Annual Report of the International Board of ELSA 2020/2021 by ELSA International

2020/2021

ANNUAL REPORT. International Board of ELSA 2020/2021

TABLE OF

CON T E N T S 5

40th Anniversary

Partners & Externals

Network Management

Financial Management

Marketing

EHRMCC

Social Responsibility

John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition

Online Reality

Professional Development & STEP

Annual Report of the International Board of ELSA 2020/2021.

Design by Nikos Fifis

Published by the European Law Students’ Association

Contributors: Weronika Banska, Sina Gertsch, Carlos Eduardo Pereira, Nikos Fifis, Maja Rajic, Louis Bremond, Ilke Yilmaz, Francesco Bondi, Marija Pejčinović Burić, Patrick Oliver, Nigel Roberts, Florent Apelian

INTERNAT IONAL

BOA RD OF E L SA

2020/2021 Weronika Banska

Sina Gertsch

President

Secretary General

Carlos Eduardo

Pereira

Nikos Fifis

Treasurer

Vice President in charge of Marketing

! 3

Maja Rajic

Louis Bremond

Vice President in charge of Academic Activities

Vice President in charge of Moot Court Competitions

Ilke Yilmaz

Francesco Bondi

Vice President in charge of Seminars & Conferences

Vice President in charge of STEP

40TH

ANNIVERSARY

OF E L SA Getting better

t o g e t h e r. We knew from the very beginning that our term in office would be unique. Not only due to the situation in the world, but also because it was the 40th anniversary of our Association's existence. And, although we wanted to celebrate it as befits ELSA - grandly, with panache - the reality quickly changed our plans. The prolonged impossibility to travel and organise larger gatherings confirmed our belief that, at least for the time being, we had to move the celebration online.

Our main objective was to emphasise that the 40th anniversary of ELSA is not only about one special day, but it is to be celebrated for the whole year. Due to the ongoing pandemic. We were able to implement many of our ideas without worrying about the schedule. Each anniversary is inextricably linked with the people who have been writing ELSA’s history over the years - our Alumni. Therefore, we have decided to work closely with ELSA Alumni to ensure that former ELSA members are properly represented. We discussed the ideas together, refined their formula and took care of the promotion. Our Alumni's support turned out to be invaluable, especially in terms of collecting a variety of materials, as some of them are only reachable by the most persistent ELSA historians.

THE

CA M PA I GN. We started our anniversary celebration with an Instagram campaign containing two elements. For four months, we regularly published the stories of the International Board of ELSA as well as various information about our National Groups. We have gathered quite a large collection of past photos of IB members, their lives at the ELSA House as well as meetings and projects. Thanks to the support of our Alumni, we have created an amazing journey into the past, because the history of the Association is undoubtedly linked with the history of the development of modern Europe. We also wanted to show how much has changed over the years and what we have achieved during this time. Each country of the Network had the opportunity to present its National Board, the most important projects, and successes from the past, creating a small encyclopedia of our achievements. Many thanks go to all those who contributed to this project, as it was real teamwork.

Involving all the National Groups to create a joint social media campaign.

ON L I N E

EVENTS. However, the campaign is not everything. In order to introduce a substitute for face-to-face contact and intergenerational exchange of experiences, we decided to create a programme of online events with a diverse agenda together with ELSA Alumni. Thanks to joint efforts, we had an amazing opportunity to participate in a meeting with the Founding Fathers of ELSA and discuss the origins of the organisation. We also organised a Human Library, during which our members could listen to various stories from the past with a large dose of humour and sentimental memories of our Alumni. These events are only some of the events planned for this year, the next one being the Rule of Law Conference, which we are organising together with ELSA Alumni in November this year.

Celebrating the ELSA anniversary is not only a moment for memories, but also a great opportunity to rebuild and strengthen relationships with people who are no longer active in the Association. Our Alumni are always happy to accept invitations for participation in various initiatives, thanks to which we can care for the sense of ELSA's identity and bond.

ELSA

ALUMNI Le a d i n g b y e x a m p l e .

At the end of the term 2019/2020, our relationship with ELSA Alumni was officially formalised by signing the Framework Cooperation Agreement. We have therefore devoted this year to developing this partnership in various fields. First to mention is financial support. One of the pillars of ELSA Alumni's activity is "giving back to ELSA", which creates many opportunities to obtain invaluable support for ELSA. Thanks to the generosity of Alumni who carried out a dedicated fundraiser, the International Board of ELSA received a set of new laptops. This made it much easier to maintain appropriate standards, especially in the field of data protection and security, and eliminated the need for IB members to use their own equipment. In addition, ELSA Alumni financed a dishwasher to improve the life at the ELSA House as well as equipment for creating audiovisual materials (green screen, lights, microphones, mobile camera stand) to increase the quality of our online events.

OU R

COOP E RAT I ON .

IN-KIND SUPPORT. ELSA Alumni supports the International Board of ELSA and the whole Network with the knowledge and experience of its members.

The second element of our cooperation is ongoing in-kind support. ELSA Alumni supports not only the International Board of ELSA, but the entire Network with the knowledge and experience of its members. They help with solving problems, advise on creating strategies, and participate in our events as trainers and speakers. One of the most important achievements in this aspect was the creation of the International Speakers' Database. ELSA members gained access to an international list of Alumni who are specialists in many fields of law and more and expressed their willingness to participate in various academic initiatives of the Association. On the other hand, for Alumni themselves, there is an additional opportunity to actively participate in the life of the organisation and to support the development of next generations of law students and young lawyers. Moreover, as part of the ongoing activities of both organisations, we support the promotion of our projects and the idea of intergenerational cooperation not only at the international level, but also in respective countries of the Network.

ROL E

CA M PA I GN.

JOINT INITIATIVES. In addition to the above-mentioned activities, ELSA and ELSA Alumni created joint initiatives. These include the Rule of Law Education campaign (ROLE), a series of events celebrating the 40th anniversary of ELSA, and the Rule of Law Conference, which will take place this November. They are coordinated by both ELSA and ELSA Alumni members working together on agendas, communication strategy, fundraising, thus increasing the group of project recipients and the potential scope of support.

The ongoing communication based on honesty and mutual trust was a definite success of this year's cooperation. ELSA Alumni is a unique partner, because there are no better people to understand our daily difficulties than those who have been there and struggled with similar problems. Tightening this relationship must be a priority of each International Board, because being a part of ELSA Alumni is an excellent solution to the issue of post-ELSA activities and an integral part of any human resources strategy. We are also happy that, in practice, the entire Network can benefit from the support offered not only in terms of projects, but also in building national and local Alumni networks.

OU R

PARTNERS To g e t h e r, w e c a n a l w a y s

a c h i e v e m o re .

Each year of activity presents us with new challenges. We want to implement new projects, improve the quality of existing ones, and add value to the membership of ELSA. It requires obtaining external support, whether in a financial or material form, and therefore we need to get support from our partners and sponsors. During this term, we have made some significant changes to ELSA's cooperation with partners, adding another brick to the foundations built by our predecessors.

NEW

RE A L I T Y. At the outset, it should be emphasised that this year's circumstances forced us and the entities cooperating with us to make certain concessions. Reduced budgets based on austerity policies, dynamically changing staff and updated strategies with revised priorities made it impossible in many cases to increase the amount of support provided or the number of joint initiatives. Nevertheless, improved principles for creating and running partnerships were introduced, which had an invaluable impact on the overall assessment of cooperation. Firstly, we changed the structure of the general partnership, enriching the existing benefits in terms of promotion with involvement in projects and wider participation in internal initiatives, such as International Internal Meetings. In addition, in terms of marketing activities, the numbers appearing in the contracts have been replaced by a flexible promotional strategy created individually for each partner based on the priorities and needs indicated by them. Thanks to these measures, we have increased the attractiveness of our partnerships, enabled their sustainable development and taken another step to raise the effectiveness of our activities. We have more room for maneuver in negotiations, we act as an expert in student matters and support the idea of partnership based on individual offers of joint action, not only sponsorship. All these ideas were enthusiastically received by our partners and immediately incorporated into renewed contracts.

Meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić. 12

NEW

APPROACH .

Another significant improvement was the change in the approach to the division of partners and contact with them between members of the International Board and respective areas. We decided to unify the strategy, combine the available databases, and make the most of all contacts. Thus, we have abolished the rigid, predetermined division of partners and started a policy of presenting a general cooperation offer each time, leaving the decision on the selection of a specific cooperation to a potential partner. Thanks to this approach, we managed to acquire a new General Education Partner, which is the Central European University (CEU), as well as Akin Gump as a partner for STEP and John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition.

