UCL Lawyers Without Borders Student Division organises Human Rights Intercollegiate Moot & Debate

The UCL Lawyers Without Borders Student Division welcomed Judge Dean Spielmann, former President of the European Court of Human Rights and current judge at European Court of Justice, to UCL for an inter-collegiate moot and debate on Friday 2 March.

The event featured participants from UCL, King’s College London, SOAS, and Queen Mary’s University London. It was an extremely close competition and the performances were all of an exceptionally high standard.

The moot round centred around the decision in Pfeifer v Austria which balanced Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The debate motion was ‘This House believes there should be no limits on freedom of speech.’ The participants put forward very compelling arguments on every side, providing much intellectual thought for the spectators.

Special thanks and congratulations to the winners of the debate and moot: Aiman Kulsoom Rizvi (SOAS) with an individual score of 9/10 and mooter Christopher Banks (KCL) with an individual score of 10/10.

Further thanks to Event Team Sub-Division who worked tirelessly to bring the event together and to the UCL Centre for Access to Justice for providing a CAJ Grant to cover catering and travel expenses.

It was a truly unique opportunity for students to come together from different universities, and we extend our thanks also to Judge Spielmann for sharing his time with us.

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