Academic Activities

Develop your legal skills through academic events and deepen your knowledge of human rights.

Academic Activities (AA) is the ELSA key area focused on academic events. It offers students a programme that is versatile, inclusive and academic and promotes the visibility of human rights. Academic Activities projects and activities have the purpose of deepening legal knowledge and opening new perspectives on the research of different legal fields. Events focused on human rights are e.g. Annual Human Rights Campaign, ELSA Day and Rule of Law Campaign. Promoting ELSA’s social responsibility is a central part of AA activities and this is strongly present in one of ELSA Finland’s newest projects, ELSA4Schools. Different national and international writing projects offer experiences in academic writing and research work.

This page contains information about our key AA projects.

ELSA4SCHOOLS

ELSA4Schools

ELSA Finland is piloting a new ELSA4Schools -concept of school visits targeted to Finnish elementary schools and secondary education institutions. The goal is to increase the legal knowledge in youth by practicing the hands-on legal skills needed in working life.

The Trainers are law students and freshly graduated young lawyers who get to hold both single lectures and wider courses of the field of law that interests them while also getting to practise their public speaking skills and substance knowledge in the subject

The Mentors are professionals from law firms and institutions specialized in different fields of law who help the trainers in drafting the lectures and the lecture materials. We will try to organize training for all the trainers in both the substance law and the needed pedagogical skills by workshops and intensive trainings.

Are you interested in being a Trainer or a Mentor in the ELSA4Schools project? Please contact the ELSA Finland VP for AA. Contacts are on the bottom of the page.

ROLE

Rule of Law Education

Rule of Law Education -campaign is based on ELSA4Schools -concept that organizes school visits targeted to finnish elementary schools and secondary education institutions. The goal is especially to increase and forward the democracy and human rights education in Finland and in finnish school and to better the youth’s knowledge on their fundamental rights by contemporary examples and practical exercises.

The Trainers are law students and freshly graduated young lawyers who get to hold both single lectures and wider courses in different topics related to the Rule of Law, democracy and Human Rights while also getting to practise their public speaking skills and substance knowledge in the subject

The Mentor is the Finnish Human Rights Center who help’s the trainers in drafting the lectures and the lecture materials. We will try to organize training for all the trainers in both the substance law and the needed pedagogical skills by workshops and intensive trainings.

Are you interested in being a Trainer or a Mentor in the ROLE- project? Please contact the ELSA Finland ROLE Team. Contacts are on the bottom of the page.

Human rights in ELSA

Defending and promoting fundamental and human rights alongside social advocacy are our association’s core values. We aim to continuously improve and increase our activities on this area. Human rights are a cross-cutting theme for ELSA’s work and show in all of our activity areas.

Events and projects that center around human rights are organized in our network on an international, national and local level. ELSA is committed to exercise the principles of social responsibility and otherwise take into consideration social and ecological impacts in all of its activities.

If you have any questions or proposals for improvements when it comes to social advocacy in ELSA’s activity, you may contact ELSA Finland’s VP for AA. Contacts are on the bottom of the page.

AHRC logo

Annual Human Rights Campaign

ELSA’s Annual Human Rights Campaign (AHRC) is a Europe wide campaign focusing on human right and carried out in close cooperation with the European Council. The year-round campaign aims to increasing awareness on the importance of protecting human rights and creates a platform for the voices of law students and young lawyers all around Europe.

The campaign offers our members the possibility to discuss about human rights’ protection and to participate annually in different events with human rights focus e.g. seminars, law schools, academic competitions, moot court competitions and delegations in United Nation’s institutions and other international organizations. As a member of ELSA you can contribute to the subject of human right for example by participating as a researcher or an editor to Legal Research Group (LRG) projects or by sending human right’s themed essays to be published in ELSA Law Review or Synergy Platform.

The campaign culminates to the human rights’ themed ELSA Day which is organized on every November’s last wednesday. You can read more about ELSA Day below.

elsaday

ELSA Day

ELSA Day is a human rights’ forum organized on every November’s last Wednesday. It is the culminationation of ELSA’s yearly Human Rights Campaign. ELSA Day has every year a new topical and important theme. Previous editions of the event have had themes such as Right to Education (2018) or Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights (2020). On year 2021 ELSA Day will be organized already for the tenth time.