Despite unfavorable circumstances, we have managed to extend the vast majority of existing partnerships and maintain or even increase the involvement of many of them in the activities of the Association. Sertifier and WeProofread.it joined the group of entities cooperating with us, offering free services to ELSA members. We have significantly developed the offer of online projects, expanded the contact databases to be used in fundraising for individual projects and prepared a stable ground for further modernisation. Additionally, we focused this year on strengthening ties with institutional partners, especially with other youth NGOs. We supplemented the traditional exchange of useful information and experiences with more frequent direct contact through mutual participation in various initiatives as well as with new joint projects, such as Youth Forum on Education or Train the Trainers Week. The policy of ongoing communication and mutual support resulted in excellent opinions during the evaluation of the year and a lot of new ideas, so we are convinced that the next term of office brings with it a lot of potential.

COU N CI L OF EUROPE M a r i j a Pe j č i n o v i ć B u r i ć , H e l s i n k i Fo l l o w - u p a n d t h e COVID-19 Pandemic

Marija Pejčinović Burić Secretary General of the

Council of Europe

After the Helsinki Ministerial Session, and the implementation of its decisions has been a key priority for me. These address needs that have not gone away. In fact, many have grown more urgent still. Less than a year later, I intended my first annual report to be an update on the considerable progress that the Council of Europe has made in following up the decisions, rather than a full review of the Organisation’s work. The result, outlined in Part 1 of this report, is a tour not only of the many and specific measures taken in response to the Helsinki decisions, but also of some of the broader and ongoing contextual work that has gone into addressing the areas identified. These diverse subjects comprise some of the outstanding issues of our times, including the future of artificial intelligence, the challenges arising from global migration, and the need to ensure equality between women and men. The measures undertaken have been carefully designed and implemented, but they are by no means exhaustive. In these matters, and in all of the challenges facing human rights, democracy and the rule of law across the continent, the Council of Europe is hard at work to help national authorities apply our common standards, and find new solutions.

One of those challenges is of course the Covid-19 pandemic, which has taken a terrible toll on life in Europe and throughout the world. Among our member states, many thousands of people have lost their lives, far-reaching restrictions have been introduced and, inevitably, a high economic price is being paid for the measures required to limit the transmission of the virus. At the time of writing, the coronavirus outbreak appears to be on the decline in Europe and confinement measures are being eased to varying degrees. However, the pain inflicted remains, and will have long-lasting consequences. The threat of a resurgence in the infection rate remains real.

The Council of Europe’s mandate for action is clear. National authorities are right to act swiftly and decisively to prevent and to mitigate the impact of Covid-19. This Organisation is right to work with them, providing the information and support they need and expect to ensure that the measures they take are both effective and in line with their legal obligations as member states. These aims should not be in conflict. On the contrary, they should run in parallel. After all, the purpose of restrictions on people’s activities is, ultimately, to save lives and the right to health and to equitable access to health care are human rights that the Council of Europe defends.

I have spoken publicly on a number of occasions to highlight areas in which the circumstances caused by the coronavirus might endanger individuals’ rights and I am also pleased by the positive reception given to the information document “Respecting democracy, rule of law and human rights in the framework of the Covid-19 sanitary crisis”, which I published in early April and sent to all 47 member states.

This toolkit is, however, only a headline example of our action. In fact, every institution and body within the Council of Europe has moved quickly to consider how the pandemic relates to its specific work, and how that work might be amended or supplemented in order to help address this extraordinary threat to our societies. To communicate this, a dedicated webpage was established quickly to highlight the Organisation’s standards, guidelines and role in this context, and to share useful facts and information, including video interviews with experts. Interest in our action has been clear, with our Twitter followers now exceeding 400000.

There has been significant activity by the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Council of Europe Development Bank, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Parliamentary Assembly and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law and the Directorate General of Democracy, and others. The work carried out for and with member states has been conducted in Strasbourg and in our external and field offices where staff on the ground have also reshaped some of their activities. Again, the list of actions that you will read in this report is not comprehensive, but it is an extensive statement of the Organisation’s capacity to adapt to Europe’s needs.

Our approach has involved work on standards compliance. Equally, it has clearly illuminated the importance of intergovernmental co-operation. Multilateralism underpins the Organisation’s work, its standard-setting and its capacity to draw on the combined experience and insights of its member states to address common problems. As such, our ongoing response to Covid-19 should be understood as a counterpoint to the arguments of those in Europe today who seek to undermine multilateralism. On the key challenges of our times we must work together more closely, not less. The Council of Europe should be at the forefront in making the case for this.

The support that we have provided to member states has been speedy at a moment when confinement and social distancing restrictions have required far-reaching changes to our working methods. It is important to pay tribute to the determination and perseverance of staff throughout the Council of Europe for the efficiency with which they have adjusted to change including remote working, virtual meetings and the more extensive use of written procedures. This has not been easy, not least for those at home with children whose nurseries and schools have been closed. The Committee of Ministers' flexibility, within the confines of the rules, has allowed the intergovernmental aspects of our work to advance. The Georgian Presidency was quick to adapt, cancelling and postponing events where necessary and reformatting them where possible. The Greek Chairmanship that took office in May has adopted a similar approach, embracing its capacity to serve as an “e-chairmanship” where required. I am particularly grateful to our Directorate of Human Resources, Directorate of General Services and Directorate of Information Technology for the way in which they have organised and supported the changes in working methods, both when governments imposed confinement methods and in supporting staff to return progressively to their offices, with appropriate safety measures in place.

Priorities and efficiency

Notwithstanding all of this, the Council of Europe continues to make progress on a plethora of additional concerns that fall within the mandate of the Organisation. This report does not attempt to cover all of these and should not be read with that purpose in mind. Next year’s edition will however revert to previous practice and my annual report for 2021 on the state of human rights, democracy and the rule of law will provide a broader analysis of the state of play in Europe, based on the work of Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms and bodies. It will also use a modified version of the methodology from previous editions.

Our ongoing work to address these challenges is rooted in the Council of Europe Programme and Budget 2020-2021, which the Committee of Ministers adopted on my recommendation last November. This document sets out the Organisation’s biennial priorities, with our three thematic pillars underpinned by nine operational programmes, and will feed into a future-focused, four-year strategic outlook, which I hope will be endorsed by the Committee of Ministers, possibly at next May’s Ministerial Session.

The content complements the priorities that I have flagged repeatedly. Implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights and other legal standards must be reinforced, and the pivotal role of the European Court of Human Rights must be upheld. The execution of judgments must be carried out smoothly and swiftly by national authorities and they in turn must be given the encouragement and support required to ensure that this happens. Human rights and the rule of law must be better protected in unresolved conflict areas and so-called “grey zones” and, working with the Committee of Ministers, ways should be sought to access these areas for relevant Council of Europe bodies.

Social rights in Europe should be better promoted and there should be an enhanced focus on a number of long-term and recurring negative trends in our member states. These include corruption, threats to the independence of the judiciary, threats to journalists and the free media, restrictions on civil society and human rights defenders, human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation, persistent gender inequality and gender-based violence, attacks on minorities, questions relating to minority languages and the surge of hate speech and populist rhetoric – often amplified by new technologies.

The last of these underlines the urgent need to further explore the impact of artificial intelligence on our common European standards, and what might be done in light of this.

Achieving all of these ambitions requires proper funding. After years of real-terms, year-on-year cuts to the Council of Europe’s budget, I am glad that the Committee of Ministers agreed to my proposal to move from zero nominal growth to zero real growth for the current biennium. This has provided a degree of financial certainty that allows us to plan our action with confidence. The upward trend in extra-budgetary contributions, which increased by 34% in 2019, also enables the Organisation to do more outside its core budget activities. This is testament to the commitment of our member states and has enabled additional activities on the ground and in partnership with others, notably our biggest partner, the European Union (EU).

