd of August in Copenhagen. For further information
see www.elsa.dk or contact copenhagen@elsa.dk

ELSA Vilnius Law School 2003
Subtitle
Implementation
of European
Community
Environmental
Law Problems
and Prospects
Albanai
extremistai
Brigita Jasiunaite
ELSA Lithuania
The Summer School on Environmental law in
Vilnius, Lithuania is definitely one of the
craziest events. For some of you might fail
to realise that pleasure during the summer
can be combined with learning.
Just think about it! Listening to lectures
provided by some of the most prominent
Environmental Law specialists in Europe looks
good on your CV and being the winner of the
Moot Court Competition looks even better!
Prof. dr. Luc Lavrysen (Belgium), Prof. dr.
Gerd Winter (Germany), Prof. and legal
advisor to UNITAR, Geneva Mary Sancy and
Dr. Philippe Guillot (France) have already
confirmed their attendance at the “ELSA
Vilnius Summer School 2003”.
“ELSA Vilnius Summer School 2003”
will be organised 21 – 30 th July 2003. The
topic of this year’s event is “Implementation
of European Community Environmental Law
– problems and prospects”. As our Summer
School on Environmental Law is the third in
the history of ELSA Vilnius, time has come
to speak about the implementation of
Environmental Law. All of us know that the
present ELSA IFP is “Trade Law – a way
for sustainable development”. Thus “ELSA
Vilnius Summer School 2003” qualifies to
meet the common interests and needs of
ELSA.
If you grab the chance and come to
Lithuania you will hear lectures on “The
European Court of Justice and the
Implementation of Environmental Law”,
“Access to justice of individuals and
environmental associations in relation to EC
Environmental Law” and others. The
workshops and the Moot Court Competition
will both serve to make you a super duper
specialist of Law.
And as soon as your brains are
satisfied, time comes for the soul. I guess
there was a reason for Aleksey Gunter to
write that “if Lithuania started working on
its brand strategy to attract more foreign
capital, a slogan “Lithuania – the land of
gorgeous ladies” could be an option”. So feel
free and check it out! Hmm, should I mention
that we have awesome guys here as well?
Hooked? For more information visit our
website www.elsa.lt/vilnius/summer2003.
Come to Lithuania this summer and let us
prove you that “under the Lithuanian sun it’s
time to have some common fun”!
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
19

20
Natalie Blazhivska
ELSA Ukraine
& Roman Sivii
ELSA Lviv
Legal System,
Civil Society
and the State
Annually, since 1993, in spring the Law
Faculty of the Ivan Franko National University
of Lviv organises the student’s law conference.
Since then, the conference acquired
significance by transforming into All-Ukrainian.
Last year (in April 2002) we decided to hold
the First International Students’ Law
Conference, which gathered almost 130 law
students from: Poland, Russia, Hungary,
Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. The program
of the conference progrrame was challenging
both academically and socially. The variety of
subjects covered by speakers enabled students
to acquire a new approach to core legal
problems. Thus, such kind of event is of great
value – it helps to exchange scientific fruits,
improve presentation skills, find new friends
(!) and get articles published in a Conference
Book.
This year, ELSA Ukraine in co-operation
with the Student’s Scientific Society welcome
You to the (10 th Anniversary) II International
Students’ Conference “Legal Systems, Civil
Society and the State”, which will take place
on the 7-9 th of May at the Law Faculty of
Lviv National University – one of the oldest in
Ukraine, founded in 1661.
The conference will be held within the
framework of specialised sections. The
ideology of the event is based on the grounds
of decentralization, transparency and
everyone’s involvement. Participants are
encouraged to make a speech, but if you
prefer not to be a speaker – we are, of
course, pleased to invite you as an observer.
There are three official languages of the
Conference: English, Ukrainian and Russian.
For more information about the II International
Students’ Law Conference in Lviv
see: www.elsa.org.ua of contact us at
elsa@ukr.net.
See You all in beautiful Lviv - the city
where dreams are said to come true, where
every street has a legend!
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Kersten Schmahl
Director
Seminars & Conferences
ELSA-Lüneburg e.V.
International
Space Law
Seminar
It was the end of November when the
youngest member of ELSA Germany ELSA-
Lüneburg e.V. welcomed 30 students from
twelve different countries who were curious
and interested in Space Law at the
University of Applied Sciences in Lüneburg.
As a new founded ELSA faculty group our
team was pretty excited and anxious that
everything would work out well and that the
ELSA people, especially those who travelled
two days in order to get here, would enjoy
their time. Space Law - this unusual and
exotic sounding topic was the subject of the
seminar. There were four days time in order
to get a deeper background about the legal
framework of Space Law. The lectures (e.g.
International Space Conventions, Legal
issues of Satellite broadcasting or the (Il)
legality of appropriation on the moon) were
given by renowned speakers like Andre
Farand, European Space Agency, Prof.
Philippe Achilleas, University of Paris Sud,
Prof. Bernhard Schmidt-Tedd, German Air
and Space Institute or Prof. Lesley J. Smith
LL.M, University of Lüneburg.
And, of course – as it is ELSA spirit
– there were not only lectures on the
agenda but also a varied social program.
Consisting of a rally through our picturesque
town Lüneburg, a pub-crawl and as the
highlight of this seminar the “Captain
Future”-Party. We had party every night
until… - as an ELSA member you can imagine
– but nevertheless “nearly” everybody
appeared for the lectures at the next
morning, at least by 11 o’clock. We hope
and believe that everybody who participated
in this event had a good time and good fun
in Lüneburg and we are looking forward to
meeting you again at another ELSA occasion
and maybe we can welcome you for
another seminar in Lüneburg. Thanks to all
the people who helped us organising this
seminar!
Alena Hermans
member of the OC
International
Tax Law
Seminar
Were it easy to achieve harmony in the
discussions of International Tax Law as exists
amongst European students and young
lawyers, a seminar discussing this topic would
be superfluous. However, as the opposite
seems to be the case, the ELSA group of
Münster University in Germany organised a
Seminar from June 6 through 9 2002 in
order to illuminate the complex and daunting
fields of Double Taxation and a potential Unified
Taxation System within Europe.
The Seminar commenced on Thursday
evening with the arrival of our international
guests. They were all invited to accompany
us to the “JuWi-Fest”, a party jointly held by
students of economics and law and so wildly
popular among students that it is not uncommon
to stand in line for well over three
hours to obtain tickets! The weather proved
to be surprisingly good for the Münsterian
climate, that is to say: It didn’t rain, and so
we all danced to the music of various live bands
with the other 3000 students there until the
wee hours.
We woke the next morning to find a
more familiar weather scheme: the everpresent
rain. Nonetheless almost all of our
foreign participants decided to come on our
tour of the historic center of Münster and
see such peculiar sights as the anabaptist
cages hanging high on a church steeple, a bar
which once sported horses dancing on tables
and a graveyard without any bones. However,
the most talked about particularity of Münster
was the everpresence of bicycles scampering
and whizzing all over town. In fact, the people
of Münster like their bikes so much that they
even built Germany’s first parking garage
especially for bicyles!
After all of our German guests had
arrived as well, it was time for Mr. Reinhard
Pöllath of Pöllath + Partners to officially open
the academic part of the Seminar. After a
few introductory words about International by

