Building a just world

30 years of ELSA 20 years of ELS

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Building a Just Worldby Claudius Krucker, Switzerland

Foreword

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

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Editors: Robert Tremel, Claudius KruckerLayout: Claudius KruckerPrint run: 3000 copiesPicture contributors (in addition to the named authors). Paul Hochbaum, Lenita Lindström, Claudius Krucker, Gregor Wenda, Katrien Willems

Imprint

© 2011 by the contributors and The ELSA Lawyers Society. Cover picture: evirgen / iStockphoto

ELS is registered as a non-profit organisa-tion (ideell forening no 802 403-3030) in Stockholm, Sweden.

Publisher address:ELS – The ELSA Lawyers Societyc/o ELSA International239, Boulevard Général Jacques1050 Brussels, Belgiuminfo@elslawyer.orgwww.elslawyer.org

For 30 years now ELSA – The European Law Students’ Association – is building a just world. And for 20 years now ELS – The ELSA Lawyers Society – provides a platform for alumni of ELSA to stay in touch and to support ELSA.

What is ELSA? For most of the people, ELSA is simply a first name, a vari-ant of the name Elizabeth. For some people ELSA might be a person they have a special relation to. ELSA might be their mother, their daughter or their wife.

For thousands of law students, ELSA has been something special during the last 30 years. They shared unique moments with ELSA: They attended lectures and seminars with her, stood in front of a (moot) court with her, wrote articles with her or travelled with her in foreign countries to work and learn about the culture there.

Law students also spent personal moments with ELSA: Friendships, bridging borders and lifestyles were made, relations and networks established and even beloved were met.

If we seniors, as former ELSAnians, celebrating the 20th anniversary of our alumni association, want to explain you, dear reader, what ELSA meant to us, we should not show you statutes or minutes from our respective years, but tell you about the steps we took with ELSA.

We invited 20 alumni for each year of the existence of The ELSA Lawyers Society and 2 for the first decade of ELSA to share their relation with ELSA with you. We were successful if the reading of this publication reminds you of your own special moments with ELSA.

This publication would not have been possible without the kind support of the many people contributing texts, pictures and advertisements. A special thank goes to the executive team of the ELSA Lawyers Society, our presi-dent Robert Tremel, my fellow board colleagues Arabela Trifoi and Pierangelo Graziani, and the directors for the anniversary Johanna Kauppinen and Anna Ziemnicka. You do not only bring me to mind my special mo-ments with ELSA, you also give me the possibility to live special moments with ELS.

Enjoy reading!

Claudius KruckerExecutive Committee member for MarketingThe ELSA Lawyers Society

Founding Time Pictures courtesy of ELSA’s Founding Fathers

1981

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The first 10 ELSA years

ELSA is founded on 4th of May • in Vienna

New members:Austria• Poland• Germany• Hungary•

ELSA in 1981

First seminar in Tannefeld/• GermanyDecision to be a non-political • (instead of a conservative) association

First contact to:Denmark• Norway• Sweden• Finland• Iceland•

ELSA in 1982

New statutes with set of prin-• ciples and aimsActivities are international • traineeship exchange, scien-tific seminars and exchange of scientific and organisational material

New members:Denmark• Norway• Finland• Iceland•

ELSA in 1983

The abbreviation STEP (Short-• Term Trainee Exchange Pro-gramme) is born13 students from 8 countries • go to Canada with the “Cana-dian Training Programme”

New members:Malta, Sweden•

First contact to:Malta, Italy•

ELSA in 1985

5• th anniversary is held in ViennaNetwork has 15 member • countries (some of the 15 left and rejoined again)

First contact to:Portugal• Bulgaria• Croatia• France• United Kingdom•

ELSA in 1986

The first office (one room) is • situated in Oslo

New member:The Netherlands•

First contact to:The Netherlands•

ELSA in 1984

First issue of the ELSA Law • Review (later ELSA Selected Papers on European Law) published

New member: Switzerland•

First contact to:Greece• Slovenia• Turkey•

First International Presidents • Meeting (IPM)First visit of Soviet law stu-• dents to ELSA

New member: Greece•

First contact to:Czech Republic, Slovakia (as • Czechoslovakia)Romania• Ireland• Russian Federation (as USSR)•

ELSA in 1989

ELSA in 1990

The first edition of Synergy is • publishedELSA has more than 15,000 • members in 30 countries

New members: Portugal• Serbia (as Yugoslavia)•

First contact to:Serbia• Montenegro (as Yugoslavia)• Belgium• Switzerland•

ELSA in 1987

New members: Italy• Belgium• Spain•

First contact to:Spain•

ELSA in 1988

1981 – 1990Timeline

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ELSA was founded in Vienna in May 1981 by law students from Austria, Germany, Poland and Hungary. ELSA Denmark was established in the following year. The Finns joined in May 1983, and soon brought along their fellow student organisations in Sweden and Norway.

The early days of ELSA were marked by conflicting agendas and unex-pected events – such as the incident in the 2nd Copenhagen Council Meet-ing in November 1983 when a Polish CM delegate decided to defect to the West. Opinions varied whether there could be a future for a non-political organisation of law students in the Europe of the 1980’s when the divi-sions between the NATO and Soviet blocs ran deep.

The success or survival of ELSA was far from certain in those days. ELSA could only too easily have suffered the fate of its short-lived predecessor IFLS (International Federation of Law Students) in the 1970’s. Nor was it easy to convince sponsors why or how law students would benefit from international contacts. My appeal for support from my own law faculty was turned down by the Dean with lofty contempt: ”Law is a national pre-occupation – travelling may be fun for law students, but getting professional international exposure is a waste of time”.

Against all odds, ELSA did survive. After the question of the ELSA’s mission had been settled in 1983, we moved our focus to establish-ing real professional activities and expanding to new countries. Nor-dic faculty organisations made an invaluable contribution to ELSA at this point with their broad mem-bership bases, club and office facili-

ties and financial resources. From 1984 onwards, the routine of Council Meetings, the International Board and the core activities were in place, enabling ELSA to start its rapid expansion, first to The Netherlands, and then across the entire European continent.

Trainee exchange (STEP), seminars & conferences and publications were the three first activities established in early 1980’s. The first STEP trainee from The Netherlands spent summer 1984 working for The Finnish Sugar Company in Helsinki. He was a resounding success, and thus paved way for many more trainees.

Inevitably, some activities fell by the wayside. The training programme for young lawyers in Canada consumed far too many resources and was abandoned after six Dutch, Norwegian and Finnish lawyers had completed their one-year training in Toronto and Calgary law firms. Some activities died out and then unexpectedly resur-rected under a completely different guise. Bilateral visits were started in 1983 to help students from the Soviet bloc to travel in the West. Some five years later they transformed into an activity that allowed grassroots mem-bers to get part of the fun otherwise reserved for CM delegates and board members.

I left ELSA in 1985 in order to finish my law studies. I have since practiced law in Finland, Canada and the United Kingdom. I am now a partner in the international law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP in London, primarily advising investment banks and listed companies on capital markets transactions and cross-border M&A. Many of my clients are based in the former Soviet Union countries. Whatever it may be worth, my career proves that lawyers can benefit from international exposure and that lawyers can operate in more than one national jurisdiction.

The Beginning of ELSAby Eero Rautalahti, Finland / United Kingdom

1981 – 1990

The success or survival of ELSA was far from certain in those days.

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Once upon a time, there was a relationship between ELSA and me, and thirty years on, it is still ongoing on a level or another. ELSA has taught me there is a lot we can do to for the world, by understanding and liaising with lawyers from other legal systems than our own.

The background: I was pulled into ELSA by mistake in early 1984, when an enthusiastic course mate in law school asked me if I could give him a hand typing out (yes, no word processing then) some STEP forms he needed for an ELSA Council Meeting. I did and ended up making coffee to the less than 10 delegates at that meeting, in Helsinki. They ran a pan-European trainee exchange program, which even extended to Canada. I got interested and joined the local ELSA group in Helsinki, which I then chaired in 1986. I attended a number of ICM’s, some of which became memories that will never leave me.

In Oslo at the ICM in 1986 I had my first serious taste of ELSA Spirit. There were delegates there from all over Europe and even the Brits ven-tured a visit. We extended the STEP program and agreed to take on many more countries. The Nordics were dominating the scene, especially Swe-den, Norway and Finland were strongly represented. The organization was still quite democratic and expanding – ELSA was going to get into her teens. ELSA was strong on bilateral visits and we tried to develop a scientific exchange. Lifelong friendship bonds were forged.

1987 was the big milestone: increasing unrest in Europe, pre-Glasnost, fears over Yugoslavia falling apart. ELSA Yugoslavia was a strong and coming group in ELSA. At ICM 1987 in Zagreb we decided to expand ELSA even further, especially to the countries in the eastern parts of Eu-rope, building on links that International President Paul Hochbaum, Aus-tria, my predecessor, had set up. I became President of the International Statute Drafting Committee and worked hard on building working regu-lation for ELSA. The Statutes were approved at ICM Malta and resolved I should head the arrangements for the next ICM in Helsinki 1988. There I was unanimously elected International President - and that’s when the really hard work began. Switzerland was seeking observership, Poland was momentarily low in activity, Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia, Russia and countries breaking off of Yugoslavia were all coming in. The Estonians were reforming their country’s constitution and needed to join ELSA, a delegation came to see me after ICM London 1989. Up to my resignation in late 1990, on the Board we worked hard on expansion – new areas of Europe were on the agenda. We got ILSA, the American organization, back into the meetings, we liaised with AIESEC, we worked on consoli-dating ELSA Germany, which was getting very structured and very big.

We had failures, too: the accounts were not approved first time at ICM Heidelberg 1990. We faced the challenges of a large organization: getting e-mail on board, the Directors system etc. In 1991, at the 10th Anniversary of ELSA in Vienna, I was honoured to be Int. Director for the Seniors and got to draft the first statute for and co-establish ELS, the alumni. And I am still there…..!