I have been clear about the importance that I attach to the Council of Europe’s relationship with the EU and other international organisations such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). By working together, we can both achieve more and avoid duplication: points that I have made in my recent speeches to the UN Human Rights Council, the EU’s Political and Security Committee and the OSCE’s Permanent Council. This approach is in line with my commitment to effective multilateralism, as exemplified by our close co-operation with these and other international organisations in our response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reform and effectiveness

Equally, I have been clear about the value of reform to ensuring that the Organisation becomes stronger, more effective and sustainable. The Council of Europe has undergone considerable reform over recent years, but I believe that it is right to look at further means by which to improve our working methods and the member states have made clear that they share this view. I have already held consultations with the Permanent Representatives on this subject, and I will continue to engage with them as we seek ideas around which consensus can be built. In the coming months, I will make proposals for the GR-PBA to consider in the first instance.

In this context, it is my intention to examine options for modifying and streamlining our organisational structures and operations in order to become more agile and responsive to changing needs. This will involve a more task-force-oriented approach with greater flexibility in the assignment of our human resources to different ongoing activities. I also envisage a review of our communications strategy with a view to making sure that scarce resources in this area are deployed in the most efficient manner.

These changes will complement the important administrative reforms that are already under way. For example, the implementation of the People Strategy and the new regulatory framework that should be ready by the year’s end with a view to adoption by the Committee of Ministers in 2021. Investment and innovation will be important when it comes to our buildings, conference and IT infrastructure, and there should be an examination of options for wider structural and administrative reforms.

The Covid-19 crisis has affected the implementation of reform as the scope, measures and schedule have had to be adapted to the new context. This has been necessary to ensure their relevance and to meet the specific needs brought about by the crisis. Indeed, the impact of the coronavirus has been to accelerate some of this work – the use of teleworking and digital collaboration, for example – and it will doubtless further inform our approach in the months ahead. This is an opportunity for the Council of Europe to show the way in which multilateral organisations can adopt cutting-edge methods and deliver more for our member states at no extra cost.

Underpinning every decision will be the determination to ensure that the Council of Europe is a modern, attractive organisation that delivers value for money while applying our common standards to current and future challenges. In this context, our progress on the 2019 Helsinki Ministerial Session decisions, and our work to address the challenges presented by the coronavirus epidemic, are prime examples of how we will proceed and how human rights, democracy and the rule of law will grow stronger through a multilateral approach.

As we mark the 70th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, this is testament to our Organisation’s constant, evolving and essential role in protecting and promoting the interests of every European.

LEXIS

NEXIS Continuous cooperation,

Ru l e o f L a w

Nigel Roberts VP Global Associations, LexisNexis Legal & Professional

VP & Secretary, LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation

LexisNexis Legal & Professional, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory and business information and analytics that help customers increase productivity, improve decision making and outcomes and advance the Rule of Law around the world, is proud to be the Legal Technology and Rule of Law Partner of ELSA.

Over the course of this last year, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with Weronika Banska and her leadership. I applaud Weronika and the entire ELSA team for all they have achieved, especially in the very different landscape in which we are all working, given the global pandemic.

We were privileged to support the 2020 ELSA Webinars Academy by providing a Law & Technology online presentation relating to “Access to Justice in a Digital Era, thanks to my colleague James Harper, Director Global Projects and Senior Counsel with LexisNexis in the UK.

Ian McDougall, EVP and General Counsel for LexisNexis globally, was delighted with the opportunity to present at the ELSA International Council Meeting on the Rule of Law, and Guillaume Deroubaix, Acting Chief Operations Officer with LexisNexis France, was afforded the opportunity to speak on a panel at the ELSA Germany Rule of Law Conference on the importance of the Rule of Law for our democracy and economy.

This year, we also came on board as a partner in the ELSA Rule of Law Education Campaign, and we are excited at the opportunity to lend our resources, including our people, to that initiative and to build upon other efforts to advance the Rule of Law such as the ELSA/LexisNexis Rule of Law Essay Writing Competition.

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Weronika for providing these opportunities to LexisNexis over the past year, and I look forward to our continued engagement with ELSA in the future, to support ELSA law & technology initiatives and ELSA Rule of Law efforts to help further our mission, to advance the Rule of Law around the world.

BOA RD

RE FORM Change is inevitable,

change is constant. While working on the foundations of our One Year Operational Plan for this year, we discussed our Strategic Goals implementation priorities, knowing that we had to decide what would be our main challenge this year. The result of these deliberations was the choice of the Board reform one of the multi-faceted goals that require comprehensive solutions to be achieved. Although the implementation covers the entire period of the current Strategic Goals validity, due to its characteristics, it was necessary to start the preparatory work as early as possible.

The structure of the changes planned in the coming years is the result of many hours of discussions, conceptual work, and various consultations. It is the success of the entire Network, which has made many efforts to build a reform that reflects as many needs and opinions as possible, thus creating one of the greatest successes of teamwork in recent years. Thanks to these efforts, the entire organisation has a chance not only to significantly improve the efficiency of work, but above all to develop in new directions, the former forcibly marginalised in order to meet the constantly changing expectations of current and new members.

FI E L D S OF

ACTI VIT Y.

In the next two years, the structure of the Board at the international level will change. We are introducing two new fields of activity - Professional Development and Competitions - and aligning the responsibilities of Academic Activities officers, giving them the priority in planning Human Rights strategies and social responsibility initiatives. In addition, we strengthened the position of the ELSA International Team by creating an obligation to open the call for selected positions in order to provide more formalised support for individual members of the Board. This leads to a simplification of the entire structure, a logical and more even division of responsibilities based on skill rather than the number of projects or habits. We again pay special attention to the implementation of the vision and purpose of the Association, ensuring an equal amount of time and energy dedicated to activities in all three areas - contributing to legal education (academic initiatives), fostering mutual understanding between law students and young lawyers (professional development) and promoting social responsibility. We believe that the described changes will facilitate not only the internal functioning of the organisation, but also establishing external contacts and expanding the group of recipients. We indicate that we offer a variety of opportunities that meet all the development needs of potential members, we work on an appropriate image, we take care of pursuing actions for the benefit of the civil society and actively participate in public life. It is a step towards the sustainable development of a modern organisation, representing the interests of students and having a visible impact on a specific sphere of life.

INTERNAT IONAL

INTERNAL

MEETINGS Our best moments.

One of our biggest tasks during this term was the implementation of the new International Internal Meetings cycle as accepted by the International Council during the 77th International Council Meeting Meeting Online.

The implementation process uncovered various structural difficulties especially with the International Training Meeting. Not only were there concerns in regards to the loss of area knowledge and knowledge transfer in general, but also about the feasibility of relying on the International Trainers Pool in its current state. During many discussions between the International Board and the Network, it became apparent that nobody was really happy with the current situation and that we needed to find new solutions. For now, the Council has agreed to grant the International Board more time to find a suitable solution by moving the International Training Meeting online and turning it into a knowledge management and training meeting. It is apparent that more work is needed on the implementation of the ITM and that online meetings bring their own challenges. It does allow us to search for a solution without endangering the knowledge management process on the international level and without completely relying on an internal body that has been unstable in these past three year.

On a positive note, the first International Strategy Meeting held online between the 10th and the 14th of February was for many a great success. The online format allowed for diverse and accessible participation of many Members of ELSA and has shown that discussions can be facilitated online to a satisfactory level. The discussions held during the first ISM contributed greatly to the development of the Board Reform proposals presented during the 79th International Council Meeting of ELSA.

As for the International Council Meetings, due to the ongoing pandemic, both meetings had to be held online. While many did not necessarily enjoy the format greatly, it was testament to our famous ELSA Spirit how much participants got involved in discussions, online socials and plenary sessions. We have all experienced the difficulty in staying motivated, yet we believe that the Network went above and beyond during this difficult term. You all have our appreciation for your support this year, we could not have done anything without you!

ADVISORY

BODY Getting

b e t t e r. Next to Board Reform and the implementation of the new International Internal Meetings cycle, the implementation of the Advisory Body for the International Board of ELSA was another Strategic Goal that we focused on greatly this year. After the Council accepted the regulatory framework, it was our task to actually implement it. A great focus was laid on the composition of the Advisory Board during previous Internal Meetings while the structure and functioning was less prominent in discussions. We decided to move forward with firstly creating the structure of the board and how members would interact with each other and the International Board. The idea of committees focusing on certain aspects where the International Board of ELSA needs specific and targeted knowledge appeared to be the most sustainable solution which allowed us to move forward with creating an Advisory Body Member Agreement laying out rights and responsibilities of Advisors as well as the International Board. Before approaching suitable individuals, we decided on three main foci that we believe the Advisory Body should support us with immediately and for the near future:

1. Strategic Development including Financial Strategy  2. Internal Affairs including Training and Human Resource Management  3. Advocacy

MEET

THE MEMBERS . Past-immediate IB

members.