(E)LSA Uzbekistan
ELSA Czech Republic
Stepan Holub
Secretary General
ELSA Czech Republic
Samarkand, Bukhara or Tashkent - these
mythical towns were one of the first impulses
to start working on a bilateral stu-dy visit
with Uzbekistan, a post soviet coun-try,
northern neighbor of Afghanistan. The search
of the universities and student associations
started. We tried to find an or-ganization of
law students – something like ELSA – but
after some months of unsuccess-ful searching,
we gave up, however…
At the National Council Meeting in Köln
in spring 2002, where we were invited by
ELSA Germany, someone suddenly heard the
unbelievable combination of words: “There
is the one from ELSA Uzbekistan…”.
The students from Uzbekistan were,
of course, no ELSA-members, as there is
no ELSA in Uzbekistan. They created a similar
organization called The Law Students
Association having students from different
Uzbek universities. The topic of our bilateral
exchange visit was “Legal reforms in
Uzbekistan and the Czech Republic”. Thanks
to the very flexible e-mail cooperation of our
fellows from Tashkent, we were lucky to get
flight tickets for all participants from both
countries paid by Open Society Fund - East
East project.
The first half of the project was held in
Prague in November 2002 and our friends
from Uzbekistan took part in different lectures,
such as privatization in Czech Republic,
human rights, constitutional law and
others. They even saw a prison and the Parliament
of the Czech Republic and took part
in some field trips. Naturally, we tried to
show to our Uzbek friends what the ELSA
spirit means. However, you cannot expect
to find too many alcoholics in a half-muslim
country…
In December, we participated in the
second, very exciting part, in Uzbekistan. It
was held mostly in Taskhent, the Capital of
this post-Soviet country. The inhabitants of
this dry, landlocked country seem to slowly
be recovering their national identity. Even
though the official language is now Uzbek, most
of the people still have no problem to communicate
in Russian. However the law students
we met were ready to speak English.
Uzbek students gave us a very warm
welcome, interesting lectures and study
visits. We met rectors of different universities
and made the basic steps for further
cooperation with the universities: With the
result that our universities have now been
exchanging students for one or two semesters.
Students of LSA would like to become
more involved in ELSA’s activities, possibly
even to become full members of ELSA one
day. Also worth mentioning, ELSA became a
TV star in Uzbekistan when we gave an interview
to the main TV news of the day.
Apart from Taskhkent, we visited the
historical towns of Samarkand and Bukhara,
both on the UNESCO heritage list. We
appreciated the many varieties of food such
as “plöf”, “tschiburjak” or tasty national bread
“lepjoshka”. We also learned a lot about
the great tea culture and bargaining at the
markets.
We have many pleasant experien-ces
from this country and great memories of our
Uzbek friends. We are looking forward to
spread more information to interested ELSA
people.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
21

22
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association

Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
23

Tax Law, he announced the winners
of ELSA Germany’s 2002 Essay Competition.
The participants of the competition
had all been invited by Pöllath + Partners
to attend the Seminar and eagerly awaited
their prizes. The first prize, consisting of
1.500 • , was awarded to three students
of Münster University. Their essay on “Venture
Capital”, highly lauded by Mr. Pöllath,
is soon to be published.
After the dinner we had drinks in
Mün-ster’s eldest and very quaint student
pub. Later on gathered around a light and
sounds show projected on the renais-sance
facades around the central market-place,
held in honour of Carla del Ponte, winner
of the 2002 Westphalian Peace Prize.
After this rather eerie presentation, those
among the participants who weren’t ready
to drop into bed rolled on to a club hosting
a “Coyote Ugly” party for the remainder
of the night.
Some well-rested and some not so
well-rested participants appeared for breakfast
the following morning. After some
strong coffee, however, all were ready to
learn more about International Taxation.
The lectures planned for that morning were
“Double Taxation Conventions and Their
24
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Effect on National German Tax Law”, held
by Mr. H.-G. Wind of Cleary Gottlieb Steen
& Hamilton, followed by “Elimination of Double
Taxation” by Mr. F. Jacob of Hengeler Mueller.
During the lunch break students had the
opportunity to discuss their carreers and ideas
with the lawyers present at the Law Firm F
air. In the afternoon, the participants heard
lectures by Mrs. P. Eckl of Flick Gocke Schaumburg
on “EU Impacts on Germany’s Direct
Taxation” and by Dr. M. Lausterer of
Linklaters, Oppenhoff & Rädler on “Efforts
to Harmonize European Tax Law”.
After a dinner of pizza and pasta we
strolled over to a fraternity house to celebrate
ELSA-style, and especially the OC could be
seen dancing until the next morning.
The final lecture on Sunday morning,
“International Taxation on Personal Assets”
by Mr. U. Ränsch of Baker & McKenzie proved
to be a fit closure of an alltogether wellrounded
event. The participants noted that
what they had learned over the past three days
would help them with their studies, their
dissertations and their work.
After a final luncheon both OC and
participants agreed that this weekend in Münster
– hopefully along with the newly aquired
knowledge of Tax Law – will remain in everyone’s
good memory for years to come.

Drops of sun and drops of
grapes in front of the Swiss
mountains
or Building the future
In accordance with the Seminars and
Conferences Policies, a Study Visit (SV) may
be single, bilateral, multilateral or institutional.
We can keep talking a lot about the benefits
of organizing a SV but it is definitely undeniable
that study visits make an enormous
contribution to making long lasting friendships,
sharing our cultures and experiencing more of
the ELSA life as well as by exchanging knowledge
on practical and theoretical grounds.
In October 2002, a multilateral study
visit took place in shiny Switzerland where
ELSA representatives from ELSA Budapest,
ELSA Law University of Lithuania and ELSA
Lausanne met in order to gain an extremely
broad knowledge of legal perspectives, to learn
about the three countries as well as to simply
have fun, which on the whole strengthens the
ELSA network.
Back in December, 2001, ELSA Law
University of Lithuania members started
working on a project “Building the future”
which aimed to raise the idea of a common,
united, educated and cooperative Europe by
working hand in hand with different ELSA
groups within the old continent. The results
of our efforts resulted in the multilateral study
visit in Switzerland as one of the best ways to
turn the dream of united Europe into a reality
is by cooperating with strongly motivated and
energetic young people from all over Europe.
During just one week in Switzerland we set
up strong relationships with our ELSA friends
from Hungary and Switzerland and if anyone
asked my opinion about the study visits, I’d
surely answer that it’s better to experience
once than to hear about it a hundred times.
In general, the Swiss put a lot of effort
and dedication into organizing such a worthwhile
and extremely useful programme of events for
our study visit. The program included everything
that could possibly be expected – guided tours
to the most important institutions in
Switzerland, a boat tour to a magnificent
castle, walks in overwhelmingly beautiful cities
such as Bern and Geneva, tasting cheese
fondues and other Swiss specialties, sampling
chocolates, and least but not the last
experiencing the nightlife and a lot more…
To begin with, we were deeply excited
and honored to see that in the Olympic Museum
located in Lausanne attention was shown
to Lithuanian champions as well – in a short
movie on the Olympic Games we were able
to catch a glimpse of the Lithuanian champion
in discus throwing. Moreover, ELSA Lausanne
members showed us around the beautiful city
of Lausanne – a small miracle situated on three
hills. More importantly, we had a chance to
visit Lausanne University as well as to meet
its Vice Dean who invited us for a dinner during
which the law students from Hungary and
Lithuania exchanged brief presentations on
ELSA and university lives in our home
countries. Furthermore, we discussed the
importance of such projects that on the whole
make an impact on students’ initiative by the
knowledge about the different countries and
cultures.
During one of the days of a SV we got
acquainted with Bern – the beautiful capital
and unique city. Bern isn’t special merely for
being the home city for the Federal Parliament
and many other institutions of great
significance. It has a lot more to offer - this
city has such a cozy and breathtaking old feel,
and once you’re in Bern – you simply don’t
want to go away! We also found it really
cute to see three little bears in Bern since
the bear is a symbol of the city. Every single
day was full of surprises, wonderful
impressions and delights and what’s more
important – every single day was a perfect
chance to bridge the gaps between the three
countries.
The second big and challenging city –
Geneva, welcomed us by opening the doors
to the Palace of the United Nations and the
International Red Cross Museum. It was very
interesting for us as law students to gain some
first-hand experience and a wider knowledge
as far as the UN structure and practice is
concerned. It was wonderful to hear that very
often the question of peace and solutions of
global problems depend on successful
diplomacy deriving from long time practice.
The beauty of the Swiss mountains, with
their sparkling peaks covered in snow, are
Rasa Incerauskaite
ELSA Law University of Lithuania
Vice President
Seminars & Conferences
indescribable. During the boat tour to the
beautiful Chillons castle it was these
mountains which convinced the participants
that Switzerland is one the most splendid
places on Earth. Nevertheless, it is
unavoidable to mention that we have seen all
the most attractive sides of Switzerland and
it was a perfect implementation of the
“Building the future” project.
The success of a study visit usually
depends a lot on the strong and sincere will
as well as the hard work of the host group
not to mention the friendliness and
appreciation of all the participants. There is
no doubt as to our Swiss ELSA friends doing
their very best in organizing the trip. This is
the main reason why the project turned out
to be so successful and promising. Although
we did have some competitions: Switzerland
against Lithuania & Hungary against
Lithuania in billiards; the results of the visit
were extremely positive: long lasting
friendships, exchanging knowledge in the fields
of social, economic and politicals and real lives
of the home countries and realizing that our
beloved ELSA is a steamroller which
completely takes over our lives and minds in
the most positive way . It was good to hear
that both ELSA Budapest and ELSA
Lausanne are non-stop local groups as well,
organizing and taking part in many events.
Finally, on behalf of ELSA Law University
of Lithuania, I want to thank the hosts of
this incredible study visit – the members of
ELSA Lausanne for their great hospitality as
well as ELSA Budapest for a week full of life
time memories. Special thanks also go to
ELSA Law University of Lithuania’s
partner and friend American Chamber of
Commerce in Lithuania for supporting this
students’ initiative. We will certainly be
able to use the experience gained in
further ELSA projects and hopefully this
is not the point where the cooperation
between ELSA Budapest, ELSA Lausanne
and ELSA Law University of Lithuania ends
– hope to meet you all again in Lithuania
very soon so that we can continue building
a brighter future for us all.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
25

