On 12 April 2018, eleven UCL LLM Laws students were accompanied by UCL Professor of Law Philippe Sands, QC and Luis Viveros Montoya, UCL Laws Teaching Fellow, on a visit to the Peace Palace at The Hague. There they had conversations with the Honourable Justices, recently elected President of the International Court of Justice Judge Yusuf and Judge Crawford.
The students were also given the opportunity to speak with lawyers working at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to learn about the history of the Peace Palace and the workings behind both the PCA and the ICJ. A presentation was given by a UCL Laws LLM alumnus, now working at the PCA.
Many thanks to Professor Phillipe Sands QC and Luis Viveros Montoya for making this inspirational trip possible. A special thank you to Giovanny Vega-Barbosa, former Legal Adviser of the International Legal Office of the Colombian Ministry of Affairs and current LLM student at UCL, for his significant contribution to the trip’s arrangement. Vega-Barbosa was unable to attend the trip, as a result of UCL’s success in the international Jessup Mooting Competition and participation at the Washington rounds, which Vega-Barbosa attended as UCL’s coach.
By Abigail Brown, UCL LLM student