With these foci in mind and the agreement ready, we approached two past-immediate International Board members, Diomidis Afentoulis, President of the International Board 2019/2020, and Meeri Aurora Toivanen, Vice President in charge of the Student Trainee Exchange Programme of the International Board 2019/2020, to join the Advisory Body as the first two advisors in the committee of Strategic Development. Both have agreed and will assist the International Boards for a period of three years. Their main focus will not only be the development of new Strategic Goals of ELSA, but also the development of the Advisory Body itself, hence advising the International Board on approaching other suitable individuals to join the Advisory Body.

Diomidis Afentoulis

Meeri Aurora Toivanen

Asked about his involvement in the new Advisory Body of ELSA, Diomidis said that ‘it is a great honour to become a founding member of the Advisory Body of ELSA. As an alumnus, I am of the strong belief that the bond and exchange of advice between the ELSA generations of the present and the past with the support of experts of all fields will advance strategic planning and bring continuity to our beloved Association.’

ITP ONLINE

FACI L I TAT I ON E L S A’s Tr a i n i n g

P ro j e c t . The ongoing pandemic crisis also saw ELSA’s training project go fully online. ELSA Training has always been assumed as something purely in person and many have struggled to accept the new reality in regards to training. Yet desperate times call for desperate measures. As always, ELSA adapted to outside circumstances and the results are quite positive. Outside of ELSA, online training has been a common practice for years. So the main goal was to improve our own understanding of online facilitation and make our trainers feel more comfortable with providing online training. A first attempt in doing so through organising an online Refreshment Weekend resulted in only the International Board attending which was a great experience for us yet missed the goal of helping our established ITP Trainers with their request of more content on online facilitation. From there onwards, the focus lay on organising an online Train the Trainers event to refresh our ITP for the first time in 3 years while ensuring that the future of the pool includes the option of online training even when some normality returns in regards to meeting physically and traveling around Europe.

The online TtT will take place between the 21st and the 29th of August. Our collaboration with EFPSA enabled us to find experienced trainers that feel comfortable with providing the event online. The organisation of the TtT was one of our big goals this term as none had taken place since the term 2017/2018. We hope that adding new trainers to the ITP will refresh the pool and allow us to expand the project to create more benefits to our officers.

Another goal this year was to create a promotion strategy for ELSA Training. While we did work on a plan, it became clear very quickly that we cannot improve promotion before we ensure that the requests we currently receive are covered. Our initial ideas will be transferred during transition and we are positive that the incoming INternational Board will be able to implement a new promotion strategy for the project with a refreshed and enlarged ITP.

HUMAN

RE S OU RCE S

Moving forward The International Board made big advances in regards to proper Human Resource Management within ELSA this year.

The most important development is surely the establishment of the HR department including a Director for Human Resources, an Assistant for National Relations, an Assistant for Officer Development, and an Assistant for Knowledge Management. While the composition of the team is likely to change during the next term after our evaluation of its activities this year, we believe the dedicated HR team within the ELSA International Team to be one of the sustainable solutions for the future of the Association.

Human Resource Management is all about understanding employees' needs and wants. Within ELSA, it is not as simple as we are not a regular company. ELSA must focus on the needs and wants of two separate groups - our members and our officers. It is thus of great importance that all ELSA Groups understand how to attract and retain these two different groups to secure the future of the organisation. This year, we have stressed the importance of creating a HR Strategy within each and every ELSA Group - whether local or national - to break the cycle of constantly reinventing the wheel.

On the international level, this also means that we will have to create a HR strategy focusing on our involvement in supporting groups. While we have made some initial progress, there is still much to do. Some developments included the creation of an internal and external problem database, a personality test usable to attract Freshers and spark interest in officer positions, and the updated HR Handbook.

TEAM. Te a m w o r k m a ke s

t h e d re a m w o r k !

Florent

Apelian Florent Apelian, Director for Human Resources of the ELSA International Team 2020/2021, noted that ‘I hope the officers to come will keep developing this HR strategy and tools, which are absolutely necessary to an association of the size and influence of ELSA. We cannot continue to rely on a variety of either outdated or inefficient practices when it comes to recruiting new officers. We cannot either just hope for them to remain within the association and transfer their knowledge. This is why we need a real HR strategy, and a team which will develop it and guarantee its efficiency and sustainability. These are the tasks of the HR department.’

KN OW L E D GE

MANAGEMENT. Ef fe c t i v e l y c o m p l e t i n g a k n o w l e d g e

t r a n s fe r p l a n .

ELSA, as an Association, has been struggling greatly with knowledge management. Our structure makes it incredibly difficult to make up for lacking transition. This year, we have tried our best to come up with new solutions to this ongoing issue. Our approach was simple - providing as much knowledge as possible using different methods and mediums. Our hope was that those officers who do not enjoy reading handbooks, which there are many (understandably), would find it more enjoyable to read shorter texts, watch a webinar or listen to a podcast providing them with the same information that the handbook would.

NEW

TOO LS. This time, we decided to

implement our ideas.

The ELSA Wiki

Tutorials

The ELSA Wiki provides officers with all vital information they need to have a successful term yet is not as extensive as our handbooks. The ELSA Wiki is accessible and provides to the point information on all areas and their subareas. It was presented during the 79th International Council Meeting and was received very positively by the whole Network.

Secondly, we worked on the creation of webinars that would supplement the ELSA Wiki or act as an alternative to those officers that need audio/ audiovisual content to retain information. These are available on the Officers’ Portal and cover knowledge from each area aiming to support National and Local officers in their transition.

COACH I N G

GROU P S. Lastly, we do hope that the incoming International Board will have the opportunity to visit their coaching groups once travel restrictions are eased for good. We, unfortunately, did not have the chance to visit many of you yet every time we did get to meet officers from the Network, we truly appreciated these encounters.

DIVERSITY &

INCLUSION .

A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and o u t c o m e s fo r everyone.

Some advances were made in regard to Diversity and Inclusion within ELSA. At the very beginning of the year, we had the pleasure of attending a training provided by Marine Richert, Ethics Officer at L’Oréal and Assistant for Diversity and Inclusion in the ELSA International Team, on how to react when an incident of unacceptable behaviour is reported to the International Board. This was a very important experience for us as we were confronted with various situations during the year that required us to apply tools and techniques we learned during said training.

This training encouraged us to draft and publish the first ever Code of Conduct of ELSA. The document lays out responsibilities and procedures in case of any incident of unacceptable behaviour during an international event organised or coordinated by ELSA International. It also requires the International Board and any hosting groups to appoint a dedicated officer within the ELSA International Team or the Organising Committee that may be approached to report incidents. We truly believe that this can make a difference and create a safe community. The officer within the Human Resources Department of the ELSA International Team 2021/2022 will now be able to establish a proper reporting system as well as help National Groups to implement their own Code of Conducts if they wish to do so (which we very much encourage).

Several National and Local Groups have already followed our steps and decided to draft their own Code of Conduct, raise awareness on Diversity and Inclusion and encourage their members to speak up. We have been invited to several National Council Meetings to deliver workshops on Diversity and Inclusion and share best practices, talking about everything from community feeling, to the zero tolerance policy of ELSA when it comes to harassment. An essential part to the road to Diversity and Inclusion is education and we are finally taking concrete steps towards a just world and an inclusive society.

FI N A N CI A L

MANAGEME NT

ADMINISTRATION In COVID-19 times Managing the Association during a pandemic is a demanding challenge, mostly because of the uncertainty of the incomes from every source that the Association has. At the same time, some costs are significantly different from previous years, due to the different context of non physical events and less travel.

A year without travel offered us a massive opportunity to focus on the foundation of our operations by improving procedures and establishing professional standards of managing the Association. With this in mind, we decided to implement the cash management tool in the International Board with some objectives to accomplish: evaluating the amount of expenses, understanding the variation of costs per month, understanding the financial performance of the Association according to the annual budget and also, understanding the ratio between all the categories of expenses. Today, the present and future generations of Financial Management officers will understand that we can use and improve different platforms and techniques to improve financial planning.

Another procedure that required professionalisation and improvement was the quality of bookkeeping. Thanks to the support of the Internal Auditors of ELSA, we were able to make some changes in the bookkeeping system. This included the option of printing bank or paypal statements instead of a list of transactions into different folders so that, together with the credit card statements, we can efficiently reconcile each one of the corresponding financial journals in the accounting programme. Additionally, more standards were introduced in regards to archiving proof of income as well as expenses.