1981 – 1990The Early Expansionby Maria Parker, Finland

At the ICM in Oslo 1986 there were delegates from all over Europe and even the Brits ventured a visit.

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From ELSA to ELS 1981 – 1991

congratulates ELSAon the 30th Anniversary!

At the 10th Anniversary of ELSA, held in Vienna in 1991, one of the found-ers said: “We made ELSA and the world changed!”. He was making a light hearted reference to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain at the end of the cold war, the stand off between communist and capitalist super-powers that had divided Europe since the end of World War 2. ELSA was born from the desire of law students to travel and meet freely.

I joined ELSA and my life changed too! I am a founder member of ELSA England & Wales that be-came ELSA UK. Later I became the first President of ELS. I was Auditor

of the IB accounts and an enthusiastic Chair of the Finance & Marketing (FAM) Workshop. From 1987 to 1991. I went to ICM’s in Malta, Helsinki, Budapest, Lisbon, London, Heidelberg, Valencia and Vienna. The Lon-don ICM in Autumn 1989 was the first ICM to have over 100 delegates. At that time ELSA had about 20 member countries. ELSA was growing. The basic activities were already established: STEP, Summer Schools and Bilateral visits. The question was how to expand those activities and how to raise sponsorship to support the expansion and development of ELSA. In FAM we proposed a small levy on all activities to be given to ELSA to support marketing activities and to raise sponsorship. That strategy was an important small step in achieving the impressive sponsorship and vast membership that ELSA now enjoys.

The best thing about ELSA is travel and friendship and when you retire from ELSA you miss that a lot. That’s why we decided to form ELS – so we could carry on seeing each other and help ELSA too. Over the years individual ELS members have provided STEP jobs, help, contacts and ad-vice to many ELSA groups. We have supported, and even saved, ICM meetings and continue to support ELSA as we approach retirement!

ELSA Zagreb asked me to teach a summer school on English law and ter-minology in Dubrovnik in 1988 and I have taught many summer schools for them ever since. That inspired me to become a law teacher and now I am Head of the Law Department at London South Bank University. We offer a LLM for European law students who want to study English law in London. At the time of the political changes in Europe, we took law books to ELSA groups in law schools in the transition countries and that led to a life long interest in how to develop and maintain the Rule to Law. I now teach an LLM in International Human Rights & Development and have worked on human rights projects in Belarus, Kenya and the South Caucuses. At the moment, I am the President of the South London Law Society and we have a Twinning project with the Law Society of Zambia. We are working on an access to justice project there and I am still trav-elling and making friends. So I can truly say that I joined ELSA and it changed my life!

1991The Birth of ELSby Andy Unger, United Kingdom

15/03: The ratification of • the 2+4 agreement reunites Germany25/06: Croatia and Slovenia • declare independence form Yugoslavia26/12: The Supreme Soviet • meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union

The World in 1991

The 10• th anniversary of ELSA is held in ViennaThe ELSA Lawyers Society is • found during the anniversary“Book Bus” travels through • Hungary, Poland and Czecho-slovakia to hand out English law textbooks.

New members:Bulgaria•

First contact to: Estonia• Bosnia & Herzegovina • Luxembourg•

ELSA in 1991

I joined ELSA and my life changed too!

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Compare ELSA of 1992 and ELSA of 2011. You will notice that around us, everything has changed. Facebook, mobile phones, low cost airlines or internet were not readily available to students in 1992. But we worked hard and with enthusiasm – ELSA was prosperous in the beginning of the 1990’s. Many changes adopted are still present today. First One Year Operation-al Plan for ELSA International was approved in 1991. Board of Brussels project, Three Year Tactical Plan, training and transition and use of SWOT analysis started also around this time.

The Philosophy Statement from 1992 is actively used in ELSA publica-tions and websites, even printed on T-shirts and beer glasses. Many quote it as a source of inspiration for their ELSA career.

The “vision” part of the Philoso-phy Statement was created dur-ing a board meeting in Brussels in April 1992. The International Board had to take a vote whether to adopt a Philosophy Statement at all. Once the concept was approved, the text was a result of a true brainstorming session: “A just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity”. Bartek Razckowski, Vice-President S&C, cites this process as the best intellectual process he has ever participated in. The “purpose” and “means” of the statement were discussed and created at the ELSA Summer Meeting in Les Diablerets in July 1992. That was a gathering of 30-40 people with the International Team present, but also many activists from the local and national level.

The Philosophy Statement was approved by the Council Meeting on 12 October 1992 in Namur, Belgium. The process did not lack discussion and controversy. The Presidents workshop debated both the concept of hav-ing a Philosophy Statement and the actual text for three days. “We might have seemed pretentious to the outside, but ELSA was part of the changes of Europe, and the text reflects that”, Colin Scicluna, Director for Syn-ergy, remembers. In the end, the text was approved as proposed. Only the words “in the spirit of critical dialogue and academic cooperation” were added. Interestingly enough, the Philosophy Statement suits well many later activities of ELSA – International Criminal Court, Council of Europe, Human Rights to name but a few.

ELSA did not bring down the Berlin wall. But when more countries be-came democratic again, I am sure that the international experience of their young lawyers was an asset to those countries and civil societies. ELSA continues to foster mutual understanding and educate young lawyers to be internationally minded in Europe and beyond.

Today, I work as Legal Counsel for Wärtsilä. I benefit of many skills taught by ELSA – motivation, persuasion, diplomacy and respect for cultural dif-ferences. Does my job bring us closer to a just world, perhaps not. But I feel that my involvement as alumni of ELSA and member of ELS is my small contribution towards that vision.

ELSA becomes Philosophicalby Johanna Kauppinen, Finland

07/02: The Maastricht treaty • is signed, founding the Euro-pean Union21/02: The Resolution 743 • to send a UNPROFOR peace-keeping force is approved03/12: UNITAF, to establish • peace and ensure humanitar-ian aid in Somalia, is estab-lished

The World in 1992

ELSA adopts its philosophy • statement, including its vision of a just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity

New members:Croatia• Slovenia •

First contact to: Albania•

1992

ELSA in 1992The Philosophy State-ment is even printed on T-shirts and beer glasses.

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1993STEP from the beginningby Pierangelo Graziani, Italy

25/05: The tribunal to prose-• cute violation of international law in Yugoslavia is estab-lished.01/11: The Maastricht treaty • takes effect20/12: The United Nations • General Assembly votes unanimously to appoint a UN High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights

The World in 1993

Pilot issue of ELSA’s Guide to • Legal Studies in Europe (GLSE) is publishedFirst International STEP Meet-• ing takes place in Groningen (The Netherlands)A permanent office is rented • in Brussels

New members:Czech Republic• Slovakia• Turkey• Romania•

First contact to: Latvia• Lithuania•

ELSA in 1993

Opportunities to travel, spend time in a foreign country, have a first work experience, learn about other countries and legal systems while yielding personal connections and experiences that will last for life. No wonder STEP has always attracted great interest from both students and exter-nals.

Being involved in STEP is always challenging and exciting and the period between the end of the 80’s and the second half of the 90’s was particu-larly so, certainly in terms of results.

ELSA began exchanging its first 3 traineeships in 1984 and between 1986 and 1988 with VP STEP Johan Åkermarck and Ingeborg Kainlauri it con-solidated in a full running programme with well defined forms, proce-dures, policies and guidelines.

During my several terms as VP STEP I was fortunate enough to be part of an enthusiastic expansion of the Programme from roughly 40 trainee-ships and 150 applicants to approximately 300 traineeships and over 1000 applicants.

To accomplish even one single suc-cessful traineeship one needs the combined and coordinated efforts of many officers at all levels of ELSA in different countries. Local Groups finding traineeships and providing reception, Local Groups finding qualified applicants, National Groups coordinating, and of course ELSA International collecting all data, making the matching, coordinat-ing, monitoring, training…. and much more. If only one element of the chain fails, everyone’s efforts are helplessly lost. This in turn creates a very strong and special feeling of community amongst all STEP officers.

The great numbers of traineeships and applicants were the result of the hard work and enthusiasm of over 100 STEP Officers throughout Europe. Every year new Local Groups joined ELSA and new STEP officers were trained. Cooperation with the International Law Students Association (ILSA) brought many traineeships in the USA and Asia.

I remember Rome and London offering 8 traineeships, Munich and Frank-furt over 10, but it was the Austrian Local Groups who were the true “su-per-stars”: Graz 18, Vienna 21!

Over time procedures changed, but basically the major task of the VP STEP was to match the requirements of the employers to the qualifica-tions of the applicants. And this task got more and more complex as num-bers grew.

Together with my Team, Tommaso Graziani and Ritva Saario, we intro-duced the first computer programme to assist the manual matching. It was based on the DBASE 3+ programme and ran on a 286 processor.

STEP grew from 3 train-eeships in 1984 to 500 traineeships and 2500 applicants in 1996/97.

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continued on page 10

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STEP reached its peak in 1996/97 with Jennifer Ritter as VP STEP who accomplished the extraordinary by matching over 500 traineeships and almost 2500 applicants. All data entry was still done by hand as the match-ing itself.

Jennifer’s successors imagined a new system to administer an ever expanding programme.Unfortunately de-spite their best intentions and efforts ELSA Online did not fulfil those expectations. This and other factors com-bined brought STEP to a period of stagnation. Sadly traineeships went down to only 30.

As ELSA celebrates its 30th Anniversary it is now in the position to bring STEP back to its past success and an-swer the huge demand of traineeships. It can well build on the foundations already in place, harness the enthu-siasm and determination of today’s officers and as more and more Alumni are now in the workplace, use these “ELSA Ambassadors” to obtain more traineeships.

