Master en droit européen - LL.M. (académique)

European Law Moot Court Competition (ELMC)

The ELMC is a simulated court proceeding in European Union Law held in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereafter CJEU). Since more than 25 years the European Law Moot Court Society, an external organization, based in Portugal, stands behind this prestigious competition.

Firstly, the teams of students prepare written submissions with respect to a problem given in a hypothetical case on current questions of European Union law. Secondly, they present their arguments in oral proceedings before the “CJEU”.

The competition takes place annually and consists of three stages, namely one written stage and two oral stages. Through all of its phases the competition is bi-lingual: French and English are its official languages.

The fictitious case is set under the auspices of the European Law Moot Court Society by experts in European Union Law. It is published on its website on the 1 ^st of September every year. From that day on (till late November), students’ teams from universities all around the world prepare their written submissions setting out the arguments on behalf of both the applicant and the defendant in the proceedings before the CJEU.

Subsequently, based on the quality of their written submissions, the best 48 teams are selected and invited to attend the Regional Final, the second stage of the competition. Four Regional Finals – which are in fact semi-finals – are held in February across the world. The locations where these finals take place vary from year to year. Twelve teams compete per Regional Final of which only one proceeds to the All-European Final in Luxemburg, the third and last stage of the competition. Additionally, from the Regional Final stage on, one member from each team participates in the individual competition as the Representative of the European Commission or Advocate General of the CJEU.

In Luxemburg, at the premises of the CJEU, the best four teams and individual players compete against each other before judges of the CJEU and the General Court. The winner is declared during the ceremony held after deliberation by “the Court”. During this event also the best Commission Representative and the best Advocate General receive a separate award. Finally, there are also special awards for the best oral speaker and the best written submissions.