26
Iulia Vass
Director for Human Rights
ELSA International
Four Years Of ELSA
and Human Rights
THE BEST FOUR YEARS OF MY LIFE
It is almost the time to draw another important
line of my life, as the University is ready
to kick me out by the end of this year. It is
almost the end of one of the best periods. A
period that has also been the beginning of my
maturity. It is not easy for me to tell the
story of the last four years. So many things
have happened, that many of them are only
shades in my memory. But there are a few
important episodes, which I would like to
remember, laugh and cry at together with
you, who left aside the ELSA work and the
law books in order to read these lines. And
most importantly, I would like to remember
the faces, the laughter, the sadness and the
love of all the wonderful friends and people
I have worked with during these four years.
How did I get involved with ELSA and
Human Rights? Four years ago, after
participating in the seminar “Rights of minorities
– de jure and de facto situations”, I sent an
application to Budapest for a project, which I
intended to organize the next summer. It was
something about organizing a group of law
students who were supposed to go to different
cities and villages in Transylvania in order to
teach Romanian and Hungarian students about
Minorities’ Rights. Being convinced that my
application was one of the best, I managed to
“fool” the Local Board of ELSA Bucharest to
appoint me as Director for Human Rights. I
did not receive the money for my grand project,
and after a few months, I was still trying to
figure out what ELSA was actually about and
what I was supposed to do as Director for
Human Rights. My motivation came from my
first international ELSA event, one of the best
trilaterals ever, in Fribourg, Switzerland,
gathering members from ELSA Bucharest,
ELSA Messina and ELSA Fribourg together.
The summer brought with it the Coimbra
Law School on Human Rights and Demo-
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
cratization. Two dream-weeks: Great courses,
great climate, great town, great ocean, and
most of all, great people. The fun, the
adventure, the sadness, the sleepless nights…
were all shared with great friends: Tove,
Vassiliki, Dragana, Irena, Eszter, Ivan, Robert
and Dora and so many other wonderful
participants. Of course, I don’t forget the OC
members, who offered us an unforgettable
Human Rights experience. One of the outcomes
of the Coimbra Law School was that I found
out about the existence of ELSA’s ICMs.
Which led to my next important step: the
Oresund ICM. Understanding the international
dimension of ELSA and meeting Cornelia
Schneider, the newly appointed DHR ELSA
International, were the best inspiration for my
desire to bring a change in ELSA Bucharest.
After these international experiences, I
came back home and started applying what I
have learned. By the end of October, I already
had a Human Rights Working Group composed
of 12 motivated girls, which immediately
started working: we set up an IHL LRG, a
practice at the Romanian National Council for
Refugees and started organizing the
International Human Rights Day Conference.
It was the first time when I first understood
how much responsibility organizing an event
implies, even if only a one day event, as you
have to think about so many things at the
same time: academic programme, fundraising,
speakers, rooms, materials, posters,
participants, coffee breaks, parties, and most
of all, organising and motivating people to work
for the project. Luckily, it was a success!
After being appointed DHR of ELSA
Romania and President of ELSA Bucharest,
in February I was a very happy person: being
in New York as an ELSA delegate to the VIIth
ICC Prep. Com. Entering the UN building, I
had the feeling that I was both important and
small at the same time. Meeting people like
Benjamin Ferencz, former Nuremberg
prosecutor, or Mrs. Paula Escarameia,
Portugal’s delegate and member of the
International Law Commission, I realized how
lucky I am to be an ELSA member and to
have the opportunity to sit next to living
legends. But the charm of my New York
experience was not only caused by the chance
to talk and work with diplomats and other
wonderful people. The UN Cafeteria
breakfasts with Sofia, our “head of state”,
the Spanish serenade in the hotel lobby with
Melina and Iason, the New York sightseeing,
Tiago’s disappointment for not managing to
convince me to fundraise for ELSA by going
to a casting of a modeling agency who tried
to recruit me, are only some of the
unforgettable people and moments of another
ELSA Human Rights experience.
Those weeks must have been some of
the most tiring weeks of my life, especially
since after only five days I joined the largest
delegation ELSA Romania ever had to an ICM,
to the XX Anniversary of ELSA and the
Vienna ICM. Meeting old and new friends,
working during the day and having fun during
the night is something that we always do
during the ICMs. But what made this ICM
special was the Human Rights Working
Group. I rarely saw so many ELSA Human
Rights Enthusiasts in the same place. We
made many plans, and even if not all were
realistic, there was an important outcome
of the Human Rights Working Group: we
went back home wiser and ready to work
harder. Therefore, the following months were
filled with projects: conferences, seminars,
editing ELSA Bucharest’s magazine, a
training weekend, and ELSA Romania’s NCM,
where, following the Vienna ICM example,
I organized the Human Rights Workshop.

It was a surprise, a huge honor and a
big challenge for me to be appointed Director
for Human Rights ELSA International. But
at the same time I realized that the
responsibilities and the work I have to do at
an international level are different: till then, I
was used to working with people face to face;
from that moment, almost all my work had
to be done via Internet. I would lie if I would
say that I was not scared and panicked. But
I tried to learn as much as possible during
my transition week in Brussels and tried to
be a good team member. Finding my way
through files and documents, writing emails,
making plans for the following year, and
preparing for the Coimbra ICM occupied the
first weeks of my mandate. I was so sad
that I could not attend the Coimbra ICM!
First of all, because I missed the first chance
to meet the Human Rights enthusiasts face
to face, to exchange ideas and plans and to
better understand the needs of the ELSA
Network as regards the Human Rights
Commitment. And secondly because, I missed
the chance to meet my old friends in Coimbra!
Fortunately, I did not have much time
to think about my sadness, as I was on the
point of achieving another dream of mine:
The Bucharest Law School on International
Tribunals and International Humanitarian Law
– Law is Better than War! After 9 months
of hard work it all was ready, and on the 1 st
of December, the participants and the
speakers started to arrive. Those who still
think that it is easy to take care of 35 people
and around 7 speakers for almost 10 days
should try to organize such an event. It is
not easy, but I can assure you that every
inch of effort brings you back 10 inches of
happiness when you see that people who
come from all of Europe enjoy and appreciate
your work. Aleksandra, Victoria, Argy,
Maria, Tiago, Gian and other 30 Romanian,
Chinese and Albanian participants made this
event unforgettable.
My biggest memory of the Corunna
ICM is the Human Rights Workshop in the
cafeteria, of the wonderful friends and
Human Rights enthusiasts, Silje, David and
Daniel. The ELSA House Training Week was
another unforgettable moment, as it was the
first time I could go out every night for the
whole week. You will laugh, but it is true: I
needed almost 3 years of ELSA practice in
order to do this. Only one month after the
EHTW, the current International Board
decided to keep me as a “slave” for Human
Rights in ELSA. So there I was, again in Brussels,
for two weeks of package work and
another transition, freezing, smoking, eating
chips, drinking coke and working. The healthiest
regime I ever had! But I have to tell
you all something: I was and I am extremely
proud of the people I have had the chance to
work with.
But after staying in the house dressed
as an Eskimo, I went to Alanya and got to lay
by the pool in 30 degree weather! The Human
Rights Training, the Commitments’ Fair, the
Human Rights presentations and Newsletter,
were only a few good results of the work,
which preceded the ICM. But the truth is
that one of the best moments was having
breakfast at 4 o’clock in the morning with
my Spanish friends, Rebecca, Elena, Pablo
and the staff of the hotel, while everybody
else was starving one floor over our heads.
Looking back, I know that not all the
moments were good; I know that there were
hard times and disappointments; but to tell
you the truth, those are not the ones I
remember. I actually even laugh whenI
remember them. But the good moments,
the good people, the good actions that we
did, will always stay in my heart and mind.
And all this time, by living the ELSA dream
and having one main goal: to make a difference
through ELSA and Human Rights, by
bringing my own contribution to a better
world, in which there is respect for human
dignity and cultural diversity, I gained another
invaluable treasure: the best four years of
my life.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
27