Going Global

We were big in Japan! Or at least it felt that way as we danced till we dropped at the President’s Meeting in Kusadasi as we got wind that the EC would sponsor an IB visit there to set up student exchanges. That visit in the last days of the Team of 1994 which was extended to Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, was a fitting end to a year when ELSA seemed to want to stretch beyond its European home and “Going Global” the words on everyone’s lips.

This was the year ELSA dreamt up the International Focus Programme to, wait for it, focus a number of events and initiatives on single issue that locked in with our do-good philosophy statement. Not sure how it all turned out but it certainly gave us something to talk about dressed in sheets at the Malta Council Meeting Toga Party!

It was the year we tore ourselves up with the Human Rights “Investiga-tion” that delved into where ELSA could make itself useful in this natural field for lawyers with a “social conscience” and which again set our sights mostly outside the confines of Europe.

1994 was the first time ELSA was formally involved in the United Na-tions process with six of us heading off to New York for the Preparatory Meeting for the World Summit for Social Development to get our foot in the UN door. This was possible

in no small part to our excellent relationship with AIESEC International, which flourished now that the IB was living in Brussels. Soon afterwards we also formalized our relationship with the UNHCR who would pro-vide training in humanitarian law to ELSA members.

In 1994 ELSA’s hefty application for category ‘C’ (or beginners) Consulta-tive Status at UNESCO finally came through recognizing ELSA’s educa-tional role and obliging both institutions to share their plans with each other. This was an excellent certificate of respectability that helped ELSA’s standing with all our partners and not least with the major new sponsors that we needed desperately and finally secured. Given the diet and living standards of the IB in Brussels at that time I’m surprised we didn’t also have an official relationship with the World Food Programme!

And what I hear you ask were you doing while everyone else was pursu-ing these ambitious projects for ELSA. Oh, me? I was the one taking the minutes.

Now I work for the EU as Head of the European Parliament Office in Malta. On the way here I spent four years back in New York as a Maltese diplomat to the UN covering the Security Council and ironically the fol-low up to the World Summit for Social Development! Just as we joined the Union I moved to the Maltese Perm Rep in Brussels and then worked on Middle East and Mediterranean issues in the Policy Planning Unit of HR Javier Solana. I now live in Valletta with my French wife Celine and two boys who I take to football every Saturday across the road from the1994 Malta Council Meeting venue….

by Julian Vasallo, Malta

15/03: U.S. troops are with-• drawn from Somalia07/04: The Rwandan Geno-• cide begins in Kigali, Rwanda10/05: Nelson Mandela is • inaugurated as South Africa‘s first black president

The World in 1994

ELSA in 1994

ELSA is granted Consultative • Status in Category C with UNESCOThe International Focus Pro-• gramme (IFP) is introduced aiming to give the work of ELSA a global dimensionClifford Chance becomes the • first corporate partner of ELSA

First contact to: Ukraine•

1994 was the first time ELSA was formally involved in the United Nations process.

1994

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Moving inby Garry Parker, United Kingdom / Finland

The hot topics for the 1995 International Board were two-fold. Firstly, we were the crazy bunch of bandits that gave ELSA the House. Secondly, we started involvement with the ICC. I will just deal with the first legacy.

The previous Board moved ELSA into the usable, but soon over-crowded and restricted offices in the International Associations’ building on Rue Defacqz, just off Avenue Louise. The concierge hated us – in and out all hours, messy, multiple round-the-clock meetings 7/7, and with so many

people at times that we stretched out along the corridors and foyers. It was a good regular office, but ELSA did not need that. We had to go. Our predecessors were rightly sceptical about us moving in to-

gether. Yet, we wanted to have the whole ‘board-in-Brussels’ under one roof: living, working, eating, sleeping and partying together.

We signed the contract for 239 Blvd. Gen. Jacques in early 1995 – this newly restored fin de siècle Maison de Maître, just opposite the National Police Academy (collecting horse manure from here for the roses was my pleasure). Ruxandra Balboa-Pöysti (VP STEP) must be especially cred-ited for finding us a great deal in a good location, with a landlord who really wanted to help us get on. This was a major personal commitment for all of us – not everyone had jobs yet, and ELSA’s income was not as stable as it is today.

The move from Rue Defacqz was conducted in one day – windows out on the first floor front to get the big stuff in. It was crazy, but soon we were all in with the whole office set up on the first floor (the four smokers getting the back room with the garden view). For us this was a little pal-ace – great rooms, a garden with shed and potential (my little project as an Englishman), a well (water not potable), an oil-guzzling boiler called Bertha which must have been state of the art in c.1906, and a cellar which was, at that time, great for wine (if only we could afford it), but terribly damp for paper storage.

The first challenge was who got what bedroom. Tuomas Pöysti (Treasurer) and I got the smallest rear rooms on the second and third floors respectively. My third floor Norwegian neighbour, VP S&C, Thomas Jacobsen “TJ” occupied the “The Disco Room” (it had funny lighting and a floor platform, but, thankfully, no metal pole...). Second floor front was communally shared by several Board & Team members, including Robert D’Alessandro (President) and Mira Gühring (VP Mar-keting). The ground floor front was the Turkish Sultan’s room for Tolga Ismen (VP AA) & Senem Denktas. The other rooms rotated between team members and visitors joining our vibrant community. Dinners, par-ties, football – you name it, we did it. Challenging, but happy days, and we are so proud that the project goes on today. Keep it up!

We were the crazy bunch of bandits that gave ELSA the House.

The first challenge was who got what bedroom.

01/01: The World Trade • Organization (WTO) is estab-lished to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)03/03: In Somalia, the United • Nations peacekeeping mis-sion ends15/12: The European Court of • Justice rules that all EU foot-ball players have the right to a free transfer among mem-ber states at the end of their contracts

The World in 1995

ELSA in 1995

ELSA’s commitment to hu-• man rights is introduced and results in a series of ELSA law schoolsThe ELSA House, serving as • office and home for the Inter-national Board, is rented in BrusselsELSA starts its involvement • in the Coalition for the Estab-lishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC)

First contact to: Republic of Macedonia• Kazakhstan• Armenia• Georgia•

1995

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Insight Infl uence Impact

Congratulations to ELSA on their 30th Anniversary

www.interelgroup.comRue du Luxembourg 22-24, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium

AydasLimanKurman_ADV.indd 1 2/16/11 2:13 PM

When ELSA took up residence at 239 Boulevard General Jacques in 1995, the house came to be more than an office. With new outreach programmes, it was also the first centralized “learning academy” of sorts, where mem-bers could find out about the organization and experience the ELSA spirit at its finest, taking their new motivation home.

At the time, the International Board’s term of office ran from January 1 through December 31. IB 1996 unanimously decided to use the facility not only as our of-fice and living quarters, but also as a central gathering point for local and national members as well as

new recruits. As such, we came up with the idea of the ELSA House Sum-mer Programme (EHSP).

The ELSA House has seven bedrooms upstairs from the office and con-ference room, one per Board member. Two of our board members opted to share a room, both to reduce our out-of-pocket expenses and to make another room available as a guest room. We printed up signs with the name and national flag of each bedroom’s occupant, and had the guest room door decorated with all of the ELSA member countries’ flags. This room, though unfurnished, was ideal for hosting larger groups of people – as long as guests brought their own floor mats and sleeping bags (as do participants at German NCM’s).

The sessions of the EHSP lasted four days each, during which the Board members would offer training events for each area; we had one weekend for Presidents and SecGens, one for Treasurers and Marketing, one for S&C, and one for AA and STEP. Another programme we devised was to offer STEP traineeships – each Board member received applications for the individually tailored NGO positions, and the accepted applicants stayed with us for up to four weeks with free accommodations, helping us with administrative tasks and learning about the organization.

The matching of STEP applications to internships attracted a cadre of volunteers who were instrumental in processing the administrative end of the programme. Toward the end of summer, we counted how many people had stayed with us for at least one night up to that point, and we realized that we had hosted more than three hundred people. By the end of the year, the number must have been closer to five hundred. The point was to emphasize that the ELSA House was not just the Board’s house, but was also a resource to the Association’s members.

To experience the ELSA Spirit twenty-four hours a day – working hard, but playing hard, too – had the desired effect of motivating new genera-tions to become more active. A significant number of our visitors went on to become highly involved, not just on the local or national level, but also as integral members of the international teams of following years. The ELSA House Summer Programme, which evolved into the ELSA House Training Week, was thus an important factor in maintaining the continu-ity of the Association.

A Programme for ELSA Summersby Jennifer Ritter, Germany / USA

The ELSA House came to be more than an office, it was also ELSA’s first centralized “learning academy”.

20/01: Yasser Arafat is re-• elected president of the Palestinian Authority03/04: Massacres of Hutus by • Tutsis in Burundi take place, with more than 450 killed in a few days03/09: The U.S. launches Op-• eration Desert Strike against Iraq in reaction to the attack on Arbil

The World in 1996

ELSA in 1996

The ELSA House Summer • Programme to train members is established20 ELSA members participate • in an international study visit to JapanThe 15th anniversary takes • place in Cracow (Poland) and Istanbul (Turkey)

New member:Ukraine •

1996

14

How to spell SPELby Erik Vrij, The Netherlands

1997

This year not only marks the 30th anniversary of ELSA but in fact also the 14th anniversary of ELSA Selected Papers on European Law (ELSA SPEL): a good occasion to bring up some memories! ELSA SPEL was not an en-tirely new journal for ELSA. It replaced The ELSA Law Review (ELR) which had been published for a number of years with limited success. The importance of having an international publication was given priority over other considerations, financial and administrative. Over the years the viability of the publication was sustained through a much debated system of purchase obligations imposed on all national boards. Sales of ELR were low as was the interest in the journal.

