Leiden wins NVER 2019 Moot Court
Team Leiden L’expert has won the 12th edition of the NVER Moot Court competition 2019. The moot court is organised each year by the Dutch Association for European Law (NVER) and was held this year at Leiden University.
Armin Cuyvers and Jorrit Rijpma this year prepared a topical case touching on both the Brexit and European criminal law. The participating teams had to consider the effect of the European Arrest Warrant in relation to a departing Member State, and the legal consequences of a different composition of the European Parliament for the fictitious actions. At interlocutory proceedings before the ‘Court of Justice’, the participating teams had to plead the position of the claimant and the defendant in the case Günter S. v. Talaxia.
Leiden University was represented at the competition by master’s students Tobias Korvinus, Andriana Kosma and Katja Van Aelst together with two highly motivated bachelor’s students Jari Boekhorst and Elisa Lambooij. The students were supervised by Hans van Oort and Jet Liesker
In the first round Team Leiden L’expert, acting as defendant, convinced the Court with its clearly structured arguments. The team from Utrecht University was simply outclassed. In the second round, Team Leiden L’expert had to convince the Court from the position of claimant. The battle against the second team from Utrecht was very tense.
Team Leiden L’expert was judged by the ‘Court of Justice’ as the best team due to its ‘clear statements and excellent teamwork’. As a result, the team was able to take the challenge cup home. Katja Van Aelst won the prize for best counsel thanks to her calm, convincing and clear manner of presenting arguments. Her excellent arguments convinced the Court of Justice, and all members of the Court voted for her as best counsel. We wish her much success with her internship prize!
The team looks back on a very successful day with pride and pleasure. This unique experience gave us a taste of the challenges existing in legal practice. We invite everyone to take part in this competition and hopefully prolong our title next year.