To sum up, improving the efficiency of these administrative procedures will improve our transparency and contribute to the quality of the auditors' report.

FI N A N CI A L

STRATEGY Lo n g - t e r m p l a n n i n g .

The Financial Strategy of ELSA aims to establish a long-term plan that will aid in defining our use of financial resources and how to make them grow in the interest of the Association. The International Board of ELSA is approaching the final period of the execution of the Financial Strategy from 2019 to 2022.

These past years, we have noticed that National Groups usually only have the obligation of preparing their budget as short term financial planning and this being the only financial management instrument. In our One Year Operational Plan, one of our aims was to educate and support National Group officers in creating a coherent financial strategy for their groups.

Jointly with the Financial Management International Team, we created a Financial Strategy Draft document to provide some guidance and additional information about the nature of a financial strategy and any procedures. The intention of this new instrument is to encourage the implementation of long term financial planning in the National Groups of our Network. Fortunately, many countries are already in the process of implementing a Financial Strategy or are waiting for their current Strategic Goals implementation period to finish to implement a Financial Strategy within their new Strategic Goals.

Lastly, it’s important to mention that without the National Groups and especially the Treasurers, we would never have been able to accomplish our goals. We saw fantastic teamwork during this year and we would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone for their hard work.

The ELSA Development Foundation (EDF) is facing restructuring. This is to ensure that our Foundation will continue to grow side by side with and for the ELSA community.

Starting with the current year 2020/2021, Covid-19 represented a significant decrease in the numbers of the applications for all the EDF’s modes of support. Something that is completely understandable, mostly because of the fewer number of physical events in our Network.

The highlight of this year was the work on developing the new Statutes and Standing Orders of the Foundation. ELSA and ELSA Development Foundation are different legal entities, despite the cooperation and mutual goals, EDF’s main rules and governance must be established separately from ELSA’s. In the interest of developing this new structure, we decided to hire the services and requested legal support and guidance from Ernst & Young Global Limited.

The Board of Directors’ ambition with the new Statutes and Standing Orders for EDF is to clarify and develop the way that our Foundation operates for the Network, aiming to make it more sustainable, visible and impactful for the ELSA Network. These new regulations, conscious that EDF depends on more sources of income in the future for it to work, needs to be understandable to the whole Network and must cover a wider array of activities and projects as it did up until now.

Thus, one of the main aspects that we felt the need of boosting during this term 2020/2021 was the sources related to EDF. The migration of EDF regulations from the ELSA’s Decision Book to the new EDF Statutes and Standing Orders during these 2 years created a gap of no information available to the Network about the main rules and orientations of the Foundation. Out of this, the new EDF Guidelines were born a document aiming to improve the understanding of ELSA Groups when it comes to the application process and thus improving the quality and quantity of applications and reporting from ELSA Groups. Besides this, it is substantial to mention that this document will also allow many National Groups to improve their translated and adapted EDF materials for their Local Groups.

In conclusion, we believe that this unusual year allowed us to build a Foundation that is going to be more focused on being supportive to the network, helping us to manage the challenges and needs for the following years.

GRA N T S D i v e r s i f y i n g s o u rc e s

of funding.

In order to manage the resources and respond to the financial commitments of an international youth organisation such as ELSA, having a grants strategy is essential to achieve financial sustainability. The goals are clear for us: ELSA needs to diversify sources of funding, so as not to create too much pressure on traditional income sources, such as partnership and membership fee revenues.

For this reason, the term 2020/2021 was ideal to work on this area by seeking for a structure that could be more professional and achievable. Our goal is to improve the quality in researching, applying and reporting to any Grants programme. This is also why we decided to establish the Grants team, as a fixed Departement, in the context of the Board Reform proposal.

Together with the Grants team of ELSA International, we created the ELSA Grants Database. A website page available just for the ELSA Network informing about international and national grants that can represent funding opportunities for ELSA International and for the National and Local Groups. The future of the ELSA Grants Database relies on the continued support and submission of the ELSA Grants form, available in the Financial Management part of the Officers Portal, by national officers.

GOOGL E A D

GRA N T S. One of the initial joint goals of the Marketing and the Financial department for the term 2020/2021 was to apply for the Google Ad Grant Program. The Google Ad Grants provides nonprofit organisations with access to $10,000 USD of in-kind advertising every month for text ads to share their cause in online advertisement.

Thanks to the successful application for Google Ad Grants, ELSA can now create text-based ads, and get access to tools to help us build effective campaigns that can be displayed on Google. In other words, ELSA can finally be the top result on Google.

Thanks to Google Ad Grants, we are able to:

•

Create effective ads that are relevant to the keywords in that ad group. The ads will rotate and prioritise the ads that are performing better than others in the ad group.

•

Choose the right keywords.

•

Separate our ad groups into campaigns to allocate our budget to the topics that are most important to ELSA as an organisation. This money charged under the budget will be fixed according to the results of the Google Analytics campaign.

In conclusion, thanks to the Google Ad Grants, we managed to raise awareness of our cause and vision, drive more website traffic and activity, track our marketing efforts and reach more people.

EUROPEAN YOUTH

FOUNDATION GR ANT. During 2020/2021, ELSA International applied for an operational grant, namely the International Activity programme of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe with the project: “ Youth Forum: A just world through artificial intelligence”. This application had the goal of raising 20.000 € for this specific project, as the aim of the Youth Forum was to equip the European youth with knowledge to understand Artificial Intelligence and its effects. Participants would then have been able to form their opinion and to create solutions to the challenges that Artificial Intelligence is posing. The application succeeded and the European Youth Foundation approved the project and the budget concerning the application, which was really good for ELSA, since we haven't received an approved application since 2016/2017.

Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event could not be hosted physically, which meant that we would not have been able to justify enough costs under the grant. Therefore, we were forced to adapt the project to a virtual reality and withdraw our application to the grant.

Applying and ensuring that these applications are approved is important for ELSA, considering that three successful applications in a row unlock the chance of receiving a structural grant, which would greatly alleviate the pressure on the general budget to cover administrative costs.

ERASMUS+. The European Union Programme, new EU programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, opened a new cycle for 2021-2027. This term, we applied for the KA3 grant – Support for Policy Development and Cooperation, operating through the European Youth Together action.

This programme is available to Non-Governmental Organisations working in the field of youth, with a minimum of four partners associated with the event, the activities taking place in the Erasmus+ Programme countries and with a duration of two years.

This year, we decided to apply with the Rule of Education campaign (ROLE) that aims at creating an educational programme to enable as many young people as possible in Europe to learn, teach and apply the principles of the Rule of Law. An additional benefit lies in exposing young people to the diverse group of people studying and practicing law in their country, ultimately resulting in a more inclusive legal profession.

ELSA, together with ELSA Alumni, decided to apply for 150.000€, the maximum amount granted by the programme per each EU project. If successful, the International Board 2021/2022 will be able to use the money on the ROLE campaign and report on the expenses together with the Board of Directors of ELSA Alumni.

FM TOOL KI T S AND WEBINARS Updating our materials and

Re a c h i n g n e w h e i g h t s . Throughout this year, it was really important to develop the Financial Management tools available on the Officers’ Portal of ELSA. According to the International Council Meeting Decision Book of ELSA, it is the responsibility of ELSA International to “produce and make available to National Groups tools necessary for Financial Management, annually revise them, and, if necessary, update them…, and in order to comply, we understood the need of expanding the knowledge management sources available to our Network.

Starting with the toolkits and templates that are available in the Officers’ Portal, we believe that the Network needed more materials and templates to improve the technical support and improve the area across the Network. Together with the Assistant of Financial Management Toolkits, we created several templates that allowed us to cover these needs related to the area. During this period of time, we created accounting templates for National and Local Groups, accounting book templates, budget templates, cash management tools for National and Local Groups, a financial management calendar and invoice templates.

Additionally, this year we worked on the new Financial Management Handbook as a new source of practical information for the Financial Management area in ELSA. We also uploaded practical cases available to the Network to improve the training and knowledge management resources in the FM area.

Alongside this, we created a new source of knowledge management materials in the area, called #FM_Webinars, consisting of short and simple videos explaining a specific topic of the area. These videos are available on the Officers’ Portal.

