It has been an exciting semester for Bachelor of Laws students at IEU. Two of our LLB students, Nieves Bayón Fernández and Lucía Orozco López, won first prizes at LWOW.
But the outstanding achievements from our LL.B. students don’t stop there. The team representing IEU at Moot Court Madrid – Enrique Rodríguez Fernández, Clara De Elena De Motta, Valeria Hernández Monge, and Gracia Pujadas Morales – placed 2nd for Most Complete Team.
“Moot Madrid was an unforgettable and unique experience,” said Gracia. “It was not only the excitement of being part of a competition, where you had to demonstrate both great advocacy skills, legal knowledge and be able to answer the arbitrators’ questions, but we also had a lot of fun among the team members and with our professors, Dámaso Riaño and José Luis de la Cuesta. What a week!”
Let’s hear what the other students have to share about their experience:
Cybird: 1st prize in LWOW X
Nieves Bayón Fernández (IE University LL.B. student) and her team, Weiwei (Peking University, China), Daniel (Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala) and Emmanuel (University College London, UK), created Cybird: a fun and interactive mobile game that educates children on cyberbullying.
“Cybird is designed to engage children who are still playing on their parents’ phones and aims to be the wings every child needs for cyberbullying awareness,” explains Nieves, whose project won first prize in LWOW X, the online version of Law Without Walls (LWOW). “The willingness to learn and improve is a choice and an essential ingredient for LWOW.”
What’s LWOW about?
LWOW is a four-month blended program that provides students from all over the world with a dynamic experience, accelerating innovation and creating a global community of individuals dedicated to change. This community works to transform the way lawyers and business professionals partner to confront issues found at the crossroads of law, business, and technology.
In January, 100 students from 30 law and business schools from around the world came together for LWOW at Harvard University. Over the following months, teams worked to identify legal problems, while applying business plans to find a solution. In most cases, the result was a legal start-up.
During these four intense months, Nieves recognized that one of the biggest challenges her team faced was scheduling meeting times across four time zones, and accommodating four different personalities.
“The success came from the small steps we took together,” she noted. “Our willingness to improve, perseverance, and effort were paramount to the development of our project. Little by little, we got to know each other.”
“It’s a unique experience and an incredible opportunity to learn, develop one’s skills, meet new and incredible people, grow as a person, and have fun. All the performing teams were great and amazing projects were created that could help improve the lives of many individuals in our society.”
Collabro: Most Creative Project of LWOW (LWOW-X)
Lucía and her team created Collabro, a website that connects immigration lawyers, enabling them to share their knowledge, resources, and experience.
“Imagine a LinkedIn, TEDTalk, and Reddit all rolled into one, but for London’s almost 4,000 immigration lawyers,” explained Lucía. For her, LWOW was a truly amazing experience that was greatly enriched by the fantastic people she got to work with.
“It is a lot of work – you may find yourself designing a website at 4AM on a Wednesday – but it’s so very fun and fulfilling.”
One of the main goals of LWOW is to cultivate collaborative relationships with clients, internal colleagues, and future talent from countries around the globe, something that our students truly embraced.
“I got to be part of an extremely supportive community, full of unique people located everywhere in the world (this taught me the real importance of time zones), and I got to put my skills into practice, learning many new ones in the process,” Lucía told us. “It has been an experience that has shaped me and that I will always remember. As we have said several times during the competition: Once LWOWed, always LWOWed!”
Moot Court Madrid team winners open up about their enriching experience
The International Competition of Arbitration and Commercial Law (Moot) has several objectives that revolve around training law students in matters related to Uniform International Trade Law and its resolution through International Commercial Arbitration.
At Moot Court Madrid 2017, students had to solve a complex arbitration case between two different companies in the distribution and fabrication of aluminum and steel. Students from the LL.B. placed 2nd in the Most Complete Team at the Moot Court Madrid. The IE team was made up of Enrique Rodríguez Fernández (Eric E. Bergsten Award for the Best Speaker at Moot Madrid 2017), Clara De Elena De Motta, Valería Hernández Monge, and Gracia Pujadas Morales.
“The case was full of nuances related to competition law, penal and limitation of liability clauses, INCOTERMS, admissibility of reports, laws applicable to the dispute, environmental policy breach… which I really enjoyed because you could see how, in real life, everything that we study in different subjects comes together into one single case,” Gracia told us. “You really discover what your real strengths and weaknesses are. It was a great opportunity to test my ability to react to the questions asked by the arbitrators.”
“I think Moot Madrid was excellent. Certainly the best experience I’ve had at university. It puts you on the spot and makes you grow. It definitely is very tough and a lot of hard work is put into this, but that is what makes it so rewarding. I would say that the most important thing is the knowledge and practice I have now,” Valeria explained.
“Moot Madrid was an unforgettable experience, and I couldn’t be happier that I experienced it with Valería, Clara, and Gracia,” said Enrique, who was also won the Eric E. Bergsten Award for Best Speaker at Moot Madrid 2017.
“I’m incredibly happy for this individual recognition and I can only thank my teammates and coaches, Dámaso Riaño and José Luis de la Cuesta, for helping and supporting me throughout the competition – this would have been impossible without them! In any case, I would recommend any LL.B student to pursue a Moot Court experience if they have the opportunity to do so. It puts you in the shoes of real lawyers and it gives you the skills that the legal market is looking for! You can’t miss out!”
“It was one of the most intense, challenging, and enjoyable weeks of my university career so far. Competing with top universities from all around the world was a great way to test our oral, argumentative, and rebuttal skills, and our team did an outstanding job. We have our professors and coaches to thank for that!”
Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with us, and if you would like to know more about the LL.B or dual degree BBA-LL.B please don’t hesitate to get in touch.