ELSA Finland, Finnish local groups and all other ELSA associations around Europe organize during ELSA Day different events, seminars and social programme around the chosen theme. More detailed information about the upcoming events of this year’s ELSA Day are published on ELSA Finland’s and its local groups social media sites later in autumn.

lrg

ELSA Legal Research

At the international level, ELSA organises cross-border academic research and writing (Legal Research). National research groups from each participating ELSA member country studies a particular topic of law or subject matter from the point of view of their own legal system.

elr

ELSA Law Review

The ELSA Law Review is an annual, student-edited and peer-reviewed law journal published by the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA).

The mission of the ELSA Law Review is to create a forum for the analysis and discussion of contemporary legal issues by serving as an avenue for the ELSA network to publish its academic work. It aims to provide law students and young lawyers, as well as the wider legal profession, with a source of critical commentary that is outside the scope of the typical legal curriculum.

The ELSA Law Review is a publication since 1989 and it used to be published twice per year until 1996. It was re-established in 2015.

Read more about ELSA Law Review

IFP Logo

International Focus Programme

The International Focus Program (IFP) offers ELSA member countries the opportunity to focus on a current issues during a pretermined period. The current IFP theme is Law & Technology. The idea of IFP is to raise awareness of a particular internationally important theme. The purpose is also to bring the ELSA network together, as everyone is committed to organising events related to the theme. The IFP is particularly visible every spring during the IFP Month, which brings lots of events to ELSA members and other students.

IFP theme for the terms 2022 – 2025 is Law & Sustainability.

Edita training vouchers

Edita offers members of ELSA free training vouchers to their extremely popular legal trainings. Some of the trainings are in webinar form which means that they can be attended from anywhere. We announce available free training vouchers on our website and social media. As the application period starts you need to send ELSA Finland a free formed application and tell us why you should be chosen to attend the training. In order to be chosen, you need to be a member of ELSA. ELSA Finland sends those chosen to attend an Edita training the necessary info on how to sign up for the training.

1) The chosen applicant must be a member of either ELSA Helsinki, ELSA Joensuu, ELSA Rovaniemi or ELSA Turku
2) Priority is given to those applicants who are writing their masters or equivalent thesis on a subject related to the training.
3) Employment or internships in the relevant field of law. Employment is prioritized over internship.
4) Other educational reasons such as bachelor’s thesis or seminary work.
5) Other good and justifiable reasons.

Activity in the ELSA network is not a relevant issue. Travelling to the training is not covered by the voucher.

Local events

ELSA Helsinki negotiation competition

ELSA Helsinki has since 2017 hosted a Negotiation competition that fits the standards made by ELSA International. The competition simulates a legal negotiation where the competitors represent their clients and try to find a negotiated resolution that benefits them the best. The competition is a good way to practise important skills relevant to later employment. The competition is judged by experienced negotiators who will give the participants useful tips for the future

The two person teams are chosen before christmas. The competition is held in early february after the teams have attended preliminary workshops on the yearly subject.

Are you interested in the ELSA Helsinki negotiation competition? Contact the ELSA Helsinki VP for AA (academicactivities.helsinki@fi.elsa.org)

ELSA Helsinki Legal English -event

The Legal English- event held jointly by ELSA Helsinki and Hannes Snellmann focuses on the english skills needed as a lawyer. During the event we go through the common errors found on legal texts and their solutions. We develop the legal english skills of the students in a practical environment with the aid of professionals of law and language. The timing of the event fluctuated yearly.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions about our Academic Activities, please contact the national or local AA representatives.

ELSA Finland:

Anniina Miettinen

Vice President for Academic Activities

academicactivities@fi.elsa.org

Rule of Law Education:

ROLE Team

Vice President for Academic Activities

academicactivities@fi.elsa.org

ELSA Helsinki:

Aino Vehkavaara

Vice President for Academic Activities, ELSA Helsinki

academicactivities.helsinki@fi.elsa.org

ELSA Joensuu:

Siiri Klubb & Veikko Haimila

Vice Presidents for Academic Activities, ELSA Joensuu

academicactivities.joensuu@fi.elsa.org

ELSA Rovaniemi:

Mariel Tähtivaara

Vice President for Academic Activities, ELSA Rovaniemi

academicactivities.rovaniemi@fi.elsa.org

ELSA Turku:

Vice President for Academic Activities, ELSA Turku

academicactivities.turku@fi.elsa.org