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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: 21 June 2023


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:

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As well as our current sponsors for this year: