2/06/06--The BC Law European Union Law Moot Court Team of Patrick Halazs, Victoria Bembenista, and Megan Smiley, with their coach Joe Mueller, traveled to Dublin to compete in one of the four regional rounds of this International competition. Of the three American teams competing in the Dublin regional (BC, Columbia, and Georgetown), one American qualified for the semifinals: Patrick Halasz, a semi-finalist in the Advocate General competition.

“All three BC Law students put incredible effort into this competition and did very well,” said Director of Advocacy Programs Thomas Carey. “I’m very proud of them all, and thrilled that Pat will move on to the next round.”

Patrick Halasz is a third year law student at Boston College. His team won BC’s 2005 Grimes Moot Court competition and he is a senior editor on the U.C.C. Reporter-Digest. Prior to law school, Mr. Halasz was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Benin. He graduated cum laude from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in government and religious studies.

Boston College Law School will be hosting the only American Regional Round of the European Union Law Moot Court International Competition beginning Friday, February 10. Twelve teams of students will be arriving on February 9th from law schools in Ireland, Italy, France, England, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and across the river in Cambridge. A distinguished panel of judges and practitioners with a wealth of International experience will also assemble from Europe and the United States to judge the Competition. Approximately eighty students, scholars, practitioners of European Union Law, and European Union officials will participate in the arguments.

There will be a reception on Thursday night at the Boston Bar Association. Oral arguments will take place all day Friday at the Law school, followed by a reception at Barat House at 6 p.m.

On Saturday, February 11th, semifinal arguments will be held in the morning at the John Adams Courthouse and the Final Argument will take place in the afternoon in the Supreme Judicial Court courtroom. There will also be a networking opportunity and panel on career opportunities in EU law in the SJC conference room. The Massachusetts Bar Association will co-sponsor a Celebration and Farewell dinner Saturday night.

This is the sixteenth annual competition run by the European Law Moot Court Society and it has become the second largest moot court competition in the world. It has enjoyed the institutional support and encouragement of the European Court of Justice for fifteen years. Elite students from Europe and the United States simulate arguments in the European Court of Justice, with the arguments conducted in both English and French. Other Regional Competitions will be held or have been held in Dublin, Ireland, Ljublijana, Slovenia, and Bayonne, France. The All-European Final will be hosted by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in March 2006. For more information about the competition, please refer to www.elmc.org.