Shortly before the 1996 Autumn ICM in Istanbul I was in touch with Nicky Vella Falzon, Director of ELR. Being responsible for anoth-er ELSA publication, the Guide to

Legal Studies in Europe, and having an interest in publishing, we dis-cussed if the formula, article hunting and marketing of the journal could be changed. Hopefully this would alleviate the problems around ELR that resulted in a significant financial burden for most countries. We continued the discussion at the ICM itself and came up with the idea of revised and more restricted content for the journal focusing on Public European Law, European Integration and relations between the EU and third countries in Europe. Of course we also needed a name change to better reflect the concept. A title I came up with, ELSA Best Student Essays (BSE) was par-ticularly poorly chosen in times of mad cow disease! After a few more inappropriate suggestions, and some hysteria(!), Nicky came up with ELSA Selected Papers on European Law (producing the punchy acronym “SPEL”) and the name stuck. I proposed an entirely new marketing strat-egy using leading law publisher Bruylant’s name and marketing network. We were ready to make the proposal. With some heated opposition but more understanding and support, Nicky and I had the proposal for the change from ELR to SPEL passed through the AA Workshop and subse-quently through Plenary. It was referred to as a ‘shot from the hip’ by one delegate.... ELR was dead. SPEL was born.

Taking over as first Director for ELSA SPEL I later invited over 30 lead-ing professors of European and international law throughout Europe as members of the editorial advisory board to further help article hunting and promoting the journal. A professional editor of the College became in charge of the selection and editorial process. It was a fantastic challenge and experience to present the brand new first issue with a new lay-out just in time for the immediate next ICM in Prague!

After my studies I continued on the Executive Committee of ELS for six years, the last two years as president. In my professional life I have always been a lawyer with ING, a global financial services group. I started as le-gal counsel with the Investment Management division. After six years I switched to the wholesale banking division where I advised on structured lending transactions around the world, also to financial institutions. Cur-rently I am managing a team of lawyers responsible for ING’s Dutch busi-ness banking operations.

ELR was dead. SPEL was born.

01/07: The United Kingdom • hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China31/08: Diana, Princess of • Wales, dies after a car acci-dent11/12: The Kyoto Protocol is • adopted by a United Nations committee

The World in 1997

ELSA in 1997

The first issue of ELSA Select-• ed Papers on European Law (SPEL) is publishedELSA is granted Special • Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC and Consultative Status with UNCITRALThe IFP-Topic “The Law of • Peace in the Year 2000” is set

New member:Latvia •

15

We, the International Board (IB) 1998, set off on a course for the Great Adventure by identifying our way to implement ELSA’s vision: “ELSA is a learning process: a set of actions and changes that develop understand-ing, knowledge and improve the skills of individuals thereby causing an impact on society”.

Among highlights of IB 1998 term I would mention that joint efforts of many committed people, ELSA Patrons, in particular Jhr. Joost E. van der Does de Willebois and the Right Honourable Lord Slynn of Hadley; Mr. Russel Denoon

Duncan as well as ELS members, allowed us to make some twenty ap-proaches to potential sponsoring partners and, most notably, to finalise the corporate partnership agreement with Clifford Chance. We applied for consultative status with the Council of Europe. Last but not least we recommended that the IB’s term in the office should be aligned with an academic year as a means to facilitate the transition period and to allow more candidates to apply for this one year long adventure. Throughout, we stressed the need for continuity. It was apparently also the wish of ELSA network, as symbolised by the blue elephant, Cesar, offered for the first time by the Organising Committee (OC) of the International Council Meeting (ICM) in Heidelberg to the OC of the ICM in Rome in Autumn.

During 1998, ELSA continued its participation in the meetings of the Preparatory Committee for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (ICC) and more than 30 ELSA members attended as NGO delegates the Plenipotentiary Conference of Governments in Rome, June – July 1998 (where the Statute of the International Criminal Court was finally drawn up and adopted). Many more law students experienced the fever of Preparatory Commit-tees due to ELSA’s membership in the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC). As they prepared briefings on such issues as war crimes and crimes against humanity, ELSA members were seen as invalu-able sources of knowledge. Their contributions effectively implemented ELSA’s 1997 International Focus Programme ‘The Law of Peace in the Year 2000: Effective Enforcement and Current Violations of International Law, Reform of International Organisations’. I still have shivers recalling an address to the UN Assembly made in the name of ELSA:

“Our eyes are open and the expectation towards the law of peace in the year 2000 cannot be betrayed. Your responsibility, Mr. President and dis-tinguished delegates, is confronted with our ideals and principles for a just world. Let’s not miss this unique occasion to provide future genera-tions with an effective tool to prevent immense sufferings and break the vicious circle of impunity, that is an International Criminal Court.”

I also know a couple that met during one of the Preparatory Committee meetings in New York and is now happily married….

Patrons and Consultantsby Agnieszka Stobiecka, Poland / Belgium

Joint efforts of Patrons and ELS members were extremely helpful for sponsoring approaches.

25/06: Microsoft releases • Windows 9817/07: At a conference in • Rome, 120 countries vote to create a permanent Interna-tional Criminal Court 01/11: The European Court of • Human Rights is instituted

The World in 1998

ELSA in 1998

The tradition of a council • meeting mascot, a blue el-ephant named Cesar is estab-lishedELSA attends the UN Diplo-• matic Conference of Plenipo-tentiaries for the Establish-ment of the International Criminal Court in Rome

New member:Lithuania •

1998

I know a couple that met at an ICC prepara-tory meeting and is now happily married.

18

1998 saw the second edition of the ELSA Handbook on the ICC. The book informed about the efforts to establish the ICC and was targeted at government delegates without the necessary funds to send specialised legal experts to the Preparatory Committee meetings and the Diplomatic Conference. The book was written by ELSA mem-bers who participated in the meetings of the Preparatory Committee.

None of this would be possible without an involvement of highly devoted people supporting the International Board 1998 either as its Directors, like Mhairi Louise Main, Tanja Krabbe or Frants Nielsen, or as former mem-bers of International Teams, like Ligia Vaz, Mette Damgaard, Thomas Henquet or David Donat Cattin, to name a few.

In my ‘life after ELSA’, I am happily ELSA-married to Krzysztof Kuik (President ELSA Poland 1996) and have two wonderful kids. I work for the Legal Service of the European Commission. I often meet friends from ‘good old times’ who either work in or pass by Brussels.

I am happy to assist ELSA and its members: I was an Advisory Board member, helped with applications for Commission grants and, sometimes, provided practical help (e.g. heating fuel for the ELSA House:). I presented traineeship and job opportunities offered by the Commission at my Alma Mater in Poznan and was a speaker at the ELSA conference. Unsurprisingly, I am a lifetime member of ELS.

I often meet friends from ‘good old times’ who either work in or pass by Brussels.

1999 was the ELSA year for law students in Kazakhstan. For me it started when IB President Simen Strand and ELS fellow members, headed by Andy Unger, have travelled all the way to Bishkek to meet law students from that region and share their experience. I recall trying to understand all what we were told about ELSA, and the excitement grew by a minute as we were hearing about inter-cultural opportunities of STEP, head of-fice in Brussels, cross-country study visits, academic competitions and an international calendar packed with events in every corner of Europe on the very same subject we are all trying to study: LAW. It was clear that we will not let ELSA to slip away from our lives!

Next we were off to ELSA House for infamous ELSA House Training Week, determined to learn everything about ELSA with an ultimate goal to set up a national group in Kazakhstan. The programme was absolute-ly packed and we were up for trainings every day. The head was swirl-ing from so many accents, cultures, party habits and jargon. I remember bumping into Thomas Fraiss (VP STEP of ELSA) who did not miss an opportunity to ask how we can promote STEP in Kazakhstan. My an-swer was a question in return: “Emm, what is STEP?” Later, quite a few law students from Kazakhstan, including myself, have enjoyed the very best of STEP across Europe: Brno, Prague, Warsaw and many other ELSA groups have faithfully provided best in class hospitality and opportuni-ties to discover the legal world in Europe.

ELSA House Training Week was all what newcomers needed: you learn about ELSA, you meet the people, you get to have some fun and experience an international swirl. It energized our team to start up a group back home and within a year we had our first study visit, attended ICM, organsied plenty of local events and participated in STEP programme. Few years later in Vienna, during ELSA Anniver-sary ICM, ELSA Kazakhstan became a full member of the organisation and we had a chance to meet many people who made ELSA what it is, thanks to many people making an effort to attend this event marking such a milestone for ELSA Spirit.

Today I live in Aberdeen, United Kingdom, and work as Operational Contracts Manager with one of the worlds largest oil and gas companies. Being an ITP (International Trainers Pool) trainer with ELSA today, I often go back to those first moments of introduction to ELSA world, particular-ly during the trainings on motivation and human resources management. These subjects always touch upon the need to find that special “kick” of ELSA spirit in each of us. Am very happy I found mine, back in 1999. For many of us through ELSA generations that “kick” was what made us in-volved, create and share, and for some…. coming back again, again and again.

Training in da Houseby Karina Sultanova, Kazakhstan / United Kingdom

01/01: Euro is established• 01/03: The Convention on the • Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines comes into force27/03: The International • Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia indicts Slobodan Milošević for war crimes and crimes against humanity

The World in 1999

ELSA in 1999

ELSA and the Hague Appeal • for Peace organise the confer-ence “Power of Peace”The ELSA House Summer Pro-• gramme changes its name to ELSA House Training WeekThe IFP-topic “Information So-• ciety – the legal challenges” is set

New member:Republic of Macedonia •

1999

ELSA House Training Week was all what newcomers needed: You learn about ELSA, meet people, have some fun and experi-ence an international swirl.

20

IB 2000 – 2001 did not carry the world (although then we may have pos-sibly did think we did), but what I learnt in my year in Brussels is “Give me a Team and we will build bridges over water”. I learnt that people working together as a team is what makes things happen. Furthermore, IB 2000 – 2001 did not see itself as a standalone team but as part of a team with previous and future boards, as a team with National and Local Boards. Building on the good of the past, for the benefit of the future was the cardinal approach we took.

