Professor Joseph Weiler and ELMCS President Antonio Santos prepare to welcome the competitors to the 2005 European Law Moot Court Competition New York Regional Final at the NYU School of Law.

The judges of the European Law Moot Court Competition New York Regional Final rigorously tested the competitors' knowledge of European state aid law and the facts of the 2005 case.

Nana Sumrada of the Harvard Law School team demonstrates the advocacy skills which led the Harvard team to victory at the New York Regional Final.

An Winters of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven team prepares to address the panel's questions in the final round of the New York Regional Final.

The European Law Moot Court Competition brings together student participants, judges, coaches and guests from throughout Europe, United States and the world for both an enriching cultural exchange and a challenging moot court competition addressing complex issues of European Union law. The competitors must first advance past the written pleading round to be invited to participate in the next oral round of the competition conducted at one of the four regional finals which were held in Madrid (Spain), Gotebörg (Sweden), Istanbul (Turkey) and New York (USA) in 2005. The NYU School of Law was proud to serve as host for the New York Regional Final of this year's Competiton. Winners of the New York Regional Final advanced to the All European Final at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The New York Regional Final of the European Law Moot Court Competition, which was presented by the Jean Monnet Center and Hauser Global Law School Program of the NYU School of Law  and the European Law Moot Court Society from February 27th to March 2nd, 2005, hosted twelve teams from academic institutions located in 10 different countries and individual team members represented nearly every country in Europe. At the Welcome Reception opening the competition on Sunday evening, February 27th in the Greenberg Lounge of Vanderbilt Hall, Professor Joseph Weiler of the NYU School of Law and Antonio Santos of the European Law Moot Court Society (ELMCS) welcomed the participants to the New York Regional Final and to New York City. Participants received a briefing on the rules of the competition from the ELMCS Executive Secretaries, Nikolaj Linneballe and Jacob Borum, and tried to mentally prepare for the next day’s competition. 

The moot court competition sessions officially commenced on Monday morning, February 28th, and the distinguished panels of judges immediately put competitors to the test regarding their knowledge of the case and relevant European Community state aid and competition law.  Following 12 rigorous moot court sessions on the first day, teams from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University of Cologne, Harvard Law School and Stockholm University advanced to the New York Regional semi-finals on Tuesday, March 1st.  Commission Representatives from the University of Copenhagen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Harvard Law School and The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple teams also advanced to the semi-finals of the competition. Following this long first day of the competition, participants dined at a local upscale billiard hall/bar/restaurant where some were able to begin sampling a bit of the New York nightlife while others escaped back to the hotel to prepare for the semi-final sessions.

On Tuesday, March 1st, following four extraordinarily demanding semi-final moot court sessions in which teams pleaded in back-to-back sessions, Harvard Law School and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven were selected by the judges to compete in the final moot court session. Despite the strong advocacy skills displayed by An Winters of the Leuven team in the Applicant role, the Harvard Law School team, represented by Nana Sumrada who was pleading in the role of Defendant, emerged victorious after an impeccably argued session in the grand Lester Pollack Colloquium Room of the NYU School of Law. The Commission Representative from the University of Copenhagen, Moya-Louise Lindsay-Poulsen, received top honours for her performance during the earlier sessions and advanced to the All European Final in Luxembourg in that role.

At the farewell dinner following the awards ceremony, team members interacted with the judges and each other, and all of the dinner guests participated in an European Law Moot Court tradition in which participants, judges and regional team members represented their respective nationalities by singing songs from their countries. Following the farewell dinner, teams enjoyed a night of dancing out on the town at a nearby lounge and many teams continued their exploration of the Big Apple clear into the early morning hours.

The NYU regional team would like to congratulate the Harvard Law School team for winning the New York Regional Final and continuing on to win the All-European Final of the European Law Moot Court Competition held at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg from March 9th-11th. We would also like to thank the judges, participants, ELMCS Board and Organizing Team, and the NYU regional team for helping to make this such a successful event.

The NYU School of Law would like to congratulate the following teams on advancing to the oral rounds of the Competition and to compliment them on their excellent performance in the New York Regional Final:

Eotvos Lorand University of Sciences, Faculty of Law

Gothenburg University

Harvard Law School

International University Concordia Audentes

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Stockholm University

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple

University of Cologne

University of Copenhagen

Universitat Osnabruck

University of Turku

Vilnius University

The NYU School of Law would like to thank the following list of distinguished scholars who served as judges for the New York Regional Final: