Admission requirements
This course is only open to students of the Legal Track (LL.M.) of the LDE Master on the Governance of Migration and Diversity, sub-track to European law LL.M.
Description
This course will allow students to be introduced to the practical side of migration and asylum law in Europe from a procedural as well as a substantive point of view. Students will solve two cases (one before the European Court of Human Rights and one before the Court of Justice of the European Union). They will act in groups as applicants, defendants, and, if possible, judges. In their teams, students will research, analyze and apply international and European migration and asylum law. Students will be required to prepare written submissions to the court and will be asked to present their case orally and will thereby practice their pleading skills in a courtroom situation.
Course objectives
The course seeks to provide students with the opportunity to explore their talents as practicing lawyers and to apply their knowledge of International and European migration and asylum law in real-life scenarios and cases. Firstly, the course focuses on the development of advocacy skills. It also offers students valuable insights into practical work as part of a litigation team, under time pressure while solving and arguing legal problems before a court. Secondly, the course focuses on the application and deepening of knowledge of different areas of migration and asylum law (also from the perspective of European Human Rights law), requiring the students to craft and defend sophisticated legal arguments.
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
Define decisive legal issues and research them within the area of International and European Migration and Asylum law as a litigation team working on one case.
Critically read, analyze, and apply International and European Migration and Asylum law, case law from different adjudicating bodies (ECtHR, CJEU, domestic courts etc.) and legal doctrine to complex specific cases, bearing in mind the intereste of your client in a specific case.
Write, defend and present legal papers before peers as a litigation team.
Develop and defend a legal argument in oral and written form as a litigation team.
Conduct legal research and find appropriate legal resources providing authority to a legal argument in specific cases.
Timetable
Check MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Lectures
The course will kick off with an introductory lecture, which will offer a general introduction to the course (explaining the rules of the moot courts that will follow) as well as instructions on how to prepare and present written or oral arguments in court. Thereafter specific instruction methods will be used.
Other methods of instruction
Description: “Court sessions” (total number t.b.d., potentially 4)
The heart of the practicum consists of 4 weekly court sessions, where the students, in small groups (litigation teams), will give oral presentations of their views in a simulated preliminary ruling procedure before the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. They will act in groups as applicants, defendants, and, if possible, judges. In their teams, students will research, analyze and apply international and European migration and asylum law. Students will be required to prepare written submissions to the court and will be asked to present their case orally. The students will have to conduct individual research when preparing both their written submissions and oral pleadings.
Each submission will be carefully read and graded. General remarks about the papers will be made in class; individual papers may be discussed further with the authors when necessary. The oral presentations will be followed by plenary discussion in class; individual feedback will be provided.
Assessment method
Examination form(s)
The final grade for this Practicum is based upon the following marks:
1. A group mark for the written submissions (for each of the 2 cases). These written submissions will count for 50% towards the final grade.
2. An individual mark for each oral pleading in class. The average score of both pleadings will count for 50% towards the final grade. Pleading includes answering questions.
Not being present or insufficient participation during class will result in reductions of the mark or for the individual concerned.
In case deadlines are not met, this will also lead to a significant reduction of the group mark. Remember, this course depends on the timely availability of written submissions. We cannot tolerate delays given the set-up of this course. Other people will depend on your work.
If the individual average for the course is below 6, you will get the opportunity to write a paper on one of the issues dealt with in the course.
Submission procedures
to be announced
Areas to be tested within the exam
The examination syllabus consists of the required reading (literature) for the course, the course information guide and the subjects taught in the lectures, the seminars and all other instructions which are part of the course.
Reading list
Obligatory course materials
Finding legal materials as basis for pleading is a learning objective of the course in itself.
Course information will be available on Brightspace.
Cases will be made available on Brightspace the day the period for dealing with the case starts.
Registration
Registration for courses and exams takes place via MyStudymap. If you do not have access to MyStudymap (guest students), look here (under the Law-tab) for more information on the registration procedure in your situation.
Contact
Coordinator: Moritz Jesse
Work address: Steenschuur 25, 2311ES Leiden
Contact information: KOG
Email: m.jesse@law.leidenuniv.nl
Institution/division
Institute: Public Law
Department: European Law
Room number secretary: B1.11 KOG
Opening hours: 09:00 - 17:00
Telephone number secretary: +31 (0)71-527 3596
Email: europeesrecht@law.leidenuniv.nl