Leiden University hosts Young FIDE Seminar for junior EU lawyers
Last Wednesday, on 12 May 2021, Leiden University hosted the virtual Young FIDE Seminar. This online event brought together junior EU law scholars and practitioners to discuss the three topics of the main XXIX FIDE Congress, which will take place from 3 to 6 November 2021 in The Hague and of which Leiden University is the academic partner.
The three topics disucssed were 'National Courts and the Enforcement of EU Law', 'Data Protection' and 'EU Competition Law and the Digital Economy'. FIDE is the umbrella organisation of European law associations in the Member States and organises bi-annual Congresses that bring together EU law scholarship and practice. It is a by now well-established tradition that an event for junior EU lawyers is organised as part of these FIDE Congresses.
This year’s online Young FIDE Seminar was opened by the Dean of Leiden Law School Professor Joanne van der Leun and by Professor Jorrit Rijpma. It was followed by a guest lecture by Professor Sacha Prechal, Judge at the Court of Justice of the EU. In her insightful lecture, Judge Prechal flagged current EU law challenges and related these specifically to the three main topics addressed during the Seminar. The lecture was followed by parallel sessions on these topics during which selected young EU lawyers presented their topical papers followed by a discussion with invited expert panelists and the audience. The event was concluded by a joint session chaired by the President of FIDE 2021 Corinna Wissels (Raad van State) during which 'Young FIDE Rapporteurs' informed the audience about the conclusions drawn in their parallel sessions. We are happy that the Seminar could offer an important platform for junior EU lawyers to discuss and exchange their views on current EU law topics.
The Seminar was organised by Leiden Law School staff Clara van Dam and Frederik Behre together with Maarten Schippers (Raad van State) and Marijn van der Sluis (Maastricht University).