With due merit given to the board that preceded us who created a great number of leads, our role was to get to follow through the leads, create more of them, to finally get the target companies and institu-tions to decide they wanted to go

forward and sign on the dotted line. In our first meetings as a board in the ELSA House in Brussels, after some long discussions in the boardroom, our mantra was determined – see what worked well and had potential and take it forward.

ELSA Online was one of the main focuses for fundraising as well as the ELSA International budget which was close to going belly up due to all contracts coming to an end at the same point in time – towards the begin-ning of our mandate. Nevertheless, though we originally thought that there should be no new projects, a few emerged. There was need of a new website to accompany the then “new” online system. Other “minor” projects like the development of the International Trainers Pool and the participation to the various UN consultation meetings had to be coordi-nated, and it was about time to start efficiently tapping the EU funding programs by both ELSA International/National and Local boards. Our commitment to Human Rights could not be forgotten in lieu of financing issues.

To some extent I guess we did manage to achieve what we aimed at...and a little more. I do not recall how many sponsors and partners we had by the end of the year, but if my memory does not fail me (due to age) it was a good handful...well not a Michael hand full but a Fraiss (see 2001) hand-ful. Some people have asked me how we did this and what our secret was. Well I guess we did have a number of projects to show to potential sponsors, we were quite insistent, followed up and built a relationship. I can say that a team with different characters supporting each other and working persistently, researching, calling, setting meetings and following up all possible leads we could have. I guess some people sponsored us in the hope we would not call again until the contract was up. Joking apart, fundraising was one of the main focuses of our board, and was an area I particularly took to heart. Till today, ten years later, me being only 2 years older (in my mind), I look back with satisfaction to the time I worked with my team – and particularly at what we achieved .

2000Fundraising Timeby Michael Sullivan, Malta

13/07: Israel’s prime minis-• ter Ehud Barak and PLO head Yasser Arafat meet at Camp David, but fail to reach an agreement08/09: United Nations Millen-• nium Declaration is made in New York13/12: The U.S. Supreme • Court stops the Florida presi-dential recount, effectively giving the state, and the Presi-dency, to George W. Bush

The World in 2000

ELSA is granted Consultative • Status with the Council of EuropeThe International Trainers • Pool (ITP) is establishedThe ELSA Development Fund • (EDF) to support weak ELSA Groups is set up

ELSA in 2000

The preceding board created a great number of leads which we got to turn into contracts.

21

In the late 1990s, the Student Trainee Exchange Programme (STEP) became more and more successful. Each year ELSA managed to offer a growing number of traineeships to a growing number of students. If I remember correctly there were some 450 traineeships in 1999 facing some 2000 ap-plications.

At that time, ELSA was measuring its success mainly in quantity, not in quality. There was no system to determine whether the law firms involved were satisfied with their trainees or whether the trainees where satisfied with the work they had received or whether anybody’s expectations had been met and what they actually were.

In the short term, the only thing that mattered was numbers. More applications were equivalent to more income and more traineeships were equivalent to more prestige. At that point it could be said that STEP was the single most success-ful service of ELSA. This nurtured

the expectation that this success would continue to grow eternally, which created the fear that it was no longer possible to manage STEP with the conventional paper-based system.

Therefore, an idea started taking shape in ELSA, of managing STEP with an internet based platform similar to what other student organisations already had in place. The idea was later extended to a system that allows ELSA to not only manage STEP but all other services as well. Moreover, it would also provide a system that can be used as a members management tool. The idea of ELSA ONLINE was born.

While the idea may have been the right answer to the challenges ELSA would face in the future, the actual implementation seems to have done more harm than good. First, the technical development of ELSA ONLINE turned out to be more expensive than foreseen. Secondly, ELSA ONLINE was implemented without proper testing and under unnecessary time pressure. And at the same time the paper based system was abolished, so ELSA had no backup system when ELSA ONLINE wasn’t immediately working the way it had to. Third, the people in charge of STEP at the local level did not receive proper training how to use ELSA ONLINE and there was no such thing like a helpdesk or a hotline which created additional frustration.

In retrospect, the early stages of ELSA ONLINE were a good but costly example for a series of organisational failures and structural weaknesses, of overambitious individuals – including myself – and a network that did not understand that its aim was not to administer itself but to provide valuable services to the students.

I was Vice President of the Student Trainee Exchange Programme in 1999 and 2000; in 2001 I was Project Manager of ELSA ONLINE. In 2007 I opened my own law firm in Vienna, specialising in IP/IT, unfair com-mercial practices and business law.

2001Going Onlineby Thomas Fraiss, Austria

01/04: Slobodan Milosevic • surrenders to be tried on charges of war crimes. 11/09: The twin towers in • New York are hit by two hijacked airplanes and more than 3000 people die. 07/10: The US invade Afghan-• istan and the war in Afghani-stan begins.

The World in 2001

20• th anniversary of ELSA takes place in ViennaELSA ONLINE and the new • homepage is launchedThe International Focus Pro-• gramme “Information Society - The legal challenges” ends with the final conference in Munich

New members:Kazakhstan•

ELSA in 2001

The success of STEP nurtured the expecta-tion of eternal growth, limited only by the paper-based processes.

23

Money, Money, Money...by Robert Tremel, Austria

01/01: Euro notes and coins • are issued12/02: The trial of former • Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague01/07: The International • Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

The World in 2002

ELSA in 2002

The first edition of the ELSA • Moot Court Competition on WTO Law is launchedThe IFP topic “Trade Law – A • Way for Sustainable Develop-ment” is chosenThe legal research group • “Project on ICC National Implementation Legislation” (PINIL) is founded

2002

At the 1st of January 2002 the Euro became the official currency in some of the European Union member countries. The Euro was already the of-ficial currency of ELSA since 1999, but only as a unit of account, as cash was not available.

The drawer of the treasurer’s desk in the ELSA House reflected the picture of the internationality of the association. Every board mem-ber brought his spare cash from his trips all over the world. When I entered office in August 2001, the coins hinted at the last International Council Meetings in Austria (Schill-ing), Oresund (Swedish und Danish Krona), Poland (Zloty) and many more. The locations of the sponsors were reflected in British Pounds, French Franc, German Mark and Dutch Guilders. Japans Yens reminded of the International Study Visit in Japan and US Dollars of ELSA’s com-mitment at the UN in New York.

Finances and funds have always been a challenge for ELSA. Not only for the association herself, but also for the individual members who held a position on the International Board and spent a year in Brussels. When the House was rented in 1995, the board members themselves paid the rent from their own pockets. A few years later ELSA covered the costs for the House, nonetheless the board members did not get any other support for their own living costs.

As everyone can imagine the living costs in Brussels limited the number of students who were able to run for the IB. The majority of the board members came from countries that had a similar price level like Belgium. Of course this was not the only factor as statistics prove that the first IB member coming from Switzerland was elected only in 2007; nonetheless price levels had a major impact. In 2002 the IB proposed a kind for sup-port for the individual members on the board. ELSA decided to grant each board member an allowance of 100 Euro per month. This decision was intensively discussed, not only because of the future expenses, but also because it touched a principle of ELSA: The association ELSA is run by and for law students. Some people in the network were afraid that this could be the first step to give up the principle of law students running the association but create an association run by professionals.

It is 10 years ago now, that I ran for the IB – actually I was running during the 20th anniversary of ELSA in Vienna. During my term on the interna-tional level of ELSA we thought like every board that our decisions and proposals will change the association, maybe even the world. Looking back now the proposal to support the individuals on the IB had a good impact on ELSA also from the perspective that more students were able to take responsibility.

After my term I took a break from the association and started visiting ICMs again in 2007 regularly as a senior. I was caught by the spirit again and finally in 2010 I was elected president of ELS for the term 2011. This task now takes most of my time that remains from my job as a lawyer.

The cash box in the ELSA House reflected the internationality of the association.

24

I was the Director for the International Focus Programme (IFP) 2001-2002. We were discussing a lot about Intellectual Property, Data Protection, Electronic Signature and Electronic Administrations. Now, ten years after we are discussing more or less about the same topics and the main points of view have not changed a lot.

But one of those topics is facing a new point of view. It is the challenge of Administration involving citizens in its daily work. Even though there are several names to refer to it, the most accepted one is Open Government.

Administration is facing a new way to involve citizens in its activities, mainly because citizens are demanding it. Social Networks have helped in this evolution from Electronic Administration (where the Administra-tion provides services to citizens accesible from a website) to Open Gov-ernment, where the Administration is listening to citizens and willing to change its procedures getting citizens’ suggestions as part of its tasks.

And Administrations have to understand that they only can make people, we, citizens, to get involved in their activities by going where a lot of the people that want to change things are.

This is the main aim for the Open Government movement: every-thing that is public must be easy to access and Administrations have to empower citizens by allowing them access.

European Commission has accepted this challenge and published a com-munication about it: The European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015. Harnessing ICT to promote smart, sustainable and innovative Govern-ment (COM (2010) 743). The main principles in this paper are the same as stated in the “Malmö Declaration”: by 2015 European public administra-tions will be “recognised for being open, flexible and collaborative in their relations with citizens and businesses. They use eGovernment to increase their efficiency and effectiveness and to constantly improve public serv-ices in a way that caters for user’s different needs and maximises public value, thus supporting the transition of Europe to a leading knowledge-

2003An International Focusby José Esteban Mucientes Manso, Spain

09/02: War in Darfur begins• 18/07: The Convention on the • Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution23/12: WTO becomes a spe-• cialized agency of the United Nations

The World in 2003

ELSA and TopCareers enter a • cooperation agreement ELSA University of London • (ULC) wins the first oral round of the EMCC

New members:Estonia•

ELSA in 2003

Ten years after the IFP topic “Information So-ciety” the main issues are still in discussion.

based economy”. The principles of Open Government can be defined as aperture, flexibility and collaboration. Without this, and without involving citizens (including companies of any size) in this new era, public services will not adapt to 21st century. And, of course, this includes Open Data, public data accessible to anyone to be processed respecting privacy and national security issues, as part of it. But the Commission forgets the main principle behind everything: transparency.

