Moot Courts
Moot Courts are competitions for the purpose of legal education. They simulate fictional court proceedings and thereby allow the practical application of knowledge gained during university studies.
A moot court is separated into two stages: one written memorials stage and one oral pleadings stage. During the written memorials stage, participants prepare legal memorials for the applicant and the respondent side on the basis of a fictional le-gal case. The oral pleadings stage of the competition comprises of pleading the case in front of judges during simulated trial rounds against other teams of students from various universities.
Thus a moot court provides an enjoyable interactive learning method during which students gain fundamental knowledge in the respective field of law, strengthen their team work and public speaking skills in English. During the course of the competition, the participants meet fellow students from other countries and universities and get in touch with practitioners from all over Europe. The particular highlight of a moot court is its respective final round some of which take place at a different location in Europe each year.
Application deadline: 30 June 2024
Erfolgreiches Abschneiden des Uni Köln Teams beim Leiden-Sarin Air Law Moot Court
Das ILWCR Team Mooting 2024 hat beim Leiden-Sarin Air Law Moot Court, organisiert von der Universität Leiden und der Sarin Memorial Legal Aid Foundation, beeindruckende Erfolge erzielt. Unser Team bestand aus Jakob Ferner, Alexander Unbereit und Rebecca-Sophie Schumacher, und wurde durch den Coach Konstantinos Andritsos unterstützt.
Vom 18. bis 20. April fanden die Pleadings in Mexiko City statt. Hier traten unsere Studierenden zweimal als Kläger und zweimal als Beklagter gegen Teams renommierter Universitäten an. Ihre herausragende Leistung wurde mit dem 4. und 5. Platz belohnt.
Neben dem spannenden Vortrag vor angesehenen Experten des Luftrechts war auch die Anfertigung der Memorials ein Höhepunkt. Diese boten nicht nur die Möglichkeit, tiefgehende völkerrechtliche Kenntnisse zu erlangen, sondern auch einen wertvollen Einblick in das Luftrecht.
Das Institut für Luftrecht, Weltraumrecht und Cyberrecht der Universität zu Köln gratuliert Jakob Ferner, Alexander Unbereit und Rebecca-Sophie Schumacher herzlich zu ihrem Erfolg!
Semi-Finals and Third Place for the Cologne Team at the European Rounds of the Space Law Moot Court
The Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law is pleased to announce that our Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Team comprised of Ms. Yolanda Rott-Bermejo, Mr. Tom Filipov and Mr. Linus Klitzing, coached by Ms Katja Grünfeld, has ranked third at the European Rounds of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, organised by the regional organiser, the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), hosted this year by the University of Vienna in the beautiful city of Vienna between the 8th and 12th April 2024!
After gruelling four preliminary rounds, the team qualified for the semi-finals, facing the University of Athens, the eventual European Champion of 2024, on Friday April 12th. The team performed splendidly, preparing new legal arguments for each round and each opponent, gaining admiration from present judges and opponent teams!
We sincerely congratulate this year´s participants, Ms. Yolanda Rott-Bermejo, Mr. Tom Filipov and Mr. Linus Klitzing for their stellar performance and wonderful success at the European Rounds of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court!
Second Place, Runner-Up Title and Best Oralist Award for our European Champions at the World Rounds of the Space Law Moot Court in Baku!
The Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law is happy to announce that our Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Team comprised of Ms. Christina Schmitz, Ms. Verena Celina Schulz and Mr. Til Daniels, coached by Ms Katja Grünfeld, the European Champions of the 2023 Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, have become Runner-Up after winning second place at the World Rounds of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition in Baku, Azerbaijan on 5th October 2023!
The World Rounds of the prestigious Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition are organised by the International Institute of Space law within the framework of the International Astronautical Congress and are attended only by the five Regional Champions of the five Regional Rounds: Europe, North America, South America, Asia-Pacific and Africa.
Facing the Winner of the North American Regional Rounds in the Semi-Finals on October 3rd, our Cologne Team - the Winner of the European Regional Rounds - emerged victorious, proceeding to the Finals, where they faced the Winner of the Asian Regional Rounds in front of three actual judges of the International Court of Justice: H.E. Tomka, H.E. Xue, and H.E. Brant! They earned admiration from all on-lookers and were awarded the title of Runner-Up for second place in the World Finals as well as the Award for Best Oralist in all rounds for Ms. Christina Schmitz.
