Court of Justice of the European Union Visit
Undergraduate students studying EU Law enjoyed a visit to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) last week. The group of 30 travelled to Luxembourg to meet Judges, legal teams and hear first-hand about life in the CJEU.
Silvia Bartolini, PhD student in the Centre of European Law and Former Legal Secretary at the CJEU, kindly organised an informal reception where students met Judge George Arestis of Cyprus and members of his team - including Legal Secretary Christina Charalambous, alumna of King’s LLB programme and Dr Holger Hestermeyer the incoming Reader in International Dispute Resolution who will join King’s in January. Students heard first-hand about the role the legal team plays at the CJEU before their visit to the court itself the following day.
On the day of the visit, King’s students arrived early for security checks before meeting their guide and attending a briefing from Dominic Düsterhaus, Legal Secretary, on the Kolassa case. Students were told that the hearing would take place in a 5 judge chamber and consider the interpretation of the rules of jurisdiction in Mr Kolassa's case against Barclays Bank.
The hearing of the Kolassa case took place in the Fourth Chamber and was argued at a public hearing, before the bench and the Advocate General. Students learnt that the Judges and the Advocate General may put to the parties any questions they consider appropriate before the Advocate General sets a date when they will deliver their Opinion before the Court of Justice, again in open court.
Following the hearing, King's students enjoyed an audience with AG Eleanor Sharpston and her Referendaire Doyin Lawunmi to learn more about the role of the Advocate General and her team. They learnt that they are responsible for presenting, with complete impartiality and independence, an ‘opinion' in the cases assigned to them.
AG Sharpston’s talk was followed by a visit from Judge Nicholas Forwood who visited the students to tell them about life at the CJEU from a Judge’s perspective. A lively question and answer session followed, during which students asked what judges do when they do not agree – the answer being that they ultimately have to agree.
Finally, students ate lunch in the CJEU canteen where they were joined by Judge Christopher Vajda and took the opportunity to ask any remaining questions before embarking on the journey back to London.
The visit to Luxembourg was kindly organised by PhD students Adrienne Yong, Maris Kask and Silvia Bartolini with financial support from the Centre for European Law and The Dickson Poon School of Law.
See some photographs from the trip on Flickr