There are examples for Open Government and Open Data services: United Kingdom has been the first European country to publish a huge repository of databases online (http://data.gov.uk). Irekia (http://irekia.euskadi.net) is the Basque Regional Government platform where you can find an Open Government application. They also have an Open Data platform where companies and individuals can get access to databases to create apps.

As you can see, this is just the beginning for a lot of changes. Because if society is changing, why does not Ad-ministration to be changing as well?

25

ELSA is nearing 30th anniversary and the EMC2 – ELSA Moot Court Com-petition on WTO law – its 10th edition. The Moot Court is my first son and Lukas Santiago Vilugron Zebrys is my youngest. Mark Refalo (VP AA 2002/03) is the father who let that first child into the world and I am not sure to thank him or ... him because I have been busy with this project for almost 10 years now. I am the adopted mother who along with other two Academic Supervisors – Letizia Raschella-Sergi (Australia) and Laura Nielsen (Denmark) – fostered it.

Multitude of things has happened with the EMC2. It started off with 28 teams and with WTO asking if ELSA is not some sort of anti-globalization activist group. It has almost been cancelled in 2009. Its Final Oral Round was on a world tour in Taipei, Taiwan and Santo Domingo, The Dominican Repub-lic.

Now the WTO – World Trade Organisation (Geneva) – is a proud Technical Supporter of the event which on a yearly basis involves between 60 and 80 teams around the Globe. The universities and student NGOs compete to organise regional rounds in Latin America, and we even have Appellate Body members volunteering to help with the organisational matters. The partners in the Asia Pacific regional rounds are the top WTO and WTO law names. The North America Regional Round reached unprecedented levels of quality. The panellists around the globe are the experts in WTO and International Economic law. Regional Round venues included Ad-elaide (Australia), Bogota (Colombia), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Guatemala City (Guatemala), Santo Domingo (Republica Dominicana), Temuco (Chile),

Taipei (Taiwan), Mexico City (Mex-ico), Ottawa (Canada) and Wash-ington D.C. (USA), not to mention the numerous ELSA groups which hosted the European ELSA Re-gional Rounds. I am proud of you, people!

I was very active in ELSA from 2001 to 200… I’d say I still am. Of course, you will not see me at the ICMs or NCMs anymore, but I am still a very active advisor on both the national and international levels. On the inter-national level I work predominantly with the ELSA Moot Court Compe-tition on WTO law (the EMC2). I am the EMC2 Academic Supervisor for the Americas. In 2002/2003 I was Director for Moot Courts ELSA Interna-tional. In 2003/2004 I was VP AA ELSA International. In 2004/2005 I was the Director for EMC2 ELSA International. For the last 5 years I am spend-ing my vacations in Latin America and in North America supervising the non-ELSA Regional Rounds.

However, most of you could rightly ask “what is this old hag still doing on this project? Doesn’t she have a life”. My answer is this “I am working on my career while helping out the ELSA Network”. The skills (working

Say Eee-Emm-Cee-Squareby Ieva Zebryte, Lithuania / Chile

EMC2 started off with the WTO asking if ELSA is not some sort of anti-globalization activist group.

The panellists around the globe are the ex-perts in WTO and Inter-national Economic law.

04/02: Facebook was founded • in Cambridge, Massachusetts06/08: United Nations report • blaming the government of Sudan for crimes against hu-manity in Darfur is released.02/09: The United Nations • Security Council adopts Reso-lution 1559, calling for the removal of all foreign troops from Lebanon

The World in 2004

ELSA in 2004

A new UN-Handbook is pre-• sentedThe International Speakers • Database is set up

New member:Russian Federation•

2004

26

on and management of international teams, coordinating interests of multitude of parties concerned), the knowl-edge (how international diplomacy works, what is International Trade Law all about) and the experience (com-municating with WTO law experts across the globe, practicing to write volumes in English etc.) gained through involvement with the EMC2 have at one or another point in my life and career played their role. I learned to play my strongest card and to mask my flaws while working on the EMC2. I learned to use all skills and knowledge to my advantage. I never took other people’s efforts for granted and trained not to take mine alike. No soft skill or other training will teach you, what you can learn while working on the International or Regional Organising Committee of the EMC2.

“I made my career only through ELSA and the EMC2” – might be an over-statement. “I made my career successful due to EMC2 and my personal character” – might sound like bragging. However both statements are completely correct. I did achieve success as legal professional through my volunteer work.

I am now a person in charge of Public and International Relations of Tourism Institute of one of TOP 10 Chilean public universities – La Frontera. I live in beautiful place called Pucon in Chile. Please look it up in the internet or my Facebook the photos say more...much more... than words.

Before that I was a successful lawyer in my country earning well above average of what the persons in my pro-fession and with my experience earn. I was an expert respected by the clients, and trusted advisor of my supe-riors. I still have a network of countless useful and well-maintained contacts all around the world. If you need a lawyer in Panama or New Zealand, you can call me!

I have a nice academic career planned out for me in the La Araucania region of Chile (though remaining flexible I am pretty sure I know what will be required of me in the five more to come). Just as I always wanted, just as I dreamed of. Would you like to have the same bragging rights?

I did achieve success as legal professional through my ELSA work.

ContactHorten Law FirmPhilip Heymans Allé 7DK-2900 Hellerup • CopenhagenTel. +45 3334 4000info@horten.dk

“I HAve worked wITH THem ALL, buT I LIke HorTen beCause it is more personal”

(IFLR1000)

About Horten Law FirmHorten is among Denmark’s leading law firms dedicated to providing solutions-oriented legal advice to Danish and inter-national businesses. We offer a comprehensive cross-border service within all practice areas based on more than 50 years of experience and expertise. Visit us at horten.dk/english.

In 2005 the ELSA – UN relations increased and one additional UN organi-sation was included in the rather impressive list of institutional relations. In October we received the news that ELSA had obtained observer status with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The very same year ELSA International sent delegations to the Provisional Committee on the WIPO Development Agenda 1st and 2nd session and the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents.

WIPO was established in 1967 with a mandate to promote the protection of intellectual property (IP) globally. In 1974 WIPO became a specialized agency of the UN. It is dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international IP system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while protecting the public in-terest.

The relationship between UN and ELSA started in 1994 when ELSA was granted Consultative Status at UNESCO. In 1997 ELSA obtained Special Consultative Status with the ECOSOC, one of UN’s principal subsidiary entities of the UN Gen-eral Assembly dealing with human rights and fundamental freedoms. UNSECO is responsible for coordinating the economic and social work of the UN, including the work of the specified institutions, such as another UN entity ELSA has a cooperation agreement with: UNCHR.

A Special Consultative Status is given to organisations that have a special competence in, are concerned with and known within a few of the fields of activity covered by the council. ELSA’s special focus on Human Rights is an important reason for why ELSA was granted this status with such a significant organization. This recognition is something every ELSAian should be very proud of. And why not apply to participate in a delegation?

I had that possibility during my IB year, admittedly to the UNCITRAL. In

2005UN-Involvement and WIPOby Heidi Platou, Norway

16/02: The Kyoto Protocol • goes into effect, without the support of the United States and Australia02/04: Pope John Paul II dies• 19/10: The Trials of Saddam • Hussein begin

The World in 2005

ELSA is granted Observer • Status with the World Intel-lectual Property Organization (WIPO)The IFP topic “25 years of Le-• gal Development” is chosen

ELSA in 2005The relationship with the UN started in 1994 with UNESCO and now involves also ECOSOC, UNHCR, UNCITRAL and WIPO.

1997 ELSA was granted Special Consultative Status also with the UNCITRAL and was given access to the efforts of the six Working Groups. These Working Groups work to promote UNCITRAL’s general purpose, namely to further the harmonization and unification of the international trade and business law, within specific fields. I was head of a delegation to a session of Working Group VI on Securities Interests. Participating in the delegation to the UNCITRAL was one of those experiences I will never forget. It was a rather surreal and big thing to sit in the same room and attend the same meetings and events as these men and women of influence. And I loved it!

After returning home from the ELSA House and finishing my studies, I started working for Advokatfirmaet Selmer DA in Oslo, Norway. Selmer is one of the biggest corporate law firms in Norway, with 120 lawyers and 10 financial advisors. Selmer has a strong international orientation and during the three years I have worked for Selmer, I have worked with clients and cooperated with partner firms from all over Europe. For two years now, I have been involved with a unique case in the U.S., where one of Selmer’s Norwegian clients is involved in a civil suit against an American adversary. The case gives an extraordinary insight into the very different legal system of the common law country on the other side of the Atlantic, both with regards to procedural and the appropriate field law.

29

           www.taxlawyer.nl 

    

  Your ELS‐colleague in the Netherlands 

A lot of people wanted the 2006 25th Anniversary International Council Meeting in London to be really great. But it almost didn’t happen.

The original Organising Team had big plans, with a big budget of over £125,000 against income of only £40,000, and no sponsorship or contin-gency plans. Experienced people were offering advice and assistance, but nobody was listening. And when people stop listening, things go wrong. Less than four weeks before 300 law students were due to arrive in Lon-don, neither a single meeting room nor bedroom had been booked. It was going to be chaotic, or worse. The ELSA International Board felt they had no choice, and they sacked the OC and decided to move the ICM from London to Brussels.

People were not happy. Many had already bought their tickets and made travel arrangements. ELS had already booked an hotel and planned events, and wanted to go ahead regardless. So the IB reconsidered and agreed that the ICM should stay in London.

Can an ICM be organised in less than four weeks? Well, yes. The IB flew to London; set up their HQ in my firm’s offices; took control; and with help from ELS the London ICM went ahead. All the offers of

help were still available, and more. Favours were called. ELS members from around Europe arranged conference rooms at South Bank Universi-ty, PwC, and elsewhere. Some sponsors not only made available training rooms but also offered lunches. The Law Society (the professional body for solicitors in England) offered its halls for the plenary sessions.