We sincerely congratulate the participants, Ms. Christina Schmitz, Ms. Verena Celina Schulz and Mr. Til Daniels once again for their outstanding success at the European Rounds, namely winning the European Champions title, as well as for their astounding performance at the World Rounds, earning praise from attending space law experts and second place - the title of Runner-Up - at the World Finals! We furthermore sincerely congratulate Ms. Christina Schmitz for winning the title of Best Oralist at the World Rounds!
VICTORY: Team from the University of Cologne are European Champions!
The Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law is pleased to announce that our Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Team comprised of Ms. Christina Schmitz, Ms. Verena Celina Schulz and Mr. Til Daniels, and coached by Ms Katja Grünfeld, has won the Euopean Rounds of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, organised by the regional organiser, the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), and have been crowned European Champions!
The team will therefore travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, in October 2023 for the World Rounds of the Competition, organised by the International Institute of Space Law in the framework of the International Astronatical Congress, to compete for the title of World Champions against the victors of the other four Regional Rounds (North America, South America, Asia and Africa) of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. In the World Final two finalist teams will have the honour of pleading in front of the International Court of Justice.
We sincerely congratulate this year´s participants, Ms. Christina Schmitz, Ms. Verena Celina Schulz and Mr. Til Daniels for their outstanding success of European Champions title, and wish them best of luck at the World Rounds!
Success at the Telders International Law Moot Court 2022
We are pleased that our Cologne team successfully presented itself at the Telders International Law Moot Court in 2022. The case dealt in particular with issues of space law. The focus was - for the first time in the context of the Telders Competition - on questions of compensation for acts contrary to international law. The participants look back on eight exciting and instructive months. The team managed to win the award for the best plaintiff brief and achieved 7th place overall.
Congratulations on this success to: Sven Dümpelmann, Carolin Kopp, Kathrin Rau and Marta Kupfer (from left to right)!
Leiden-Sarin Air Law Moot Court 2022
We are pleased to announce that our Leiden-Sarin Air Law Moot Court Team 2022, consisting of Ms. Jennet Koco, Ms. Natalija Djakovic and Mr. Malte Amelung, guided by their coach Mr. Konstantinos Andritsos, did their utmost in two preliminary rounds against two well-prepared teams from prestigious Institutes. They pleaded once as Applicant and once as Respondent, earning very positive comments from the specialists judging each respective session. Our students enjoyed this 6-months process, acquiring lots of knowledge vis-à-vis International Law in addition to Air Law. This year, the competition took place virtually due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
We sincerely congratulate this year´s participants, Ms. Janet Koco, Ms. Natalija Djakovic and Mr. Malte Amelung for their wonderful work!
Manfred Lachs Moot Court 2022 wins Best Memorial Award
The Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law is pleased to announce that our Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Team comprised of Ms. Katharina Prall, Mr. Sebastian Schlingmann and Ms. Marie-Claire de Bruijn, and coached by Ms Katja Grünfeld, battled valiantly in four preliminary pleadings against four very strong opponents, twice as Applicant and twice as Respondent, and was finally awarded Best Memorial Award by the regional organiser, the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA)!
For this wonderful success we sincerely congratulate this year´s participants, Ms. Katharina Prall, Mr. Sebastian Schlingmann and Ms. Marie-Claire de Bruijn!
Success at the Telders International Law Moot Court
We are pleased that again in 2020 our Cologne team presented itself successfully at the Telders International Law Moot Court. The team was able to take third place on the plaintiff's side. Overall, the team achieved 6th place.
We warmly congratulate this year's participants Ms. Annika Owczarek, Ms. Luca Neeff, Mr. Marius Kampf and Mr. Julian Schophaus on this success!
Telders Moot Court 2019
We are pleased to announce that our Cologne team won the prize for the best plaintiff's memorial at the Telders International Law Moot Court 2019.
The team was able to achieve 5th place on the plaintiff’s side, 6th place on the defendant’s side and an overall 3rd place!”
We warmly congratulate this year's participants Mr Eugen Esman, Ms Amparo Sanz Segui, Ms Hannah Köbberling and Ms Jasmina Benscheidt on this success!
In particular we would like to thank our current Co-Operation Partners for their support to the Moot Courts in 2019:
As well as our current sponsors for this year:
