Learned EU law from moot court competition

Text: Kjerstin Gjengedal

The prestigeous European Law Moot Court Competition is aimed at law students with a particular interest in EU law. The teams must first submit written pleadings in a hypothetical law case. The teams with the best scores proceed to regional oral finals, before four teams eventually meet in the all-European final. Husebye's team was one of twelve teams participating in the last of the four regional finals, on March 1^st.

Points for language and rhetoric

«The pleadings took place in the Palais de Justice in Brussels. When I arrived and saw the huge, old building, I was all in awe. I felt very nervous, but even so I think it went well. The judges asked some difficult questions, but I managed to answer more or less reasonably. The phd-student who acted as our team coach, sat in the audience, and he, too, was happy with the performance. But we didn't quite make it to the final, it was the team from Aix-en-Provence who won», she says.

The participants are awarded points for their mastery of English or French as a non-native language, for their grasp of the law, and for delivery. Husebye had practiced pleading her case, but she thinks there could be a greater emphasis on elocution in law school.

«I would like to have had more practice. Your manner of expressing yourself orally is, after all, an important part of the package when you present your arguments to the court, and if the judge is about to fall asleep, it's your own fault, not the judge's», she says.

The semester as an exchange student in Sweden was supposed to offer a nice bit of variety before she finished her studies, but in the end it proved to be very hard work. Husebye signed up for the «EU commercial law and litigation» class, where participation the moot court competition is an obligatory part of the course. For the first time, two teams from Uppsala University qualified for the oral rounds.

«When we were told that our team had qualified for the regional final, I was back in Norway. I sat on my own and tried to prepare while the rest of my team worked together in Uppsala. For that reason, I was given the role of the Commission Representative. It's a slightly more independent part, which makes it easier to prepare for it alone», she says.

Crash course in competition law

The hypthetical case was a conflict between a fictional EU member state and the Commission, and was essentially about competition law. The case file described the process of the case in the national court system before it was taken to the level of the EU. Husebye considers herself a relative newcomer to EU and competition law, and was given a crash course through the work on the moot court case.

«But the relationship between the EU and its member states is something that affects Norway as well, by way of the European Economic Area. Jurists working in the public sector will be confronted with Norway's duties toward the EU through directives and the like. It's useful to know a bit about it», she points out.

She signed up for the class in part because she wanted to challenge herself in areas where she felt she needed more practice, like oral delivery and English legal terms, and she feels she has benefited a lot from participating in the competition. Universities from many countries took part, and the regional final in Brussels concluded with a formal dinner which included mandatory participation in a «Eurovision Song Contest». As the only Norwegian present, Husebye had to step onto the stage and sing a song in Norwegian.

«I chose the traditional song «Jeg gikk en tur på stien». Short and to the point», she says, laughing.

Whether she wants to do EU law in the future, she hasn't yet decided. First, there's a master's thesis to submit in June.