We believe that our goals in this specific part were achieved, thanks to the amount of different knowledge management materials that we created. We hope that the FM officers across the ELSA Network feel that we are providing high quality support and contribute to the development of the Financial Management area as a supporting area.

Templates & Toolkits

Webinars

Handbook

DIGITISED

SY N E RGY

A d a p t , a n d o v e rc o m e . Many discussions have been conducted during the International Council Meetings regarding the difficulties that Synergy faces. After the discussions with the Council of Europe and during the 78th International Council Meeting, we decided to proceed with the full digitisation of the Synergy Magazine.

In ELSA we are known for being frontrunners of (legal) innovation and sustainable leadership; every innovator should understand the importance of moving towards ecofriendly business models. By making our magazine digital, we play our part in the fight against paper-waste and deforestation, actively demonstrating our environmental consciousness and avidity for wastefulness reduction & sustainability.

Digitisation of Synergy helped us to overcome geographical barriers as well as to expand on new digital platforms. Moreover, this development had a positive impact on ELSA’s image towards externals, since it conveys a socially responsible profile of an Organisation, that responds to crises with empathy and respect, and knows how to adapt and embrace new challenges. As well as this, ELSA was disencumbered from the expenses and logistics associated with printing and shipping.

The digital version allowed for more dynamic and interactive content such as videos and active links to other ELSA resources, therefore allowing for a more effective promotion of our projects. More explicitly, we effectively promoted STEP, the ELR and other projects, reaching a high number of participants. Digitisation is conducive to one of the Synergy team’s latest endeavours; make Synergy a fundraising tool by including more ads. Digital Synergy allows us to get a more comprehensive understanding of our readers, since digital publishing software provides the opportunity to track reader engagement and provide insights and analytics, which comes hand in hand with a more holistic and informed approach. Take the chance to read the 68th and 69th edition of the Synergy Magazine now.

SOCIAL

MEDIA

EXPANSION

11k Followers

22k Followers

73k

A l e a p i n t o t h e f u t u re .

Followers

ELSA is a Network of 70.000 individuals from a range of backgrounds in 44 National Groups. Thereby, ELSA has great potential for a really strong presence on social media platforms.

From the very beginning of the 2020/2021 term, the focus of the International Board was on growing ELSA’s presence as well as its audience on social media. To start with, we established a cross-promotion strategy on the international level, in which all the National Groups were involved, in order to utilise social media algorithm. Hence, our Facebook page got verified, officially recognising the global ELSA brand. Moreover, we had the opportunity to create the 40th Year Anniversary social media campaign on Instagram, which led us to reach more than 10K followers on this platform and finally unlocking the “swipe-up” feature.

The ELSA International Team worked creatively and hard in order to come up with ideas for videos, helping our social media video content become more complete and professional than ever. To sum up, ELSA has had a very successful year in terms of social media and marketing. ELSA reached 5.000 more followers on LinkedIn, exceeded the 11K barrier followers on Instagram and, last but not least, reached 73K followers on Facebook. The International Board strongly believes that social media is the future of Marketing and there is still so much more to be discovered!

(

)

RE BRA N D I N G & M A RKE TI N G

DE V ELOP MENT Designing the f u t u re .

Branding is what gives us reputation and ultimately a future. This year, we took bold steps in the area of Marketing with the vision to make our approach more engaging and complete. Hence, we firstly conducted a Market Research on the International Level after 8 years, which allowed us to gather data and analyse the impact of our Association. In order to use this data and create something positive for the future of our Association, we launched a working group on the branding development of our Association. Seven people worked tirelessly on researching other NGOs' marketing strategies, ELSA’s marketing techniques and on designing new graphical elements. We are proud to say that the foundation of ELSA’s marketing future has been set after the meaningful discussions that were had at the 79th ICM on the development of the ELSA logo, the colour palette and the imagery. It is now up to the upcoming board to continue with the branding development and start the implementation of the overall rebranding of our Association.

THE NEW

STYLE Updating our

materials.

Moreover, we had the opportunity to further develop the promotion of our projects. More explicitly, a new complete brading was finally created for the ELSA Negotiation Competition, which helped the National Groups with the overall promotion of the project. Career Launch and STEP were also rebranded, whilst the marketeers of the network had the possibility to receive more promotional materials, which helped us reach high numbers of engagement despite the challenges caused by the pandemic. We also had the opportunity to create a series of videos for STEP, promoting both our Traineeship providers and the project itself to our members, promoting its branding all around. Last but not least, the IFP, SELS, WELS, and EWA were also rebranded.

THE NEW

STYLE

EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS

MOOT COURT COM P E T I T I ON

The European Human Rights Moot Court Competition (EHRMCC) has been bringing together young human rights enthusiasts from all around Europe for nine consecutive years. However, this year’s edition was special in many ways, as all the participants and judges were joining us virtually in Maastricht, Lisbon, Cluj-Napoca, and finally, Strasbourg, via the Hopin platform.

The EHRMCC is the largest English-speaking, human rights-oriented moot court competition in the world and the fact that the entire competition was digitised did not stop participants from 68 universities from making their first career steps in this year’s competition.

REGI ON A L

ROU N D S

68 teams submitted their Written Submissions, 67 teams took part in the Regional Rounds, virtually and flawlessly hosted by ELSA the Netherlands and ELSA Maastricht (Virtual Regional Round Maastricht), ELSA Portugal (Virtual Regional Round Lisbon) and ELSA Cluj-Napoca (Virtual Regional Round Cluj-Napoca). More than 100 judges in total and more than 50 ELSA members participated in the organisation of the first ever virtual Regional Round. Considering the virtual nature of the Regional Rounds, we could not award the Best ELSA Spirited team, but we still managed to keep the Regional Rounds interesting with an online social programme and a small Award ceremony at the end of every Regional Round.

FI N A L ORA L

ROU N D T h e b e s t 1 8 t e a m s o f

the Competition.

The best 18 teams qualified to the Final Oral Round of the 9th EHRMCC and, instead of pleading in the Palais de l’Europe and Grand Chambre of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, our finalists were pleading once again on Hopin, which did not decrease the quality of the pleadings, quite the opposite. After an exhausting week, team 35 from IE University, Spain, won the 9th EHRMCC and team 20 from University of Antwerp, Belgium, was the runner up. The virtual nature of the competition has its own perks and this year, the Final Oral Round gathered more than 35 human rights experts from all around Europe, including previous judges of the European Court of Human Rights. I will use this opportunity to thank them once again for the time and energy they all invested in the competition - it was genuinely appreciated by the participants and organisers!

CON T I N U OU S

SUPPORT.

Moreover, we had the honour of being once again financially supported by the Council of Europe and several Permanent Representations to the Council of Europe. We wholeheartedly thank the Permanent Representations of Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany for supporting the competition and young human rights advocates even in those difficult times of the pandemic.

OU R

COOP E RAT I ON.

HELGA PEDERSEN MOOT COURT

COMPETITION Finally, the 9th EHRMCC represents the end of an era.

During the Final Ceremony of the Final Oral Round, the new name of the Competition was announced by the Danish Ambassador to the Council of Europe. The Competition will be held under the name of Helga Pedersen, previous Danish Judge to the European Court of Human Rights. Judge Pedersen was the first female judge appointed at the ECtHR as well as the advocate of prison and penal reform as well as the advancement of women’s legal status. Judge Pedersen’s work left remarkable trace in the history of the ECtHR, therefore, renaming the largest Englishspeaking, human-rights oriented moot court competition in the world after her will add even more prestige to the competition and strengthen the bonds between ELSA, Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. We are now looking forward to the 10th Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition!

ROL E &

E L SA 4SCHOOLS Making a

change. Since last term, we as ELSA are playing an active role in the wider civil society, proving that we are more than a typical law students’ association. This year, we have joined forces with ELSA Alumni and started the Rule of Law Education Campaign (ROLE Campaign), which aims to enable as many people as possible in Europe to learn, apply and advocate the principles of the Rule of Law. The project is oriented towards highschool students. Six countries have been participating in the project, joined by two more, making it eight countries that are participating in the pilot phase of the project. We are beyond proud to see that this project is attracting the attention of partners, as we partnered with Street Law and have deepened our cooperation with LexisNexis. Moreover, the ELSA Network is ready to engage in projects that are not strictly oriented to law students, such as ROLE and ELSA4Schools, and teach the civil society about legal principles that are in line with our vision - a just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity.

