Moot court competitions
For many years now the Court has been endeavouring to familiarise future legal professionals with the European Convention on Human Rights system by promoting advocacy competitions consisting of mock legal proceedings based on the Convention. Three competitions are held every year at the Court, namely the René Cassin advocay competition for French-speaking students and the ELSA moot court competition and Trans-European Moot Court for English-speaking students.
René Cassin competition
The René Cassin advocacy competition is the oldest competition consisting of mock legal proceedings in French and based on the Convention.
Open to law and political science students, it is run by volunteers from the association for the René Cassin competition, with support from sponsors such as the Fondation René Cassin, the University of Strasbourg and the Strasbourg Bar Association, and from numerous local and international partners.
- More info (Fondation René Cassin website)
2024 competition
Students from the University of Bucharest have been declared the winners of the 2024 René Cassin advocacy competition for law students after beating a rival team from the Bruges College of Europe in the final round.
The final took place at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on 22 March 2024 and the jury was made up of ECHR judges, lawyers, academics and representatives of the competition’s partner institutions. It was chaired by François Sureau, lawyer, writer, and member of the French Academy.
Previous René Cassin competitions
The final round of the 31st competition, in which the University of Réunion Island met Luxembourg University, took place at the Court on 1 April 2016 in front of a jury made up of prominent figures (judges of the Court and academics), chaired by Bernard Guetta, journalist, commentator on France Inter. The University of Réunion Island has been declared the winner.
The Bruges Collège d'Europe has been declared the winner of the 2017 René Cassin advocacy competition. The final round of the 32nd competition, in which students from the Bruges Collège d'Europe competed against a team from Aix-Marseille University, took place at the Court on 24 March 2017. The subject was health and European human rights law.
The University of Saint-Etienne has been declared the winner of the 2018 René Cassin advocacy competition. The final round of the 33rd competition, in which students from the University of Saint-Etienne competed against a team from the University of Angers, took place at the Court on 6 April 2018 before a jury made up of prominent figures from the legal world (judges of the Court and academics). It was chaired by the journalist Harry Roselmack.
The University of Paris 2 has been declared the winner of the 2019 René Cassin advocacy competition, consisting of mock legal proceedings, in French, based on the European Convention on Human Rights and open to students of law and political science. The final round of the 34th competition, in which students from the University of Paris 2 competed against a team from the Catholic University of Lille, took place at the Court on 5 April 2019 before a jury made up of prominent figures from the legal world (judges of the Court and academics). It was chaired by Louis Schweitzer, former CEO of Renault and former president of the HALDE (the French anti-discrimination authority).
Students from the University Savoie Mont Blanc have been declared the winners of the 2021 René Cassin advocacy competition for law students after beating a rival team from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
The final round of the 36th René Cassin competition in French took place at the Court on 30 September 2021 before the jury made up of judges of the ECHR, lawyers, academics and representatives of the competition’s partner institutions. It was chaired by Mr Jean-Paul Costa, former president of the Court.
2022
The final round of the 37th René Cassin competition in French took place at the Court on 17 June 2022 before the jury made up of judges of the ECHR, lawyers, academics and representatives of the competition’s partner institutions. It was chaired by Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, Section President at the Court.
2023
Students from the University of Strasbourg have been declared the winners of the 2023 René Cassin advocacy competition for law students after beating a rival team from the University of Paris-Saclay.
The final round of the 38th René Cassin competition in French took place at the Court on 24 March 2023 before the jury made up of judges of the ECHR, lawyers, academics and representatives of the competition’s partner institutions. It was chaired by Mr Christophe Soulard, First President of the French Court of Cassation.
ELSA moot court
This moot court competition on the Convention, conducted in English, is organised jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Law Students Association (ELSA).
Several Council of Europe member states provide financial support for the organisation of this competition.
2024 competition
The team from the University of Birmingham was declared winner of the 12th edition of the ELSA moot court competition after beating a team from the University of Maastricht in the final round.
18 university teams from 13 countries were competing to win a fictitious case related to issues such as controversy and freedom of expression from 27 to 31 May 2024.
Previous ELSA moot court competitions
Students from Trinity College (Dublin) were declared winners of the 1st edition of the European Moot Court Competition, after beating a team from the University of Essex (United Kingdom) in the final round.
Students from City University London were declared winners of the second edition of the European Moot Court
Competition in English on the European Convention of Human Rights.
Sixteen university teams from 10 countries (Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Romania, Serbia, Sweden and United Kingdom) pleaded a fictive case concerning freedom of expression in relation to defamation and hate speech.
Students from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece) won the 3rd edition of the European Moot Court competition in English, which was held at the Court on 25 February 2015. They beat the team from Essex University (United Kingdom) in the final round. 16 university teams from 12 countries (Austria, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Norway, the Netherlands, Romania, United Kingdom, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey) had been selected following the written part of the competition.
Students from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) were declared winners of the 4th edition of the European Moot Court Competition, after beating a team from the Sofia University (Bulgaria) in the final round. The team from Cluj-Napoca University (Romania) placed 3rd.
Students from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine) have been declared the winners of the 5th edition of the European Moot Court Competition. The competition ended on 16 February 2017 at the ECHR, when the team from Kyiv faced students from Sofia University (Bulgaria) in the final round of pleadings. The team from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) came 3rd.
A team from the University of Oxford was declared winner of the 7th European Human Rights Moot Court Competition in English on the European Convention of Human Rights. 20 university teams from 13 different countries were competing to win a fictitious case from 16 to 18 April 2019.
This competition is organised jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Law Students Association (ELSA).
A team from the University of Oxford was declared winner of the 10th edition of the European Moot Court Competition in English on the European Convention of Human Rights. 19 university teams from 12 countries were competing to win a fictitious case related to natural disasters and environmental protection from 11 to 13 May 2022.
This competition is organised jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Law Students Association (ELSA).
The team from the University of Maastricht was declared winner of the 11th edition of the ELSA moot court competition.
18 university teams from 10 countries were competing to win a fictitious case related to gestational surrogacy from 22 to 26 May 2023.
Trans-European moot court
The Trans-European Moot Court competition brings together the winners of the annual Regional Moot Court Competition for Southeast Europe (involving law students from seven countries) and the winners of the annual Nordic Moot Court competition (involving law students from five countries) to face off in a trans-European final. The two regional winners meet in Strasbourg before judges of the ECHR to present a mock case in a real court setting. The proceedings for the final are in English. The competition is organised annually by the Human Rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders.
2024 competition
Faculty-of-law students from Club Lannung from Copenhagen (Denmark) have been declared the winners of the 2024 Trans-European Moot Court competition for human rights law students after beating their rivals from Club Henrik Steska from Ljubljana (Slovenia). The 11th edition of this competition, which brings together the winners of the Regional Moot Court Competition for Southeast Europe (involving law students from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) and the winners of the Nordic Moot Court competition (involving law students from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland) took place in Strasbourg on 22 November 2024.