The main objective of the project is to raise awareness of cross-cutting areas of EU law and to be able to contribute to the effective and coherent application of EU law among young lawyers in private practice across Europe.

In this project a series of intensive courses of tendays’ duration will be organised in English in Trier (Germany), providing initial training to 30 young lawyers per group on EU law. It will provide a platform for exchange of best practices, information and knowledge creating close contacts among young lawyers from different EU Member States.

Each course consists of thirteen sessions which will be practice-oriented and offer a mixture of training methods, varying from lectures to group exercises presented by EU and national legal experts, including experienced lawyers in private practice.

Visits to the Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will be included.

Expected results:

The project will reduce the gaps in training of young lawyers identified by the European Commission‘s European judicial training strategy for 2021-2024 by giving young lawyers “a grounding in the EU legal system and legal culture in the course of their initial training”.

The planned courses will help them build their practical understanding of the role of EU law in national legal systems, the rule of law acquis and their role as European justice practitioners.

The project will concretely benefit the target group by:

• Increasing their knowledge of EU law.
• Raising mutual trust by creating networking opportunities and cross-border cooperation among 120 lawyers from selected Bar associations participating in the project with a view to strengthening future cooperation and the exchange of information.
• Creating new training material, which can be used for further training of lawyers in all EU Member States.
• Ensuring a widespread future use of the training package.
• Disseminating the training output widely and increase self-learning opportunities and tools to indirect beneficiaries in all EU Members States and beyond.

Making use of our extensive database of training material already developed during previous projects, the participants will be able to familiarise themselves with the basics of the training topics before each course. The training will be a blend of frontal presentations, case studies (group work exercises) and workshops.

The presentations will cover cross-cutting EU law topics, including EU litigation, fundamental rights (the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights), the rule of law, and data protection, as well as non-legal skills, such as online legal databases research, professional secrecy, the regulation of lawyers and their mobility in Europe, as well as the future of legal professions in Europe.

The presentations will be followed by case studies, workshops where the participants will be asked to work in small groups, and study a case scenario, discuss it among themselves and with an expert.

According to our experience, group exercises allow participants to dive into the details of EU legal framework, stimulate discussion among legal professionals from different EU Member States and apply EU law in practice with the aim of developing key skills of a future lawyer, such as ability to analyse and summarise a case, adequate preparation for a hearing, listening skills, apply and argument the correct legal basis, communicate clearly, and be aware of national and European legal environments.

A further practical aspect of the course is the attendance of a hearing at the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in Luxembourg and a visit to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as well as the European Parliament.Through these visits the participants will gain experience with the work of three major international institutions in Europe, in particular the specificities related to the conducting of a hearing, the lodging of applications before these jurisdictions, and the law-making process.

Participation:

The target group of the training will be “young lawyers in private practice”, including trainee lawyers and – in jurisdictions in which initial training does not include a period of legal practice– newly qualified lawyers with less than three years of experience.

A person is considered a “trainee lawyer” if s/he is regarded as such under national law, including in the form of an induction or apprenticeship period, and if s/he has not attended initial training activities for more than three years.

This definition does not include law students. Participants need to fulfil the criteria at the beginning of the year 2023, therefore a trainee passing the bar exam or being newly qualified as a lawyer in the course of 2023 can still apply for the events.

Participation is possible only upon nomination by the partners of the project. For further information please turn to the local bar association.

Language

Participants should have a working knowledge of English.

Locations

• ERA Conference Centre, Trier
• European Court of Justice, Luxembourg
• Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg

Other services

Lunches, four dinners, beverages consumed during the event and documentation are offered by ERA.

Travel & Accommodation

Accommodation will be provided from Sunday evening till the end of the course. The costs for accommodation in both Trier and Strasbourg are booked and paid by ERA.

All young lawyers selected to participate in the course will receive a contribution to their travel costs depending on the distance from where they are travelling.

Participants are asked to book their flights immediately after they have received the confirmation from ERA. They are obliged to confirm their participation otherwise different candite will be chosen. No reimbursement upon the cancelation will be provided.

The nearest airports close to Trier:

• Luxembourg (40 km, 1 hour 20 minutes by bus and train),
• Frankfurt Hahn (76 km, 2 hours by bus and train), Cologne (167 km; 3,5 hours by train),
• Frankfurt am Main (185 km, 3-3,5 hours by train).

Speakers' Contributions

Here you can find the presentations of speakers from the previous YELAs. Selected presentations are available as video podcasts and marked with a corresponding video icon. The materials here are updated after every YELA, so make sure to check in again!

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in Practice

Litigating EU Law