ANNUAL

HUMAN RI GH T S CA M PA I GN

Our cooperation with the Council of Europe Two webinars organised with our Human Rights partners since 2008.

The International Focus Programme (IFP) is ELSA’s advocacy campaign that brings together the entire ELSA Network and, until August 2022, we are focusing on law and technology. This IFP cycle is divided into three Annual Human Rights Campaigns and the topic for the 20/21 was AI and Human Rights.

During our term, we had the pleasure of inter alia hosting two webinars with the Council of Europe on the Annual Human Rights topic and distributing a survey that gave us a better overview about the opinions and knowledge of European youth as well as the interplay between artificial intelligence and human rights. We are happy to be contributing to human rights awareness and to see our cooperation with the Council of Europe growing.

YOUTH

FORUM

EDUCATION

Starting with an idea from the International Board 2019/20, we developed a new project focusing on social responsibility. With the COVID-19 outbreak, we indeed had to modify a project of Youth Forum on Artificial Intelligence that was imagined by our predecessors. We however wanted to continue with a project that would focus on our impact on civil society and thought on how we could keep the concept and adapt it for our online time.

We then decided to structure our project around the concept of education as a youth NGO, to offer an online platform for executives of different European youth NGOs to discuss their methods of education, how we are educating our members and our officers and how we could learn from each other and improve our ways of working.

The objective was to observe, for the 40th anniversary of our association, how we are impacting civil society through education with the various educational projects of ELSA. With this event, we wanted to reassure that we are, for this anniversary, looking forward, and decided to continue what started 40 years ago.

RE A L I SAT I ON OF

THE PROJECT.

Two formats/ two topics

3 conferences

4th - 6th of June 2021

7 Youth NGOs

If we received positive feedback, the period of time was not ideal for such an event and the participation was not as important as what we could have expected for this type of event and this topic. However, many approached speakers and NGOs saluted the initiative and advised us to contact them again for any similar project. We also received valuable information from the sessions and the webinars and can consider the project as an overall success, yet to be adjusted if continued.

JOH N H . JACKS ON

MOOT COURT COM P E T I T I ON

19TH

EDITION

TEAMS

26 TEAMS

IN THE FINAL

ROUND

The John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition took place for its 19th edition this year. The simulated hearing of the World Trade Organization dispute settlement system that started out in 2002 continued online this year.

Despite the situation and the challenges that we had to face this year, the competition remains amongst the most important Moot Court Competitions in the world, supported by the World Trade Organization. 80 teams of two to four students competed in the regional rounds online, and 26 teams qualified for the Final Oral Round of the competition, ensuring a diverse representation within the Final.

Since its creation, the competition educates and prepares students to be the future of international trade law but also fosters mutual understanding and closes the gap between different cultures within its six regional rounds on five continents.

JH JM CC

MAP Te a m s i n numbers.

European Regional Round Asian Regional Round 31.80%

All-American Regional Round

44.90% 12.80%

10.50%

African Regional Round

All-American Regional Round: 10 European Regional Round: 31 Asian Regional Round: 37 African Regional Round: 10

SOME MORE

NUMBERS Expansion of the Competition.

296

Participants

Countries

116

Universities

Coaches

GE N D E R

RE P RE S E N TAT I ON

59.80%

Female

40.20%

Male

Re g i o n a l Ro u n d s As mentioned, the six regional rounds of the competition took place online this year. The AllAmerican round from the 24th to the 28th of February, with the support of the Universidad de Guadalajara, the first European round from the 3rd to the 7th of March and the second European round from the 10th to the 14th of March, the African round from the 23rd to the 27th of March and finally the East Asia and Oceania round from the 31st of March to the 4th of April and the West and South Asia round from the 28th of April to the 2nd of May with the support of our sister association, the Asian Law Students’ Association, ALSA.

OU R

SUPPORTERS . We a re g r a t e f u l fo r t h e

immense support. This year’s edition had the support of Van Bael & Bellis as its main sponsor and Georgetown Law as main academic supporter, but also Steptoe, Akin Gump, Baker McKenzie, Sidley Austin, White & Case, the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) and the World Trade Institute, and Jus Mundi, that provided prices and support to the teams. Because of this, the 19th edition had a budget of 131.000 euros, allowing us to create a significant reserve for the future.

We also worked to increase the image of the competition by enforcing our presence online. The LinkedIn Page of the John H. Jackson Moot passed 1000 followers and is meant to continue to grow and evolve, as well as the Youtube channel of the Competition.

Technical Supporters:

Platinum Sponsor:

Gold Sponsors:

Silver Sponsors:

Main Academic Supporter:

Academic Supporters: 59

GLOBA L

WEBINARS

SERIES

With the support of the Universidad de Guadalajara, we hosted a series of five webinars on the topic of “Revitalising the WTO rules-based system so it can address global challenges”. We gathered prestigious speakers, ambassadors, stakeholders in the field and influential professors, with the objective of increasing the academic image of the competition.

These webinars were also an opportunity for the teams to learn and to hear high level discussions on the future of the WTO. They are also available to anyone that would be interested on the competition’s YouTube channel.

FI N A L

ORA L

ROU N D The last step of the

Competition. From the 22nd to the 27th of June, 26 teams gathered online once again to compete in the final stage of the competition, the Final Oral Round of the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition. Starting with the intervention of Mr. Pascal Lamy, Patron and former Director General of the WTO, the round saw the participants compete for four days in the preliminary sessions and in the quarter finals. Four teams then qualified for the semi finals, Los Andes University, from Colombia, Graduate Institute of Geneva, in Switzerland, and the Finalists, KU Leuven, from Belgium, and the winners of the Grand Final, University of Colombo from Sri Lanka.

YO UT UBE

VIDEOS General Support

to the teams

On YouTube, we also started the creation of content to help the teams, especially for those that do not have the opportunity to be coached. These videos, that are meant to be complemented in the future, are focusing on two topics. A first set focuses on how to moot, tips and tricks on what to do and what to avoid during the competition, and a second focuses on WTO law in general, from the big concepts to the field.

WEBINARS

EXPANSION T h e g o l d e n a g e o f

webinars. It does not come as a surprise that the webinars are living their golden age this year. As a frontrunner of youth education, we had the responsibility to adapt our projects to this new reality. Especially in an area as dependent on physical presence as Seminars and Conferences, webinars became our life saver. After the rapid expansion of ELSA Webinars, another similar project called ELSA Webinars Academy was launched. ELSA Webinars Academy aims to provide a deeper insight into a specific area of the law as it consists of at least two separate webinars and a minimum of five hours of academic programme.

/ International Board of ELSA The International Board of ELSA organised the second edition of ELSA Webinars Academy on Law and Technology during June 2021. Our webinars were delivered by representatives of the King's College London, Harvard University, European Legal Tech Association, the Alan Turing Institute and many more. Therefore, we provided a wonderful opportunity to strike up a conversation about the multifaceted area of Law and Technology. Furthermore, the webinar with Max Stossel from the Humane Center for Technology on the Truth Behind Social Media aimed to raise awareness on social media and its role in our daily life. As a result, we received a record number of applications when compared to last year’s edition, and provided nearly 12 hours of intensive legal courses to our participants.

* The ELSA Network Over the course of one year, from August 2020 to July 2021, the ELSA Network organised over 160 Webinars, and 40 ELSA Webinars Academies on different legal topics such as data protection or arbitration. We once again highlighted our flexibility, innovation, and resilience when presented with the challenges of the modern world.

ELSA

DELEGATIONS

Online Delegations ELSA Delegations are one of the most prestigious projects of ELSA, giving law students and young lawyers the chance to witness international decision making in international organisations and institutions.

Thanks to our special status with the United Nations, ELSA regularly sends delegates to various UN bodies. For more than 20 years, ELSA members and ELSA alumni have experienced this unique opportunity, and broadened their horizon.

No matter the challenge, ELSA always finds a way to educate and advance the skill of our members. As a result, we proceeded with Online ELSA Delegations to adapt this unique flagship project to these challenging times where physical meetings are not an option. For every meeting and session of international organisations, we keep sending ELSA Delegates remotely. Even though sessions and meetings were online, ELSA Delegates had the opportunity to meet delegates from other ELSA Groups online.

ON L I N E

RE A L I T Y. I n t e r a c t i n g w i t h fe l l o w

delegates.

