ELSA Maynooth was delighted to be the recipient of the Society Person of the Year award at the Clubs and Societies Awards last Wednesday 30th March. The winner was Áine Harkin, President of ELSA Maynooth. 

On Tuesday, March 29th we held a zoom session hosted by Tony McGillycuddy on all things associated with becoming a barrister in Ireland!

Tony is an esteemed barrister who has been practising for many years and has even made appearances on Prime Time.

A belated congratulations to the winner of the International Negotiation Competition 2022, Keerti Singh and Gaurika Jain. Also congratulations to Keerti Singh for winning an award for best speaker. Over the course of the competition, we witnessed displays of well-prepared negotiations and negotiation strategies.

Best of luck to all the teams that competed in the future from all of us here at ELSA Maynooth and thank you for taking part.

A huge thank you to Maynooth University Law Department and the Mediator’s Institute of Ireland for sponsoring this competition.

Interested in getting a taste of what’s in store at our International Negotiation Competition? Apply to become a timekeeper now by emailing us with your name & number at inc@ie.elsa.org before Wednesday 2nd March @ 12pm.

Please note that you must be available on Friday 4th March 4.30pm-7pm & Saturday 5th March 9.30am-12pm.

Applications for the International Negotiation Competition (INC) are now open!

This competition is designed to allow students to gain invaluable negotiation skills early in their careers.

The competition will be held on Friday 4th March - Sunday 6th March. Participants must compete in teams of two. At the moment, the competition is being held both in-person and online, with teams being given the choice to decide which format they wish to compete in. However, please note that the in-person aspect of the competition may be cancelled at any time in line with local and/or national COVID-19 restrictions and moved to an entirely online format.

The link for the application form is: https://forms.gle/HQtZDZS1AKiTC5GQA

The deadline for applications for in-person participants is Sunday 6th February @ 23.59 GMT. The deadline for applications for online participants is Sunday 13th February @ 23.59 GMT.

We look forward to receiving your applications! If you have any queries, send us a direct message or email us at inc@ie.elsa.org

If you would like to delve deeper into the area of Privacy Law and be in with the chance of winning a €150 cash prize and 2 tickets to the first-ever Intervarsity Law Summit, we would highly encourage you to enter our Privacy Law Essay Competition! Entries for the competition open Wednesday 24th November 2021 on ELSA Day and close Wednesday 8th December 2021 @ midnight. 

Participants are asked to write an essay on 'Privacy in the Digital Age' between 800 & 1000 words (excluding footnotes and bibliography). The format is Times New Roman, pt 12 & double (2.0) spacing. Participants are asked to use OSCOLA referencing to cite their sources. Please do not include any identifying characteristics (i.e. name, student number, etc.) in the essay. Submit your essay in .doc or .docx format to elsa@mulife.ie before Wednesday 8th December @ midnight.

The winner of the competition will receive a €150 cash prize and 2 tickets to the first-ever Intervarsity Law Summit, which takes place in Cork from the 25th-27th February 2022 (more information on the Intervarsity Summit available here).

Best of luck to all participants and we look forward to reading your essays!

On Thursday the 18th of February 2021 we hosted a virtual Questions and Answers session on Zoom.

We held the event to allow students of any education background to answer any questions they may have had, from accessing reading materials to essay advice. We felt it was crucial to check in with students at the start of the second semester to re-engage members. We also felt it was necessary as the second semester has a tendency to fly by and time management for assessments can feel more tasking.

At ELSA Maynooth we are dedicated to being there for any student who may need us and this was an accessible way to do so in the current climate.

We ran our International Negotiation Competition (INC) 2021 from the 5th to the 7th of March 2021.

This year was especially important as it marked our 10th anniversary of the International Negotiation Competition!

Due to the pandemic we hosted the event online. We once again gained international recognition and had entrants from India, Russia, Ireland and Estonia.

We felt it was vitally important in the interests of our participants to make the entry free this year. Therefore, all participants received a three-day event furthering their negotiation skills, networking with other students and our esteemed judges for free!

Preliminary round 1 took place on Friday the 5th of March 2021.

Preliminary round 2 and semi-finals were held Saturday the 6th of March 2021.

The final was held on Sunday the 7th of March 2021. The two finalist teams were comprised of: Parnika Mittal & Nandini Kaushik, and Patrick Hannon & Darach Clonan.

Ms Parnika Mittal & Nandini Kaushik were triumphant on the day with Ms Mittal also taking home the title of best speaker.

On Friday the 20th of November 2020 we hosted a virtual collaboration with ELSA Trinity.

We had the event to answer any queries which students may have had about the Student Trainee Exchange Programme (STEP) applications.

It was very helpful and provided further clarification about this great opportunity.

On Wednesday the 16th of December 2020 we hosted an online collaboration with the Maynooth Pride Society.

The talk was hosted by Dr Fergus Ryan, lecturer in the Department of Law, who provided an insightful discussion on LGBT+ rights in International law.

We were delighted with the event and we gained further experience in hosting events virtually.

Please see our instagram page for further photos from the event: ELSA Maynooth Instagram link

On the 25th November 2020, ELSA Maynooth held several events to celebrate our annual ELSA Day! This is a very important event for the society as ELSA Day is celebrated by hundreds of ELSA branches across our international network. The event also marked the beginning of our annual human rights campaign. The theme of this year's ELSA Day was Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights. 

Our first event was a talk by Dr David Cowan on zoom about Artificial Intelligence. Our second talk, also held on zoom, was a talk about the changing landscape of Human Rights by Gerard Maguire and Ciara Finnegan. Our evening event was a Netflix Party of the film 'The Judge'. We also gave as spot prize to one of our members which was a €30 gift card of their choice. 

