Post Date: March 10, 2005

Harvard's European Law Moot Court team

For the first in the law school's history, a team of Harvard students will compete in the finals of the European Law Moot Court Competition, which began this week in Luxembourg. The team is one of four to qualify for the All European Finals, based on an original pool of 92 universities.

"This really speaks to the quality of the students in the Graduate Program," said Tim Corthaut, LL.M. candidate and a team coach. "On their own free time, they’ve mastered a difficult area of law and have become so good that they now can compete with specialized institutions like the College of Europe or Maastricht University."

The case focuses on an environmental dispute under European Union law and will be judged by top officials of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The students competing on the team are LL.M. candidates Charles Massa (Belgium), Katherine Apps (England), Nana Sumrada (Slovenia) and Juan Ignacio Signes de Mesa (Spain). LL.M. candidates Tim Corthaut (Belgium) and Katjia Plaustajner (Slovenia) coached the team, and they received additional support from the European Law Reseach Center, the Harvard European Law Association, the Graduate Program and the Dean of Students Office.