International and
National Mechanisms of
Human Rights
Protection
: The First
International
Scientific
Law
Conference
Recalling.
(Russia, Ufa,
13-14
December
2002)
28
Sergey Vasiliev
ELSA Bashkortostan
Natalia Biktyusheva
ELSA Bashkortostan
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Have you ever heard of the city Ufa? It’s the
place in Russia where the 1 st International Law
Students Conference “International and
National Mechanisms of Human Rights
Protection” dedicated to the 54th Anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and devoted to various aspects of Human
Rights’ protection mechanisms took place on
the 13-14 of December 2002.
The idea of the students’ conferences in
Russia requires that the students, not
professors (with the exception of the work the
Plenary Session) make their reports and
participate actively. After the report is made,
the risky “questions-answers” stage follows
when students can either impress everybody
by their deep knowledge or show that they should
have worked harder on the topic. According to
this academic standard, professors do not
interfere much into work of the conference but
they are welcome to express their authoritative
opinion and to direct the flow of debates into
the right flow. So the events scheme is based
on a very active participation of students – they
should write an essay on the topic, present it in
public and answer any questions that people
might have from their presentation. It is a
positive thing. But the down side is that the
social program in Russia is usually not given much
attention, as nobody sees the point in paying
much attention to it at such “serious meetings”.
So for our Conference we decided not
to choose between a rich academic program
and a crazy social life. We confidently chose
both.
To apply to participate the students had
to write an abstract (not exceeding 4 pages)
concerning different HR protection domains.
The authors of articles that won the
competition were invited to participate (about
110 persons).
To our pleasure, the conference
confirmed its International status, with people
from Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Czech Republic
participating despite the freeze (we had –25
degrees during the Conference) and the rather
long way to Bashkortostan.
At the Plenary the University Rector,
Law Department Director, some other professors,
the Prosecutor of the Republic, the
Ombudsman of Bashkortostan and some
other state authorities made their reports.
This session was shown on the local TV news.
For the rest of the time of the Conference
the participants were divided into 7
workshops according to the topics of their
abstracts for them to make their speeches
and discuss them altogether. The creative
atmosphere at the workshops was reached
thanks to the optimal balance between
supervision by the professors, who were not
too imposing, and the competent and fresh
opinions expressed freely by the students. At
the end of the debates parti-cipants secretly
voted in order to elect the 3 students who
made the best reports.
And, the most pleasant – social and
cultural program: excursions around the city,
fun at the skiing resorts nearby Ufa, the Ball
for the participants. And, of course, crazy
ELSA night parties (at discos and then in the
hostel rooms) for those who was still able to
stand on feet at the end of the day…
At the Official Closing Ceremony of
the Conference the Director of the
Institute distributed the Prizes and
Diplomas for the best reports performed
at the workshops. Apart from this, every
participant receive a Certificate.
The University authorities expressed
their will to make the Conference in Ufa
annual and to involve more students from
the other countries of Europe next year.
There were several surprises from the OC
at the Final Ceremony: each guest from another
region or country received the regional exotic drink
called “koumiss” (the fermented mare’s milk).
While a Special Prize was also set for the
Heroes of the Conference – the members of
the delegation whose way to Ufa was the
longest. The students from Lviv (Ukraine) spent
3 days in a train to come to the Conference!
So, that’s the history of an S&C event
organized by a local group in some European
country. 4 months of hard work were worth
all the joy, happiness, relationships and great
experience we have got! We will repeat it
again. Are you coming?

Andrzej Rataj
IFP Director
ELSA International
During the Alanya ICM in November 2002,
the Council decided on the new Topic of the
International Focus Programme for 2003-
2005: “Trade Law - A Way For Sustainable
Development”. It means that now we have
time for the IFP Implementation – time to
start working on the topic. The success of
the IFP im-plementation depends, firstly, on
us - on our Local or National Groups. This
article is to provide you with some ideas for
the IFP Implementation.
IFP in Key Areas
Beginning with ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES, the
most important projects are Moot Court
Competitions, particularly “The ELSA Moot
Court Competition on the Law of the World
Trade Organization” (EMCC). Nowadays Moot
Courts are becoming more and more popular in
Europe. This is also a great chance for ELSA:
we can organise a big pan European annual
project on a high academic level with the
participation of leading legal authorities.
Additionally Moot Courts are organised by many
National Groups. The other AA project, ELSA
Selected Papers in European Law is now back
and work has already begun for the next edition
Time for IFP
Implementation!
to include IFP articles. Another Great chance
for ELSA`s academic work are Legal Research
Groups on local, national and international level.
Additional examples of possible events in the
area are essay competitions some of which are
already taking place within the Network.
As regards the STUDENT TRAINEE
EXCHANGE PROGRAMME there are, of
course, possibilities for training in law firms, as
well as in national and international institutions
dedicated to trade law, like chambers of
commerce, ministres of economy and of trade,
WTO, WIPO (World Intellectual Property
Organization) etc. The later institutions,
however, generally offer only unpaid trainings.
SEMINARS & CONFERENCES provide
us with great possibilities for organising IFP
projects. I will just mention some “hot” themeideas
for S&C projects: Commercial Contracts,
Commercial Arbitration, International Company
Law, Corporate Governance, Unfair Competition
and Unfair Trade, Industrial Property, Internet
Copyright Law, International Patents, WTO law
(GATT, GATS, TRIPS) and many others. Of
course there are also possibilities to combine
Study Visits with the IFP Topic. One can arrange
a SV combined with lectures or even a small
seminar on Trade Law on a comparative basis.
Plenty of ideas arise in area of Institutional Study
Visits: ministries, chambers of commerce and
law firms are all good examples. One can also
visit e.g. WTO in Geneva, UNCITRAL in Vienna,
UE Institutions, UNIDROIT in Rome, ICC in Paris
and many, many other institutions.
How to implement?
We should first promote the new theme in
National and Local ELSA Groups. We should
promote the possibilities of organising IFP
projects - every National Group should consider
its domestic situation in trade and business
activities and tendencies and possibilities for
development? They may sound like localised
topics – but in fact these are as international
as any other topic possible – especially when a
horde of ELSA Maniacs from all over Europe
descend on the seminar.
The function of ELSA International is to
promote the IFP by providing concrete ideas
and topics for the projects, with this in mind
the IFP will be officially launched at the Athens
ICM with a presentation on how to work with the
IFP. After that you will all be able focus!
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
29