The now departed Lord Slynn of Hadley (then ELSA’s patron) helped ELSA book the Great Hall in Gray’s Inn for a glamorous “stand-up” gala ball. A “sit-down” meal would have been too expensive, so 600 smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels (to feed everyone beforehand) were or-dered from a surprised sandwich shop.

There was no time for discussions or debates. People were given tasks and just got on with it.

The accommodation was booked (possibly the worst ever, but hey!). There was a lot of walking and bus journeys between venues – but people got to see London.

So it all came together nicely. ELSA and ELS showed that with good team work, making use of the contacts that ELS can offer, some ELSA spirit, and gritty determination, it is possible to arrange an ICM in less than four weeks. And what a great ICM it was.

Actually I became president of the ELS in the years 2008 and 2009. I am working as Solicitor (Supreme Court of England and Wales) and Advo-cate (Supreme Court of Oman) and am Consultant at Penningtons Solici-tors LLP London.

2006ELSA’s 25th Birthdayby Teja Picton Howell, United Kingdom

03/06: Montenegro declares • independence11/08: A resolution to end • the 2006 Lebanon War is unanimously accepted by the United Nations Security Council05/11: Former President of • Iraq Saddam Hussein is sen-tenced to death by hanging by the Iraqi Special Tribunal

The World in 2006

ELSA celebrates its 25th an-• niversary, 50th International Council Meeting, 40th edition of Synergy and 5th edition of the EMC2

The final IFP Conference “25 • years of Legal Development” takes place in Oslo

ELSA in 2006

Can an ICM be organ-ised in less than four weeks? Well, yes.

31

When we started our term in office we inherited the results of probably the biggest market research ever conducted by the ELSA network. Our predecessors in the year 2006/2007 made a research involving most local and national groups of the ELSA network as well as about 2000 individual members. The questionnaire focused on the activities, the image and the perception of ELSA and gave us the chance to get a pretty detailed picture of the state of the ELSA network.

The result of that research was the starting point for us to begin ques-tioning ourselves and to restruc-ture some of the activities, regula-tions and institutions that ELSA International was responsible for in the past. One of the main issues that the research pointed out was that students, members and non ELSA-members, are (still) attracted by ELSA because of the International scope of the organisation.

Our goal was to strengthen the international activities of ELSA and to try to get this idea to every local group. During our year we changed the cur-rent planning tools from a 2 year plan into a 5 year plan, to really be able to set long term goals for the whole organisation and not only for the few guys sitting in the ELSA House in Brussels.

Changing a paper plan doesn’t sound very spectacular but this 5 year plan, which is to be expired in 2013, has a clear focus on the international activities and was prepared during an amazing IPM in Movrovo organ-ised by ELSA Macedonia. During the IPM we only focused on the future of ELSA and how to develop such a long term plan. That meant having only one item on the agenda and not the usual twenty different topics which led to some criticism at the beginning. But at the end we managed to come up with a plan, involving all levels of the ELSA network and be-ing only one and half pages long.

The plan was then after some more discussions accepted by the plenary at the ICM in Lisbon and hopefully still exists today and till 2013.

For me the most interesting was to learn that the ideas and goals set 30 years ago are still valid and the international scope of ELSA is still the big-gest asset of our association. I hope this will remain and wish ELSA all the best for the next 30 years.

Today I am working in a law firm in Zurich and finally becoming a law-yer. Still my thoughts wander around Europe and I’m always looking for possibilities to work in an international environment again.

Research the marketby Matthias Stauffacher, Switzerland

When we started we inherited the results of probably the biggest market research ever conducted in ELSA.

01/01: Bulgaria and Romania • join the European Union01/01: South Korea’s Ban • Ki-moon becomes the new United Nations Secretary-General21/12: The Czech Repub-• lic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slo-vakia, and Slovenia join the Schengen border-free zone

The World in 2007

ELSA in 2007

Market research involving • more than 2000 individuals is conductedAs a result a five year plan is • set up for the network

New member: Montenegro•

2007

32

2008Global Financial Crisisby Anna Ziemnicka, Poland

23/05: The International • Court of Justice awards Mid-dle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the 2 coun-tries12/06: Ireland votes to reject • the Treaty of Lisbon, in the only referendum to be held by a European Union member state on the treaty18/12: The International • Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicts Théoneste Bagosora and two other senior Rwan-dan army officers of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes

The World in 2008

ELSA signed a Human Rights • Partnership agreement with Council of EuropeELSA and ELS enter a formal • cooperation

New member:Albania•

ELSA in 2008

The European Law Students’ Association is an organization which stands for the respect for human dignity and cultural diversity. It calls for people with interest for their personal development and big social responsibil-ity. It gives the floor to creativity and innovation with the respect for the fundamental achievements from ELSA past. That is why ELSA over the years has been always the place for self improvement of the members, the endless source of possibilities and the best school of life experience.

For all those reasons I have appreciated being a member of ELSA and have spend many years in this organization, first as a President of my lo-cal group – ELSA Gdansk (2005, 2006), then President ELSA Poland (2007) and finally President ELSA International (2008/2009).

The term of 2008/2009 was very challenging for the whole associa-tion. Facing the financial crisis on the market on one hand, we had great plans to turn into life on the other. On the bases of Market Re-search conducted over the ELSA

network and great work done by the former International Board together with National Presidents at that time, we had a new five-year strategic plan in the first year of its implementation to fulfill.

Although the human rights programme was not mentioned in the stra-tegic plan directly as a goal, the network was clearly indicating the need of improvement in this field. Human rights were indeed treated as the significant content of the plan as a whole.

As a consequence, the network was anticipating big development of the cooperation with Council of Europe as the most recognizable and suc-cessful organization working towards European integration and having a particular emphasis on human rights. We have followed the steps of the International Board 2007/2008 in successfully exercised cooperation under Synergy magazine and expanded it to many other fields of ELSA activities.

The prospering collaboration with the Directorate of Communication of Council of Europe brought many noticeable results in the term of 2008/2009. ELSA was provided with many great speakers attending the human rights events. Our local groups were traveling to Strasbourg in order to acquaint with the specific of CoE functioning. Many national groups have started direct cooperation on the national level with CoE’s Information Offices (IOCE) based in its member states.

ELSA has also signed separate agreement with CoE, under which there has been a certain quota of traineeships in CoE’s recruitment procedure reserved for ELSA Students’ Trainee Exchange Programme.

The personal support of the Deputy Secretary General of Council of Eu-rope Maud de Boer-Buquicchio as “Marraine” of our association was the greatest honor and the crowning touch to our great partnership.

ELSA has always been an endless source of possibilities for its members.

33

continued on page 34

It is very satisfactory that the cooperation with the Council of Europe is still expanding. That proves the indis-putable awareness of the importance of human rights among European law students. Thanks to the efficiency of the cooperation the awareness of this importance is constantly being improved.

That is why not only Council of Europe has a certain impact on ELSA members. If being successful in gathering and educating future internationally minded and socially responsible lawyers, ELSA can have certain impact on not only the Council of Europe, but all the structures of European community as our contribution to “a just world”.

The year 2009-2010 was an extremely diverse and eventful year for ELSA as a whole and for the International Board. Our team took over the head-quarters of ELSA in the middle of 2009 and soon took the motto “One board, one desire” which helped us to stick together overcoming all diffi-culties and achieving new heights for the association that we cared about so much.

It is difficult to identify the most important issue of our year. Besides, I am most sure that different ELSA members would name different from the many topics. Among those I could mention the selection of the new topic for the International Focus Programme (Health Law), the interna-tional essay and photo competition in cooperation with the Council of Europe (dedicated to the anniversary of the European Convention on Hu-man Rights), the establishment of the cooperation with new partners (Au-diting Partner, English Language Partner, LLM Partner), the tender and selection of the contractor for the new ELSA Online system, the admin-istrative grant from the European Commission, the increased number of teams in the ELSA Moot Court Competition with the Final Oral Round in Santo Domingo, the growth of the number of traineeships and applicants in the STEP programme… Already these few topics deserve to be named “hot topics” of our year and create the impression of the development trends in ELSA of 2009-2010.

In my opinion, the main idea of our term in office was to ensure that ELSA follows its Vision and ex-pands it even more. We introduced the regulations about the Strategic Planning in ELSA to the Decision Book. We also fostered the concept of the expansion limits of our asso-

ciation by moving the regulations from the Decision Book to the Statutes of ELSA. Now there is less possibilities to start arguments about whether a non-European country can start an ELSA group. However, this decision opened new horizons for the expansion of our Vision. During the winter IPM in Kyiv we discussed the special status for law students’ associations from countries outside Europe. A student from Israel actively participated in that IPM. In the autumn ICM 2010 there was already a big delegation of law students from Israel present. We also worked hard on expanding the ELSA Vision beyond the borders of Europe by signing cooperation agree-ments with the Asian Law Students’ Association and AIESEC as well as organising a law school in China for the members of ELSA. This was done with the firm belief that our Vision does not have any borders. I hope that as a result ELSA became even more diverse and internationally-minded and its members – more open to learn about new cultures and legal systems.

ELSA definitely had a spectacular impact on my life. This experience will stay with me in the future and has given to me many skills that are neces-sary for a professional in any field. After coming back to Ukraine I started to develop personal business projects and also got involved in non-gov-ernmental activities connected to the protection of human rights. Most importantly ELSA has given to me friends from all over Europe and these relations are the most valuable part of the ELSA experience.

