THE RETURN OF WELS AND SELS TO OUR NETWORK
VALENTIN BADERT
Vice President in charge of Seminars and Conferences
PAULA BAČIĆ
President of ELSA Zagreb
DARIO SCHÖNBÄCHLER VP S&C of ELSA Switzerland
Another challenge of this year was to bring back one of the largest-reaching projects we have in our Association after two years of a mandatory pause: the ELSA Law Schools project.
happy that in the context of our coaching strategy, we had the opportunity to proceed with those previsits throughout the year in Munich, Istanbul, Adana, Athens, and Sarajevo, and I am sure that it helped them and us to organise an even better ELSA Law School.
Our ELSA Law Schools aim to allow our members and non-members to discover a new legal topic while also benefitting from discovering new cultures from all across Europe and making friends for life.
In the end, the clear message that we received from our network was that this was something they were profoundly waiting for, as Paula and Dario explain:
Testimonials from WELS/SELS Organisers
At the beginning of our term, we had decided to take a proactive approach regarding the project to change our usual structure and make it fit for the COVID-19 situation to guarantee our participants’ safety and good health. Indeed, in addition to delaying our first cycle to evaluate the situation better, we also decided to make COVID vaccination certificates a prerequisite to participating in our ELSA Law Schools. This approach enabled ELSA Law Schools to take place in the best conditions of health possible, and we are happy that overall, we managed to welcome everyone without experiencing any significant outbreaks.
“As a proud president of a local group participating in both the winter and the summer cycle, I am extremely glad that the Schools in the ELSA network could finally be held again! Our WELS took place from February 27th until March 6th on the subject of Law and Business; the participants visited the High Commercial Court and the Croatian National Bank as part of the academic programme. A part of the cultural and social programme was marked by trips to the Plitvice Lakes National Park and the nearby town of Samobor where a traditional carnival was held.
However, one of the extra challenges we had this year in addition to the COVID pandemic was to ensure that the quality of one of our most unified projects would stay the same, if not improve. Right when the cycles started, the ELSA Law Schools team decided to have a very prominent approach to the ELSA Law Schools Coaching, being either through multiple calls, the organisation of our Training Weekends in an online format to ensure the possibility for the largest number of people to participate, and also through an idea that was implemented in 2019 but which we were able to execute only this year, namely the ELSA Law Schools Pre-Visit. During the pre-visit, the aim is to witness the organisation of the ELSA Law School in person and to use this opportunity to check rooms, venues, accommodations, food etc. I was therefore ANNUAL REPORT
At the end of July, SELS will be held traditionally on the coast, in the City of Zadar; the topic is, again, Human Rights and Globalization. We have prepared a rich academic, cultural, and social programme for more than 40 participants, and we are organising a boat trip to another national park, this time to the Kornati Islands. The organisation of Schools meant a great deal to me. Namely, the student organisers have the opportunity to try different challenges, acquire many skills, and deepen their legal knowledge. 30