Training
Within the last year training has become a
more and more important issue in ELSA.
Training events are organised on all levels and
the use of ELSA’s International Trainers’ Pool
(ITP) has increased dramatically. This article
will give you an overview of the different
training topics and hopefully for your next
training event.
Training topics at a glance
Training in ELSA is provided by externals, by
experienced active members as well as by
seniors. Besides a substantial part of training
sessions is held by members of ELSA’s
internal trainers (ITP). The range of topics is
wide, but it can roughly be divided into three
main areas, containing the following topics:
30
ELSA knowledge training
General ELSA knowledge
area-specific training
Personal skills training
Presentation skills
Negotiation skills
Communication
Time management
Specific training related to ELSA work
Fundraising
Transition moderation
Project management
Planning
Teambuilding
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Let’s have a closer look at what’s behind
those promising key words and pick some
examples:
ELSA knowledge training
A general ELSA training will give new ELSA
members an insight into the aims and
programmes of our association and provides
information about the history and structure
of ELSA on all levels.
ITP trainers will also help you to broaden
your knowledge in specific areas. A training
will help you to discover all the possible projects
one can organise on local/national level within
the frame of Academic Activities. Specific
knowledge training is especially useful when it
comes to STEP. During a training session you
can learn and practice all steps necessary to
successfully find a traineeship, how to
advertise the program at your university and
what to bear in mind when hosting trainees.
With regard to the supporting areas
especially training in financial management is
of great benefit. Most of the time treasurers
don’t have a specific financial qualification.
However, being in charge of the financial side
of an organisation like ELSA does not only
require a lot of responsibility, but also basic
knowledge about budgeting and accounting. All
that can be provided in a training on FM.
Personal skills training
Studying law at university provides you with
the legal knowledge you need for the future.
However, working in any legal position takes
more than only profound legal knowledge.
Personal qualifications such as presentation
skills, proper oral and written communication
and capacity to work in a team are a small
selection of basic qualities expected from you.
These are applicable whether you apply to a
law firm, a court or for a legal job in the
administration.Hardly any university offers
courses to train these kind of skills.
Being actively involved in an organisation
like ELSA gives you the opportunity to acquire
and these “soft skills” and practice what
you’ve learned at the same time.
Training on presentation skills will help
you polish up your ability to stand up in front
of a crowd and present your point of view in a
Jana Behlendorf
Director for Training
Elsa International
professional way. The trainers will introduce
you to different presentation techniques... and
of course there will be plenty of time to
practice, maybe even a chance for taping and
analysing your efforts!
A training on communication will give you
insight to why the information training between
sender and receiver sometimes go wrong.
No need to explain what’s behind “time
management” ...unless of course you ever
managed to deliver a due paper on time without
sleepless nights and plenty of junk food before
and not to forget the collapsing printer...
Specific training related to ELSA work
These kind of trainings are tailor-made for
ELSA work and meant to facilitate your
local/national ELSA work. They are based
on a lot of experience from formerly active
ELSA members and are constantly
developed.
Your local group/national group wants
to develop a fundraising concept? A fundraising
training will help you to plan your approaches
on a long-term basis. You will learn how to
write fundraising proposals, how to prepare
and how to handle a personal meeting.
Your group is planning a seminar, law
school or another big event? Then training
on project management is definitely a
worthwhile experience. ITP trainers will
assist getting an overview over the complete
project and help you setting up a detailed
action plan.
A lot of knowledge get lost each year
when the old board leaves office and the new
one takes over. Therefore ITP trainers are
ready to help you prepare a thorough
transition program. They can also moderate
your transition session, which has proved
very useful in Germany.
Once you are in office it is time to set
your priorities and plan projects you want to
realise during your term in office. ITP trainers
will support you setting your goals and finding
a common plan for the team by using different
methods. That kind of training will give you a
good start into your new responsibilities.
How to organise and finance a training?
Training events can be funded through
the ELSA Development Fund (EDF).

Storm the Brain &
Flip the Chart!
You might believe there are better ways to
spend a couple of cold, grey and wet days in
December than gathering rooms a glow with
neon lights in a building close to a railway
station in order to listen to others and be
prodded into action yourself every now and
again, but you’d be wrong – so wrong! You
see, the gathered in question were old (okay
then, experienced) ELSA cronies as well as
nearly-newcomers to the ELSA world who
were selected to participate in what is called
the “Train the Trainers Weekend” in a
beautiful city called Amsterdam.
The training started on Sunday afternoon
and within a short time the trainers had
participants from various countries, ELSA
levels and groups brainstorming and discussing
at equally quite various volume levels. Then
followed group work, presentation and
discussion before another round of brainstorming
(new topic, don’t want you thinking
we didn’t get it right first time round!). And
so - welcome to a beautiful town called
Amsterdam.
In the following days the training sessions
continued with the same intensity and now
and then were joined by a touch of hilarity. In
a Clifford Chance office we could be seen
throwing fruit at each other for the most
civilized reasons, thoughtfully suggesting
murder as a quick and effective means to
solving a presented problem (naming no
names…) as well as drawing geometrical
figures to visualize which learning type we are
(it was hip to be square, preferably in the
lower right corner of the chart). Various types
of group work often gave us different allies
and presentations had us either standing in
front of the group with sweaty hands or sitting
among the group with critical eyes. We learnt
how to lead a discussion, present facts and
create a good and productive atmosphere. We
discussed team building exercises and ice
breakers and probably round about then
decided to go and test the latter with some
dinner, a drink or two and a nightly stroll
through a beautiful town called Amsterdam.
Not only were our trainers considerate
enough to herd us from the hotel to the offices
and back, they also got in touch with some
local ELS members and had them show us
the sights. Therefore, after dinner, we saw
Nina Perch - Nielsen
ITP Trainer
the law faculty of Amsterdam from outside,
the red-light district (of course also from the
outside) and a bar from the inside. We also
enjoyed a boat trip by night and no doubt
highly delighted the captain with merry songs
from faraway lands and exclamations of joy
when being presented with gifts. Pleasures
galore in a beautiful town called Amsterdam.
Now what is the output of such an
exercise, you may wonder. Well, just a month
later we are presented with training requests
and no longer thinking ‘eh, me?’, but are
offering our services to break the ice, build a
team and make serious use of a flipchart for
the benefit of others. By the time you read
this some of our proud little troop will probably
have thrown fruit at unsuspecting ELSA
members and taught them a thing or two about
organisation and fundraising too. So as you
see there are plenty of reasons to spend a
few cold, grey and wet days in December
gathering in neon-light infested rooms in a
building close to a railway station in order to
listen to others and be prodded into action
yourself every now and again – provided it
happens in…
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
31

International Trainers Pool
Johan Almer
Nationality: Swedish
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: Swedish, English
Favourite trainings: Marketing, Financial Management,
Planning
Sofia Amaral
Nationality: Portuguese
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: Portuguese, English,
French
Favourite trainings: General ELSA knowledge,
Transition/OYOP, Internal Man
Jana Behlendorf
Nationality: German
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: German, English
Favourite trainings: Project management,
Negotiation skills, Teambuilding
Christian Braun
Nationality: German
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: German, English, French
Favourite trainings: Internal Management,
Teambuilding, Chairing meetings
Anders Bredmose
Nationality: Danish
Active in ELSA since 1996
Training languages: Danish, English
Favourite trainings: General ELSA training,
Fundraising, Planning
Andrea Brizzi
Nationality: Italian
Active in ELSA since 1998
Training languages: Italian, English
Favourite trainings: General ELSA knowledge,
board management, planning
32
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Rebeca Cenalmor Rejas
Nationality: Spanish
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: Spanish, English, Italian
Favourite trainings: Planning, teambuilding,
conflict resolution
Jane Deane
Nationality: Irish
Active in ELSA since 1991
Training languages: Irish, English, French
Favourite trainings: General ELSA Knowledge,
Teambuilding, Presentation skills
Thomas Fraiss
Nationality: Austrian
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: German, English
Favourite trainings: STEP, Strategic planning,
Project Management
Tine Fredsted Uth
Nationality: Danish
Active in ELSA since 1996
Training languages: Danish, English
Favourite trainings: General ELSA Knowledge,
Internal Management, Presentation skills
Anette Hvidt
Nationality: Danish
Active in ELSA since 1998
Training languages: Danish, English
Favourite trainings: Marketing, Organising
projects, Motivation
Iris Kaeslin
Nationality: Swiss
Active in ELSA since 1996
Training languages: German, English
Favourite trainings: STEP, Team building,
Organising projects
Veronika Kotek
Nationality: Swiss-Czech
Active in ELSA since 1996
Training languages: German, English, French,
Czech
Favourite trainings: conflict resolution, team
management, team building/planning
Marcin Krzysko
Nationality: Polish
Active in ELSA since 1996
Training languages: Polish, English
Favourite trainings: Marketing, Project Management,
Interpersonal Communication
ITP
Katarzyna Kurpiewska
Nationality: Polish
Active in ELSA since 1998
Training languages: Polish, English
Favourite trainings: Motivation, Teambuilding,
Public speaking
Hans Lederer
Nationality: Austrian
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: German, English, French
Favourite trainings: Project Management,
Motivation and Teambuilding, Moot Courts
Maria Moguilnaia
Nationality: Russian
Active in ELSA since 2000
Training languages: Russian, English
Favourite trainings: team building, project
management, ELSA knowledge
Pascal Mousset
Nationality: Dutch
Active in ELSA since 1993
Training languages: Dutch, English
Favourite trainings: Internal Management,
Fundraising, Board management/planning

