Young European Lawyers Contest 2024

We are happy to announce a great opportunity for young lawyers, which I kindly ask to disseminate among your members (for organization members.

The Academy of European Law (ERA) is organising a contest on European law topics for young lawyers. There are still places available that were offered to EYBA. 

You can register until December 15, 2023, with the special voucher code provided to EYBA, free of charge. The programme is co-funded by the European Commission (Justice Programme). Travel, accommodation, and subsistence costs are covered by the project You can find the registration link and more information about the contest below.

Participants can register by using this link: https://applications.european.law/en/Registrations/Apply/223DT161_EYBA. During registration you should use the following code: YELC24EYBA

The aim of this contest is to bring together young and newly qualified lawyers to spotlight the importance of European law for their future legal practice. By involving young lawyers from various EU Member States, the project aims to contribute to the creation of a common European judicial culture and make them feel part of a community with common values by stimulating their critical thinking on EU law and by raising their interest in applying EU law in their daily work of defence and legal advice.

The Young Lawyers Contest 2024 is the third and last of the series of 3 contests under the above-mentioned EU Justice Programme. It will consist of 3 semi-finals (of two half days each) and one final (of 3 days). Every semi-final opposes up to four pan-European teams composed of four contestants each. It consists, ahead of the semi-final of the preparation by the teams of a written report on a question of EU law with practical relevance for their daily professional practice and the oral presentation of it during the semi-finals in front of jurors selected from among high-profile lawyers in private practice with experience in litigation and pleading. The final of a duration of three days involves the best two teams from each semi-final – and is held at ERA premises in Trier (Part 1: two days including a training session and a negotiation exercise) and at the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg (Part 2: one day including a moot before judges of the General Court).

The key dates of the contest are as follows:

End of registration: 15 December 2023

Publication of the list of registered participants: 20 December 2023

Teams to receive topic for semi-finals: 10 January 2024

Teams to submit written report semi-final: 20 March 2024

Semi finals:

18-19 April 2024 National Association of the Romanian Bars (UNBR), Bucharest 

25-26 April 2024: Regional Lawyers’ School of the Grand Est (ERAGE), Strasbourg

27-28 May 2024: Academy of European Law (ERA), Trier 

Final: Trier/Luxembourg: 14-16 October 2024

Conditions for participation:

• Eligibility: Only citizens of the Member States of the European Union are eligible to participate in the Justice Programme, except Denmark.
• Young lawyers: Participants should be trainee lawyers and newly qualified lawyers (in their first year after qualification). The same person cannot be selected twice for the contest 2021-2024.
• Language: Participants should have a very good working knowledge of English. 
• Costs: Participation is free of charge. Participants will receive seminar documentation. Coffee breaks, lunches, and dinner are included.
• Before applying, candidates should make sure that they can attend all the dates mentionedfor the semi-finals and final.
• The number of places is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Accommodation and travel:

Participants will receive a fixed contribution towards their travel and accommodation expenses and are asked to book their own travel and accommodation. The amount of the contribution will be determined by the EU unit cost calculation guidelines, which are based on the distance from the participant’s place of work to the seminar location and will not take account of the participant’s actual travel and accommodation costs.

Travel costs from outside a country of the semi-final and final: participants can calculate the contribution to which they will be entitled on the European Commission website (https://era-comm.eu/go/calculator). The distance should be calculated from their place of work to the seminar location.

For those travelling within one country of the semi-final /final, the contribution for travel is fixed for a distance between 50km and 400km. Please note that no contribution will be paid for travel under 50km. For more information, please consult p10 on https://era-comm.eu/go/unit-cost-decision-travel

Accommodation costs: international participants and national participants travelling more than 50km one-way will receive a fixed contribution for up to one night of accommodation for semi-finals and for up to three nights for the final For more information, please consult p.13 on https://era-comm.eu/go/unit-cost-decision-travel
These rules do not apply to representatives of EU Institutions and Agencies who are required to cover their own travel and accommodation.

Successful applicants will be sent the relevant claim form and information on how to obtain payment of the contribution to their expenses. Please note that no payment is possible if the registered participant cancels their participation for any reason.

More information is available at the dedicated subsite of the Young European Lawyers Contest.