The majority of ELSA Delegations arranged online calls during, before and after the UN sessions allowing them to get to know each other, prepare and discuss the topic of the meeting, share documents, and socialise. Some Head of Delegations have also organised “mock tests” in order to test the preparation of the other delegates and learn - in an engaging way - something new about the UN and the specific session/ committee they were going to attend.

ELSA delegates had the opportunity to follow the sessions of OHCHR, WIPO, UNDESA, UNECE, UNCITRAL, UNESCAP, UNWOMEN, UNESCAP, UNCTAD, UNFF, UNESCO, and ITU through the UN Web TV or the Interprefy platform. This presented many advantages such as the possibility to interact directly with fellow delegates exchanging live comments and debating on the issues immediately after the sessions. Another advantage of online sessions was the possibility to take part in side events, even more than you can join in person due to the lack of logistical limitations. In addition, ELSA delegates did not have to worry about costs related to their participation allowing the project to become more inclusive. Consequently, ELSA Delegates witnessed international decision making remotely, in a socially responsible way during the pandemic.

PROFE SSI ON AL

DE V ELOP MENT C a re e r L a u n c h

p ro j e c t .

ELSA has been connecting thousands of law students with the professional legal world through the Student Trainee Exchange Programme since 1984 and this year, we took our professional development commitment a step further - STEP as an area has been transformed to Professional Development, encompassing all the amazing projects we have that are helping European law students and young lawyers prepare for professional life. This change was brought to reflect and emphasise the reality and strengths of the area and its officers, whilst at the same time expanding our professional development portfolio, which is a sector that in recent years has become more and more relevant in terms of future career opportunities and goals. With this change, we hope to officially establish a key pillar of our association and usher in a new era for the area, its focus, and the benefits that it can bring for our members.

Acknowledging the importance of professional development and how difficult it is to network in the times of a pandemic, we created a new project - Career Launch, aiming to bridge the gap between theory and practice, the academic and professional world, allowing law students an insight into differents career paths available to them after their legal studies.

With two cycles of the project already completed, as always, it is important to evaluate the structure and project as a whole and continue to innovate it to increase the benefits and stature of the project for the future.

RE M OT E

TRAINEESHIPS Adapting is what allows us t o ke e p m o v i n g fo r w a rd . If the past year and a half has taught us anything, it is that adapting is what allows us to keep moving forward and overcome any odds that life may throw at us. ELSA has undoubtedly demonstrated this ability throughout this pandemic, forcing us not only to revaluate our Association and projects, but adapt them and evolve them. A primary example of this has been our oldest and largest professional development project, ELSA’s Traineeship Programme, STEP.

With over 40 years of experience in awarding law students and young lawyers the opportunity to travel around the world and carry out work experiences in different countries and jurisdictions, the pandemic brought a strong challenge and question: how to maintain this opportunity for our members, whilst the world is currently in a lockdown? The International Board of ELSA 2019/2020 was able to give an answer to the first part of the discussion, in the form of remote traineeship opportunities. Various discussions and consultations later, the 2020/2021 term saw the possibility of making remote traineeships become an integral part of STEP. A change and evolution that, not only allowed us to maintain our necessary professional development offer, but also demonstrated ELSA’s ability to be a front-runner in the sector of work experience, being on par with the developments of many international organisations.

STEP

PARTNERS

0 Partners & Financial Sustainability The STEP area has had a long but diverse history in terms of financial sustainability and partners, in particular. The first years of the programme saw high-level partner engagement as well as a selfsustaining and developing project. The years following that age, however, proved more difficult, resulting in the common conception of recent years of STEP boasting no partners and financially draining the general accounts of the Association, as well as unable to fundraise.

The 2019/2020 term saw the first glimmer of hope in this aspect with the introduction of 3 new partners, giving the initial boost to the financial sustainability of the project. However, with the challenges that the pandemic presented for many organisations including ELSA, there was a worry that this boost might dissipate. Luckily, with a heavy dose of team-work, research and vision, we were able to overcome these challenges once more, not only maintain and strengthen existing partnerships, but also establish new and prosperous ones.

We saw the renewal of our partnership with Fragomen, award winning experts in the field of immigration, with offices all around the world. Together with the MCC area we introduced our first joint partner, Akin Gump, and finally, after a number of years of fruitful cooperation in regards to the STEP programme, we were happy to welcome the Bierens Group as an official partner of the area and project, with a bright future ahead of us.

For the first time in many years, the STEP area and project is able to boast a self-sustaining and developing partnership and financial situation, allowing us to look towards the future ushering it into a new era and continuing to maintain and develop this environment.

STEP

RE BRA N D I N G Fo c u s o n p ro fe s s i o n a l

development.

STEP as an area and project, undoubtedly, has a rich and incredibly long history. This history continuously allows us to look back in order to develop our future. Nonetheless, history should not be seen as an excuse to not innovate or adapt the project and brands to new circumstances, generations and needs. Many, indeed, saw the pandemic as a barrier and halt to projects and any potential innovation or renewal.

Our ability to adapt. ELSA, however, once again, demonstrated its ability to adapt and evolve and, thanks to the work of the entire network and the ever present spirit, we managed to use this time to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. Thus, after a 40 year history, the Network made history in bringing forward the rebranding of the STEP project. Therefore, as of the coming 1st of August, STEP will officially become ELSA Traineeships. With this change, we hope to improve our communication, outreach strategies and present a clear message towards our members and interested individuals. Together with the general rebranding and refocus of the area, we hope to use these changes effectively as opportunities to look towards the future in all aspects and, thus, use these changes to evolve the project even further.

NEW

DESIGN

STYLE

STEP RESEARCH

PROJECT Firstly initiated in

2019. The STEP Research Project, an international legal research group focusing on labour law in over 40 countries, had a strong internal goal aimed towards understanding the necessary labour regulations present in the countries of operation of STEP and thus ensure a strong legal framework and compliance. Whilst this goal continues to be a primary, it has since that first introduction, evolved and developed to allow for an external vision. In particular, with the incredible support of our project partner, Caselex, without whom the project would not have been possible, and together with the entire Board, we realised the incredible potential of this project and the research and knowledge that it brought in regards to labour regulations surrounding specifically trainees around the world, allowing us to begin drafting ideas and partnerships aimed at utilising this as a means and basis for advocacy and policy input.

Boasting in-depth research. With important conclusions being drawn in regards to remote working policy, the status of trainees, and general barriers to work experience and professional development, we pass the torch to the new Board and are looking forward to seeing ELSA become a primary player towards the advancement of the status and opportunities for work experience worldwide.

It is important to note one of the greatest strengths and reasons for the success of the project, namely our Network and Officers. It is due to the tireless work and research of National and Local Officers that the STEP Research Project is able to boast in-depth research and knowledge from over 20 different EU and non-EU countries. With the research phase of the project finally concluded after two years with the submission of the final national reports, the opportunities for this project look bright.

EPILOGUE T h e l a s t fe w w o rd s … In this way, we have reached the end of our term. This year was full of challenges, both typical and unexpected. We knew from the very beginning that it would not be an easy task as we wanted to achieve a lot. At that point, "Do what you can't" seemed like a funny slogan to sum up all of our plans and dreams. With time, however, it turned out that leaving the comfort zone and crossing borders has become our everyday life. Therefore, we learned how to develop an organisation in new conditions. Today, from the perspective of 12 months of work, we are proud to see the achievements of the entire Network. Time spent on discussions about strategy, brainstorming about structures and searching for meaning in our actions has brought great results. With courage and a sense of righteousness, we enter the next decade, making groundbreaking changes and building a new future for a new generation of ELSA members. We have helped to take the first step and now we can observe with even greater satisfaction as the next Officers are getting ready to take the baton and continue our joint efforts.

In the meantime, the ELSA House has become a home for us and our team has become a second family. One that helps and supports, but also pushes you to new challenges and creates an atmosphere conducive to development. One that understands weaknesses and appreciates the virtues, that remembers about important things and allows you to be yourself. This is where our adventure with the Association ends, but the created relationships remain, because it was not only a year of work for ELSA, but most of all a year of our life full of new experiences and wonderful people around.

We wish you to experience something so extraordinary as well, hoping that you would have your dreams, the courage to make them come true and have friends who will accompany you on this journey.

ELSAfully yours,

Wera, Sina, Carlos, Nikos, Maja, Louis, Ilke and Fran

#DoWhatYouCant

Annual Report of the International Board of ELSA 2020/2021

Articles inside

Professional Development & STEP