Espen Nakstad
Nationality: Norwegian
Active in ELSA since 1999
Training languages: Norwegian, English
Favourite trainings: BEE / strategic planning,
External Relations, Chairing Techniques
Clemens Niedner
Nationality: German
Active in ELSA since 1998
Training languages: German, English
Favourite trainings: BEE, Fundraising,
Teambuilding
Frants Nielsen
Nationality: Danish
Active in ELSA since 1994
Training languages: Danish, English
Favourite trainings: Fundraising, BEE in general,
Chairing meetings
Leander Palleit
Nationality: German
Active in ELSA since 1994
Training languages: German, English
Favourite trainings: BEE, Team building,
Strategic planning
Nina Perch-Nielsen
Nationality: Swiss
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: German, English, French,
Danish
Favourite trainings: project management,
team building, communication
Jörn-Peter Riepe
Nationality: German
Active in ELSA since 1994
Training languages: German, English
Favourite trainings: Project management,
General Planning, Presentation skills
Cornelia Schneider
Nationality: German
Active in ELSA since 1998
Training languages: German, English
Favourite trainings: Organising projects,
Human Rights, setting up a local group
Tore Skeide
Nationality: Norwegian
Active in ELSA since 1995
Training languages: Norwegian, English
Favourite trainings: Team building, Motivation,
Marketing
Inger Marie Sletteboe
Nationality: Norwegian
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: Norwegian, English
Favourite trainings: Organising projects,
Communication, Presentation/Public speaking
Olaf Strecker
Nationality: German
Active in ELSA since 1996
Training languages: German, English, French
Favourite trainings: Presentation, Project
management, Teambuilding
Michael Ellul Sullivan
Nationality: Maltese
Active in ELSA since 1998
Training languages: Maltese, English, Italian
Favourite trainings: Project management,
Fundraising, Board management
Karina Sultanova
Nationality: Kazakhstanian
Active in ELSA since 1999
Training languages: Russian, English
Favourite trainings: Team Building, Time management,
Presentation/Public speaking
Daria Tonai
Nationality: Croatian
Active in ELSA since 1999
Training languages: Croatian, English
Favourite trainings: Financial Management,
Fundraising, Organising projects
Chiara Venturoli
Nationality: Italian
Active in ELSA since 2000
Training languages: Italian, English, German
Favourite trainings: BEE, AA, motivation
Michael Zammit Maempel
Nationality: Maltese
Active in ELSA since 1997
Training languages: English, Maltese, Italian
Favourite trainings: Internal Management,
communication, presentation skills
Joanna Zawiejska
Nationality: Polish
Active in ELSA since 1999
Training languages: Polish, English
Favourite trainings: Project management,
team building, team management
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
33

Marketing
34
Andrius Vitkevicius
Vice President Marketing
ELSA International
What have I learned being Vice President
marketing of ELSA International? This is
the question I have been asking my self
for the past six month. Being a marketer
you have to deal with simple things such
as flyers, brochure, posters etc to
promote our activities. Creating a
magazine such as Synergy is a bigger
challenge and the feedback much more
tangible. I learned that it is not just about
having an idea not just a picture or a text,
there has to be a message behind the
product. And this makes the marketing
area special we have the opportunity to
influence the course of activities going on
in the whole network. But, of course,
before sending a message we have to
consider what it should be. The obvious
solution is market research.
Making a market research is not always
easy there are a lot of factors to consider,
but it is definitely not an impossible job
even for law students. It is a question
of simplifying things and being specific
when deciding on the information you
need to know. Anyway most of us make
market research without even thinking
about it. By observing which lectures
have highest attendance, you find the
topic for your next event and so on. But
market research has the biggest effect
when you structure it a bit and spend
some time analysing.
As you will read in Emily’s article, by
making a market research ELSA
International found out the average of the
languages spoken by European law
students. What field of law they are
interested in and where they would like to
work after they finish their studies. The
chances for a high quality event with a lot
of participants increase when the topic is
“hot” and you direct your marketing
efforts towards the right students. Also
it ensures that the association constantly
develops to meet the needs of our
members and the legal society.
Johan Almer, one of our senior ELSA
members who after working some years
with marketing in ELSA decided to change
his profession from law to marketing. He
is still active in ELSA and supports by
sharing his knowledge about marketing.
Let’s see what he has to say.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
In the early 1970’s the concept of marketing
in the non-profit sector began to be used, but
people did not pay to much attention to this
“obscure” variant within marketing. Nowadays,
however, the term has become widely accepted,
and people have realized that marketing has
much to offer to different organisations.
One of the reasons for the increasing
acceptance of marketing within the non-profit
sector is due to changes in its definition. It is
no longer defined as “the provision of required
goods and services at a profit”, rather it now
focuses on the satisfaction of customer wants
and to sensitively serving the needs of a
particular homogenous group of people 1 – in
ELSA’s case, law students.
ELSA has existed for over twenty years.
In all this time no market research was ever
carried out, however the need to evaluate the
overall performance of the network and to
understand whether it still meets the
requirements of law students, has been
creeping in slowly. After all these years such
an evalu-ation of the association has became
a neces-sity.
The thing that interested me the most
was the fact that a big European organisation
with such a solid foundation, never bothered to
conduct market research to see if it was
satisfying its customers (members) and whether
its resources were allocated in the most
appropriate way. The basis for the market
1 Adrian Sargeant, Marketing Management for Nonprofit
Organizations, p. 4
Emily Bajll
BA Marketing
ELSA and the
“thorough”
market
research
research was the questionnaire that ELSA
made in collaboration with Westlaw
International.
The answers would show what students
wanted to do with their law degree, which field
of law in general were interested in, whether
they wanted to work abroad, etc. The idea was
that the questionnaire was supposed to be
handed out and filled in by both ELSA members
as well as law students in general. This would
provide all National Boards with information on
how to create a proper action plan for the
products offered by the organisation, Seminars
& Conferences (S&Cs), Academic Activities
(AA) and even traineeships (STEP) which would
hopefully attract most students and this
improve ELSA’s performance in the market.
I would just like to remind people that
market research based on questionnaires is a
very easy way to see if your are performing
well in the market. When all of you do the next
research (or the first for most countries),
remember you can ask about anything you need
information on, just have a clear idea of what
you wish to accomplish by the research, and
consider the goal / point of each question. Break
the questions down, consider, why you are
posing the questions you have decided to include.
Last, but not least of all, use the knowledge
you get from this market research and
implement it in the next one. Your is the only
way to improve.