2009Limits of Globalisationby Leonid Cherniavskyi, Ukraine

26/02: Former Serbian presi-• dent Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War02/10: Ireland holds a sec-• ond referendum on the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. The amend-ment is approved by the Irish electorate01/12: The Treaty of Lisbon • comes into force

The World in 2009

The IFP topic “Health Law” is • selectedAn international essay and • photo competition in coop-eration with the Council of Europe takes place

New members:Armenia• Bosnia & Herzegovina• France• Luxembourg• United Kingdom• Georgia•

ELSA in 2009

We fostered the limits of expansion but also worked on expanding the ELSA Vision beyond the borders of Europe.

35

ELSA was born to a world different than the world of today. Only the shores of the continent remain the same.

ELSA’s vision of “a just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity” may be impossible to reach. However, the passion and dedication of law students and young lawyers involved in ELSA have brought us closer to that vision.

On the 30th Anniversary of the European Law Students’ Association: we are honouring that day in Vienna on May 4th, 1981, when it began.

Happy Birthday ELSA!

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Chang-fa Lo, Lifetime Distinguished Professor of National Taiwan University Russel Denoon Duncan, Solicitor, United KingdomCyril Ritchie, President of the Expert Council on NGO Law of the Council of Europe

ELS – �e ELSA Lawyers Society

Mario Albano, ItalyMoritz Am Ende, GermanyValentina Antill, CroatiaLaurent Besso, SwitzerlandEd Bouman, �e NetherlandsGyöngyi Bozzay, HungaryAndrew Brooke, United KingdomEivind Bryne, NorwayRobert D'Alessandro, MaltaAndrés de Ceballos Cabrillo, Spain�omas Fraiss, AustriaIsabelle Ginet-Kauders, FranceMichael Goeskjær, DenmarkMichael Goldinger, AustriaBlaz Golob, SloveniaPierangelo T. Graziani, ItalyTommaso Graziani, ItalyMalin Helgesen, SwedenPaul Hermant, BelgiumPaul Hochbaum, Austria / HungaryWiel Hoefnagels, �e NetherlandsTaco Hovius, �e NetherlandsNil Karadeniz, TurkeyMarcus van der Kloet, �e Netherlands

Johanna Kauppinen, FinlandWojciech Kostrzewa, PolandClaudius Krucker, HollywoodKrzysztof Kuik, PolandUmut Kurman, TurkeyFredrik Lofthagen, SwedenAgnieszka Marciniak, PolandNicolas Médan, FranceFredrik Messel, NorwayLudwig von Moltke, GermanyEdgar Müller, AustriaPatrick Oliver, United KingdomJan Ollila, FinlandLeander Palleit, GermanySophia Picton-Howell, United KingdomTeja Picton-Howell, United KingdomChristian Plate, Germany�ésa Prisse, �e NetherlandsBartolomiej Raczkowski, PolandDubravka Rajic, CroatiaSten Ramstedt, Belgium / SwedenEero Rautalahti, United Kingdom / FinlandŁukasz Rędziniak, Poland

Andreas Richter, GermanyLisa Router-Mead, United KingdomClaudia Sachs-Lorbeck, AustriaAngelo Santi, ItalyHans Schibli, SwitzerlandMatthias Stauffacher, SwitzerlandViveca Still, FinlandAgnieszka Stobiecka-Kuik, PolandSimen Blaker Strand, NorwayKarina Sultanova, KazakhstanAttila Tárkány Szücs, HungaryRobert Tremel, AustriaArabela Trifoi, RomaniaErik Vrij, �e NetherlandsBrigitte Vrij-Vanatova, �e NetherlandsGregor Wenda, AustriaSandra Wenda, AustriaRiccardo Zanon, ItalyIevita Zebryte, LithuaniaArailym Zhumakanova, KazakhstanAnna Ziemnicka, PolandIngeborg Åkermarck, FinlandJohan Åkermarck, Finland

ELSA Alumni Deutschland e.V.

ELSA came into my life in the year 2007. At that moment, I did not know to what point this Association would influence my life, to the point of be-ing working full-time for it at the moment.

At the beginning of my ELSA path, I was just like any regular member, going only to local activities, and not being too much involved in the run-ning of the organisation. This changed when I got elected for the position of Treasurer of my Local Group, ELSA A Coruña, and attended my first National Council Meeting, in March 2008. When I did so, I saw the enor-mous possibilities a Network of around 30,000 people could bring to me and, moreover, I found out really what the “E” in ELSA meant, as we had the pleasure of count-ing with international guests, who made the meeting a real ELSA one.

Since then, my ELSA career just started to accelerate, by becoming Na-tional Treasurer of ELSA Spain, and reached full throttle after my first International Council Meeting in Nuremberg, Germany, in October 2008. I must admit that this ICM was one of the most exciting and eye-opening experiences of my life, and led me to become more and more in ELSA, in a passion which could not be stopped after this unforgettable experience.

After Nuremberg, and with many other national and international meet-ings in the meantime, came Budva, and then, already as President, Sinaia, and Malta. In the latter, I decided to run for the position of President of the International Board of ELSA. After a long and exhausting week, the Chair of the Plenary called out my name, and a new period in my ELSA career started, that of a member of the international executive body of the Association, living and working full-time for the organization in 239, Boulevard Général Jacques, Brussels.

Currently, I am working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to make this organisation function and to improve its job and increase the opportuni-ties we give to the members of this Network.

During this year, ELSA faces many challenging and exciting projects, among others, the market research, the implementation of the new Inter-national Focus Programme topic, Health Law, or the launching of ELSA Online 2.

Furthermore, this ELSA year will mark the 30th anniversary of our belov-ed association, which we will be commemorating with events throughout the whole year, with some highlights such as both ICMs, in Poznan and Palermo, and birthday celebrations in different Local and National Group throughout the Network. 2011 will also be the 20th anniversary of our of-ficial international alumni association, the ELSA Lawyers Society (ELS). We would like to use these two milestones to bring alumni closer to their former ELSA Groups and encourage every Group and every alumnus of ELSA, to cooperate in organizing an anniversary event – to contribute to legal education through our network of around 30,000 law students and young lawyers all over Europe.

Getting ready for the 4th Decadeby Óscar A. Lema Bouza, Spain

At my first National Council Meeting, I found out what the “E“ in ELSA meant.

10/04: The President of • Poland, Lech Kaczyński, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes in western Russia25/07: Wikileaks, an online • publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified mate-rial, leaks to the public over 90,000 internal reports about the United States-led involve-ment in the War in Afghani-stan from 2004 to 2010.10/08: The World Health Or-• ganization declares the H1N1 influenza pandemic over, say-ing worldwide flu activity has returned to typical seasonal patterns

The World in 2010

ELSA in 2010

The final IFP conference takes • place in Munich.ELSA prepares for a new On-• line System

New members:Ireland• Azerbaijan•

2010

36

ELSA was born to a world different than the world of today. Only the shores of the continent remain the same.

ELSA’s vision of “a just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity” may be impossible to reach. However, the passion and dedication of law students and young lawyers involved in ELSA have brought us closer to that vision.

On the 30th Anniversary of the European Law Students’ Association: we are honouring that day in Vienna on May 4th, 1981, when it began.

Happy Birthday ELSA!

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Chang-fa Lo, Lifetime Distinguished Professor of National Taiwan University Russel Denoon Duncan, Solicitor, United KingdomCyril Ritchie, President of the Expert Council on NGO Law of the Council of Europe

ELS – �e ELSA Lawyers Society

Mario Albano, ItalyMoritz Am Ende, GermanyValentina Antill, CroatiaLaurent Besso, SwitzerlandEd Bouman, �e NetherlandsGyöngyi Bozzay, HungaryAndrew Brooke, United KingdomEivind Bryne, NorwayRobert D'Alessandro, MaltaAndrés de Ceballos Cabrillo, Spain�omas Fraiss, AustriaIsabelle Ginet-Kauders, FranceMichael Goeskjær, DenmarkMichael Goldinger, AustriaBlaz Golob, SloveniaPierangelo T. Graziani, ItalyTommaso Graziani, ItalyMalin Helgesen, SwedenPaul Hermant, BelgiumPaul Hochbaum, Austria / HungaryWiel Hoefnagels, �e NetherlandsTaco Hovius, �e NetherlandsNil Karadeniz, TurkeyMarcus van der Kloet, �e Netherlands

Johanna Kauppinen, FinlandWojciech Kostrzewa, PolandClaudius Krucker, HollywoodKrzysztof Kuik, PolandUmut Kurman, TurkeyFredrik Lofthagen, SwedenAgnieszka Marciniak, PolandNicolas Médan, FranceFredrik Messel, NorwayLudwig von Moltke, GermanyEdgar Müller, AustriaPatrick Oliver, United KingdomJan Ollila, FinlandLeander Palleit, GermanySophia Picton-Howell, United KingdomTeja Picton-Howell, United KingdomChristian Plate, Germany�ésa Prisse, �e NetherlandsBartolomiej Raczkowski, PolandDubravka Rajic, CroatiaSten Ramstedt, Belgium / SwedenEero Rautalahti, United Kingdom / FinlandŁukasz Rędziniak, Poland

Andreas Richter, GermanyLisa Router-Mead, United KingdomClaudia Sachs-Lorbeck, AustriaAngelo Santi, ItalyHans Schibli, SwitzerlandMatthias Stauffacher, SwitzerlandViveca Still, FinlandAgnieszka Stobiecka-Kuik, PolandSimen Blaker Strand, NorwayKarina Sultanova, KazakhstanAttila Tárkány Szücs, HungaryRobert Tremel, AustriaArabela Trifoi, RomaniaErik Vrij, �e NetherlandsBrigitte Vrij-Vanatova, �e NetherlandsGregor Wenda, AustriaSandra Wenda, AustriaRiccardo Zanon, ItalyIevita Zebryte, LithuaniaArailym Zhumakanova, KazakhstanAnna Ziemnicka, PolandIngeborg Åkermarck, FinlandJohan Åkermarck, Finland

ELSA Alumni Deutschland e.V.

Concept and Design: ELS – �e ELSA Lawyers Society. Picture © travellinglight/istockphoto

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