To mark the conclusion of the International Negotiation Competition a Gala Ball was held in the Glenroyal Hotel.

During this time, the competitors were treated to a three course meal and awards ceremony. All competitors received a certificate of participation. The winners received plaques and specially made INC jumpers. An additional award was presented to the best speaker.

This years competition was won by Martin Voisin and Timothee Hays who travelled from France to participate.

Our runners up were Jeffrey Tso and Jada White from Queens University Belfast.

Best speaker was awarded to Jada White from Queens University Belfast.

On the closing day of the International Negotiation Competition the final was held.

During the final all competitors were welcome to view and support the finalists in their final negotiation. We held the final in the Board Room of the John Hume Building. All present were thoroughly impressed by the talent demonstrated by the finalists and all viewers remarked that it would be a difficult call for the judges to choose a winner.

On the final day of the International Negotiation Competition the semi-finals and final was held.

To acknowledge the long day which lay ahead of our finalists and judges we began the morning with a coffee morning to allow competitors to come together again and enjoy each others presence. After this refreshing start, the semi-finals began with finals to be held after lunch.

At the conclusion of the competitor's first day of negotiations ELSA committee members brought all competitors to the venue for the final to debrief all competitors and announce the semi-finalists for the proceeding rounds to be held the next day.

We also used this opportunity to answer any questions which arose and congratulate all participants for their excellent display of negotiation skills which had been remarked by the judges. 

On the second day of the International Negotiation Competition the competition officially began.

The day was divided into 2 rounds with 3 negotiations being held per round allowing all participants to compete throughout the day and allowed the judges to tally up scores to announce the semi-finalists for the proceeding rounds to be held the next day. The judges were highly impressed by the negotiation skills of all competitors.

The International Negotiation Competition began on Friday the 6th of March 2020.

After welcoming the guests and presenting them with goody bags kindly sponsored by Matheson, we brought the competitors on a campus tour in order to familiarise the competitors with the location of the venues for the competition and also allowing committee members and competitors to get to know one another and answer any questions which arose.

The International Negotiation Competition was a 3 day event beginning on the 6th of March 2020. 

We were delighted to welcome competitors from all over the world including, but not limited to, Limerick, India and France. ELSA committee members and volunteers began by preparing the venues for the following events and were delighted to present our competitors with goody bags kindly sponsored by Matheson.

On the 2nd of March 2020 the ELSA Society held and EGM in JH2 in order to appoint members to the following positions: Treasurer, Vice President and Vice Treasurer. We were delighted to make the following new additions to the Society:

Vice President- Adam O'Carroll

Treasurer- Tommy Hennessy

Vice Treasurer- Shmuel Barron

On Wednesday the 27th of November 2019 we celebrated ELSA day by way of collaboration with the Lit and Deb Society which was an excellent success with all participants and spectators thoroughly enjoying the persuasive arguments put forward in discussing the motion of Closer EU Integration.

As Part of ELSA Day on Wednesday the 27th of November 2019, various committee members booked a table in Arts Hall to spread awareness of our ELSA Day collab with the Lit and Deb Society that would be held later that day. We also used the opportunity to raise awareness of the society and sign up new members.

For ELSA Day 2019 we are delighted to be joining Lit and Deb for a debate on Closer EU Integration. The debate will take place in John Hume Lecture Theatre 3 on Wednesday the 27th of November at 7pm.  We have availability for 3-4 speakers on the night if anyone would like to partake in what will prove to be an excellent and engaging debate. It’s a great way to get to know more about both societies and meet new people. If you are interested in partaking please contact academicactivities.Maynooth@ie.elsa.org. 

Hey everyone ??

ELSA day will be taking place internationally on Wednesday the 27th of November 2019. This years theme is ‘freedom is expression online’. 

The ELSA committee is currently in the process of organising our events and we’d like to know what our members think on the issue (after all the theme is freedom of expression online)

If you have any ideas or suggestions we’d love to hear from you as we want to engage as much with our members as possible to ensure everyone gets the most of the events possible.

If you’d like to contact us you can do so through our social media or emailing elsa@mulife.ie 

At the beginning of March, ELSA Maynooth had the pleasure of hosting competitors from across the globe in the ELSA Maynooth International Negotiation Competition 2019.

It was a true pleasure to welcome participants from Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin, Georgetown University Law Center Washington, the National Law University Jodhpur, Jindal Global Law School Sonipat and the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore to the Maynooth University Department of Law.

The weekend not only saw competitors present an incredibly high standard of talent and skill throughout the competition itself, but also provided an excellent social programme with a trip to Dublin City Centre and a Gala Dinner. Ultimately, the competition was won by Mark Gilmore and Mark O’Brien O’Reilly of University College Dublin with Angell Darvalics and Brian Fritzche of Georgetown University Law Center Washington placing as runners-up.

The ELSA Maynooth organising committee would like to extend a huge thank you to all who participated over the course of the event, especially our finalist judges Emma Slattery BL, Professor Michael Doherty Ursula Tipp. Such an enjoyable weekend simply would not have been possible without the enthusiasm of our participants.

Student Trainee Exchange Programme (STEP) Applications are now open!

Get ready for a new country and a new adventure! Choose from one of the 281 traineeships taking place in 30 different countries, within and outside of Europe.

If you have any queries about applying, don't hesitate to contact us at elsa@nuimsu.com or contact our VP for STEP!

More information can be found at the link below.

https://step.elsa.org/