The great
aim of
education
is
not
knowledge
but
action.
Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
English philosopher
Johan Almer
ITP Trainer
VP Marketing
ELSA International
Marketing in ELSA is a curious and everchanging
matter, in which all of you marketing
people and dear colleagues are involved.
Originally designed as a supportive function,
the tasks of the VP Marketing remains
different from year to year, from international
board to local board. The function unites,
despite all dissimilarities, but remains the field
most clearly in need of reform and a reassertion
of its core values. It is our function to assure
that anyone risking their resources in ELSA,
whether time, money or lecture time, will get
their respective desired benefit in return. Since
ELSA has very little resources that it directly
owns or controls, our task is to see to it that
sponsors and law students as well as academics
and legal professionals engage in exchanges
within the frame work of our organisation.
Whenever such an exchange takes place, we
will grow and enjoy a greater future endowment
in personnel and other resources.
We, the marketers, ensure that such
an exchange is mutually beneficial by finding
out which benefits providers of resources most
commonly seek. Doing so involves asking
questions to participants in events, being
attentive to sponsors requests, homepages
and annual reports and building long-term
relationships with providers.
ELSA marketing officers are, regardless
of whether they think so or not, some
of the most fortunate people in our orga-
nisation. Marketing is one of the most diffuse
yet most stimulating tasks ELSA has to offer
and requires a combination of creative and
analytical skills, dissimilar from our other
functions. I know that things might seem all
too glamorous at present, stuck with designing
a poster or exercising a bit of verbal conjuring
in forming a sponsorship letter, but these things
will, all in good time, be of benefit to you. It is
what you learn now which will potentially be
beneficial to you in your future employment.
Take my word for it, law firms and institutions
alike are normally not very conscious of or skilled
at the various tasks of marketing, and thus
they are rarely able to reap any substantial
harvests from its vast orchards.
The curse and blessing of ELSA is that
seed of entrepreneurship which organising
sows within all of us. However, it is only the
brave and persistent who will ultimately
benefit from the skills learnt in our ELSAtime.
Therefore, I suggest that you learn
your tasks well enough to perform them
well. Not all thoughts need be yours; there
are volumes upon volumes written on the
topic of marketing. But they will still require
your imaginative application before they will
be anything more than a drop in your educational
tub. So fill up that tub, marinate
your mind and let your actions show that
you know the shortest way from theory to
practice.
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
35

36
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association

Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
37

NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETINGS
38
38
ELSA Austria
City: Graz
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Andreas Nagy
E-mail: president@elsa-austria.org
Webpage: www.elsa-austria.org
ELSA Croatia
City: Rijeka
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Igor Volner
E-mail: elsa_croatia@hotmail.com
Webpage: coming soon
ELSA Czech Republic
City: Prague
Date: 4th July 2003
Contact Person: Stepan Holub
E-mail: stepanholub@web.de
Webpage: http://www.elsa.cz/
ELSA Denmark
City: Aarhus
Date: 12th July 2003
Contact Person: Kristina Ravn
E-mail: k_ravn@hotmail.com
Webpage: www.elsa.dk
ELSA Estonia
City: Tallinn
Date: 14th July 2003
Contact Person: Rait Kaarma
E-mail: president@elsa.ee
Webpage: www.elsa.ee
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
ELSA France
City: Paris
Date: 28th June – 3rd July
2003
Contact Person: Carole Crespin
E-mail: paris@elsafrance.org
Webpage: www.elsafrance.org
ELSA Finland
City: Vaasa
Date: 25th - 27th July 2003
Contact Person: Maria Johansson
E-mail: hymajo@uwasa.fi
Webpage: www.elsafinland.cjb.net
ELSA Georgia
City: Tbilisi
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Ann Kldiashvili
E-mail: elsa_georgia@hotmail.com
Webpage: coming soon
ELSA Germany
City: Bayreuth
Date: 27th - 29th July 2003
Contact Person: Matti Lüdtke
E-mail: elsa@uni-bayreuth.de
Webpage: www.elsa-gv.de
ELSA Hungary
City: Budapest
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: András Perlaki
E-mail: pelisz@elsabudapest.hu
Webpage: www.elsabudapest.hu
ELSA Italy
City: Messina
Date: 1st - 4th May 2003
Contact Person: Pietro Venuti
E-mail: elsamessina@elsaitalia.it
ELSA Kazakhstan
City: Almaty
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Dias Asanov
E-mail: d_asanov@yahoo.com
Webpage: www.elsa.freenet.kz
ELSA Lithuania
City: Vilnius
Date: 12th - 13th July 2003
Contact Person: Julija Stoskute
E-mail: juliette_elsa@yahoo.com
Webpage: www.elsa.lt
ELSA Malta
City: Msida
Date: 14th July 2003
Contact Person: Malcolm Falzon
E-mail: president@elsamalta.org
Webpage: www.elasmalta.org
ELSA The Netherlands
City: Brussels
Date: 2cn - 3rd July 2003
Contact Person: Mark Littooij
E-mail: m.littooij@freeler.nl
Webpage: www.elsanederland.nl

ELSA Norway
City: Tromso
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Jonathan Sunnarvik
E-mail:
Jonathan.Sunnarvik@student.uib.no
Webpage: www.elsa.no
ELSA Poland
City: Wroclaw
Date: 24th - 27th July 2003
Contact Person: Artur Samokar
E-mail: samokar1@wp.pl
Webpage: www.elsa.org.pl
ELSA Portugal
City: Porto
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Catarina Rocha
Ferreira
E-mail: elsa_portugal@mail.com
Webpage: coming soon
ELSA Rep. of Macedonia
City: Skopje
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Tomi Stefkov
E-mail: tstefkov@hotmail.com
Webpage: www.elsa-rm.org.mk
ELSA Romania
City: Timisoara
Date: 10th - 14th July 2003
Contact Person: Ana-Maria Cocean
E-mail: timisoara@elsa.ro
Webpage: www.elsa.ro
ELSA Slovakia
City: Trnava
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Stanislav Kascak
E-mail: stanislavkascak@yahoo.com
Webpage: www.elsa.sk
ELSA Spain
2003
LET’S GET TOGETHER
ELSA Serbia & Montenegro
City: Novi Sad
Date: 1st - 3rd July 2003
Contact Person: Zoran Popovic
E-mail: popovics@eunet.yu
Webpage: www.elsa.org.yu
City: Madrid
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Esteban Mucientes
E-mail: president_elsaspain@yahoo.es
Webpage: coming soon
ELSA Sweden
City: Gothenburg
Date: 9th - 11th July 2003
Contact Person: Loella Fjällskog
E-mail: loellafjallskog@hotmail.com
Webpage: coming soon
ELSA Switzerland
City: Berne
Date: 16th - 17th July 2003
Contact Person: Pascal Fasel
E-mail: elsa_bern@swissinfo.org
Webpage: www.elsa-bern.ch.tf/
ELSA Turkey
City: Ýstanbul
Date: 1st July 2003
Contact Person: Sami Dinç
E-mail: board@elsa-turkey.org
Webpage: www.elsa-turkey.org
ELSA Ukraine
City: Kyiv
Date: July 2003
Contact Person: Natalie Blazhivska
E-mail: info@elsa.org.ua
Webpage: www.elsa.org.ua
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association 39
38
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association

Money
around you
The following suggestions describe different ways of obtaining funds
from grants, however they should be taken as general guidelines they
are strict rules you have to follow. The suggestions might help you
structure your work and help others understand better what you are
doing and what you want to achieve, they will not help you organise a
project. Good projects cannot and should not be developed at a writing
desk. They should be developed in the field and trough your activities
with members. ELSA, as a network has the possibilities to give you a
lot of information, so use the network. When you read the following,
adjust it to your own experiences.
Basic Fundraising Tips
Get as much information as possible
Most international donors provide information on the kinds of work
they support in the form of annual reports, funding applications,
guidelines, charters, and in some cases regular publications. The
Internet can also provide you with a lot of information such as: how
many grants a donor awards each year, how large their average
grants are, what kind of organization they usually support and what
their guiding philosophy and history is. After requesting and receiving
such information, read it carefully. This will help you prepare a funding
proposal which is likely to be supported, and will also save a lot of
time and trouble because you may discover that a particular donor is
not appropriate for the project you are proposing. Be curious about
funding sources as you may learn that the donor has ties to political
or religious interests that are inappropriate for our organisation. You
have the right to ask questions and to say “no”. Do not forget that
we are a non-political and independent organization.
Seek support from more than one source
Sometimes a donor will only be able to partially support a project –
do not let this stop you. You should pursue the rest of the funds
from other sources - additional funds should be relatively easy to find,
since many foundations feel more confident supporting a project once
another donor has already committed to support it. Receiving funds
from more than one source is a good habit to establish. Having more
than one donor shows them that you are resourceful, and do not rely
solely on their support. Having a wide support base also contributes
to the health of your project.
Be persistent
Sometimes even the most well prepared proposals will be turned
down for any number of reasons. Rejections are commonplace and
you should not take it personally. You may get a reason for your
rejection or not, but you should always try to learn what you can
from the donor. Do ask if you can apply again at a later date. Rejections
are disappointing but you must continue to look elsewhere for the
support you need.
Build a relationship with donors
The best way to build a relationship with donors is simply to
communicate and keep in touch with them. It is relatively easy to
make a good impression simply by preparing all reports and financial
information in time, and occasionally sending information on other
aspects of your work, and responding to their requests or questions.
Sending a thank-you letter is a rule that is often forgotten. Remember,
the program officer of the donor has a number of responsibilities and
40
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
Ivan Mujovic
Director for Financial Management
ELSA International
your written communications will help him meet these by giving him
important evidence that the foundation is doing its job. Personal,
handwritten letters in your own words are a very effective way of
letting the donor know your gratitude. Invite them to visit the project
or attend some event, send them your marketing material (with
donors name, logo or…). Send postcard for Christmas, New Year,
birthdays… Use your imagination and remember that they are people
who are sitting all day in the office and a phone call can make them
happy as well. If a donor cannot support your work at one point, they
may still do so in the future. It is good to keep in touch with some
donors who have not yet supported your work, but who have similar
interest and fields of activities.
Analyse and plan your project before submitting a
proposal
Keep in mind the audience for your proposal. Two common
reasons for refusal to fund are simply that either the donor is
inappropriate for the project, or because it is not adequately
described. Before approaching a donor with a proposal you
should be able to answer the following questions:
*Does the foundation’s field of interest include the type of service or
program you are proposing?
*Does the amount of money you are reque-sting fit within the donor’s
range?
*(If not, how do you propose to make up the difference?)
*Does the donor support projects in your geographic region?
*What type of organizations has the foundation supported in the
past?
*Does the donor require an application form? *Can proposal be
submitted whenever or are there specific deadlines for submission?
Follow up on your grant
Once you have the money and spent it, you must provide a full
financial report and a final narrative description to your donor(s).
They will inform of their particular reporting requirements and
deadlines when you receive the initial grant. You should also use
the opportunity of meeting your last duties for fulfilling the grant
to build up a relationship with your donor. And developing a longterm
relationship that will go a long way towards helping you
receive funding in the future.
Share funding information
One of the best ways to get funding tips is by word-of-mouth. If you
hear of a grant or funding opportunity that is not right for your group
(different geographical region…), pass the information on to someone
else that may benefit from it. Donors want to know about other
groups engaged in similar work in a region and donors do share
information with each other. Besides, donors like project involved in
more that one organization and are willing to support common projects.
Co-ordination
Co-ordination is the key to make sure that we as an association keep
as many grant possibilities open for our projects. This is reinforced by
council decision. Before you apply for a grant please remember that
there are other ELSA groups out there and inform them about your
steps if the grant also gives them an application opportunity, maybe a
common approach is possible? If different ELSA grant applications end
up at the same persons desk we show that we are not coordinated
with the possibility that no one gets anything.

Searching for the grants
You can search for grants via internet
and there are so many publications with
donors data - you just have to look for it.
Use the following websites:
European Grants (EC, CoE) Euro desk:
www.eurodesk.org
CORDIS: http://www.cordis.lu/en/
home.html
Foundations:
US-based foundations (many of them
offer grants for Europe as well):
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/Library/ref/
grant.html
For foundations in Germany and beyond:
http://www.stiftungsindex.de/
Other foundations:
The larger private foundations are most
of the time eithernetworks of different
foundations (e.g. Soros) or connected to
a larger enterprise (e.g. Ford foundation).
They can be found using search engines
and searching for the keywords
“philanthropy” or “grant”.
Stepan Holub
Secretary General
ELSA Czech Republic
Living
chess-men
Have you ever been a chess man? Have you ever played chess verbatim personally?
On April 3, 2003 ELSA Czech Republic will be organising the final match of living
chessmen in Prague for the 2 nd year running. They will come from all Czech law
faculties and try to prevail over the others.
If you want to take a costume on and help to be a horse, king or tower, you have a
chance now! Come to Prague, you are welcome. Please contact co-ordinator Lenka
Satrova, (l.satrova@quick.cz).
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
41

42
CMS,
Bundesarchitektenkammer, Association
Internationale des Jeunes Avocats (AIJA),
Koerner Law Firm
Alix Frank Rechtsanwälte KEG
Association Against Unfair Competition
Austrian Federal Economic Chamber
Dr. Karl Diwald
Federation of Austrian Industry
Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte
Niederösterreich
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Office of State administation in Osijeèkobaranjska
County
City of Opatija
Arthur Andersen d.o.o.
Law firm:Drazenka Buntak
Zagrebacka banka d.d.
Erste & Steiermaerkische bank d.d.
Constitutional Court
JUDr. Bedros -Attorney at law
JUDr. Kyjovsky -Attorney at Law
Office of international legal protection of
children
Supreme Court of Czech Republic
Chytil -attorney of law
Mazalova Attorney at Law
Municipal Court of Brno
Ombudsman
SOZE -Society of Citizens Assisting
Migrants
Orlet, Zahnáš a partneøi
Faculty of law
Institute For Legal Informatics
Institute of Commercial law at University
of Lapland
ATHRET
Chambre Arbitrale de Paris
Weiland partner
Cabinet Philippe Cornu
Deutsche Bank AG
European Court of Auditors
Landwirtschaftskammer Oldenburg
Travers Smith Braithwaite
IHK im mittleren Ruhrgebiet zu Bochum
Norton Rose
Rotthege Wassermann & Partner
Rechtsanwalt Tronje Döhmer
Göhmann Wrede Haas Kappus &
Hartmann
Brock, Müller, Ziegenbein
Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
ELSA would like to thank the following companies for
RAe Dr. Ziegler & Kollegen
PSP Peters Schönberger und Partner
Notare Dr. Karl Sauer/Dr. Hans
Thalhammer
rechtsanwälte Heimes&müller
GLEISS LUTZ
Bendel - Götz & Partner
Bärnreuther & Partner
EUROPEAN PUBLIC LAW CENTER
Studio Legale Sutti
Studio Legale avv. Carlo Morace
Studio Legale Palmigiano
International Development Law Institute
(IDLI)
STUDIO PIROLA PENNUTO ZEI &
ASSOCIATI
Studio Legale Avv. Saglietti
Euris Consult Ltd.
University of Bergen
Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law
SPCG
Urbanik, Ciba
Kancelaria Doradztwa Podatkowego s.c.
K.Kunowska, K.Kunowski
W.Misiewicz, J.Mosek&Partners Lawoffice
Kancelaria Prawnicza “Kanon”s.c.
Kancelaria adwokacka. Anna Kozlowska-
Gozdzik
Kancelaria adwokacka. Pawel Szwarc
Krystian Ziemski i Partnerzy
Consulting Plus sp. z o.o.
Luís Rufo, Advogados
Faculty os Law, University of Porto, Centro
de Investigação Juridico-económica (CIJE),
Braga’s Juridic Association
Royal Netherlands Embassy, Bucharest
Hedman Osborne Clarke Alliance
Heringes & Partner
University of Ljubljana
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Bratschi, Emch & Partner
Dr. Meyer & Partner
Kellerhals & Partner
Notter & Notter
Boels Zanders Advocaten
Metin Günday

Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association
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Magazine of The European Law Students’ Association