About us

ELSA Philosophy Statement

 

Vision

A just world in which there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity.

 

Purpose

To contribute to legal education, to foster mutual understanding and to promote social responsibility in law students and young lawyers.

 

Means

  • By providing opportunities for law students and young lawyers to learn about other cultures and legal systems in a spirit of critical dialogue and academic cooperation.
  • By assisting law students and young lawyers to be internationally-minded and professionally
    skilled.
  • By encouraging law students and young lawyers to act for the good of society.

 

About ELSA

ELSA, the European Law Students' Association, is the world's largest independent, non-political, not-for-profit association of law students and young lawyers. ELSA comprises a membership in excess of 25,000 students and recent graduates from 220 European universities and Law Schools. All ELSA members possess a genuine interest in law and have also demonstrated a commitment to international issues.

 

ELSA Key Areas

ELSA provides young, active individuals with the skills, experience and perspectives necessary to be tomorrow's effective leaders in the international legal and business world. ELSA's mark and influence lies in the diversity of our activities. To help link those different activities into our network, three key areas have been defined.

AA - Academic Activities

S&C - Seminars & Conferences

STEP - Student Trainee Exchange Programme

 

Our Network

Law students from Austria, Hungary, Poland and West Germany founded ELSA in 1981. From those four countries the network has now grown to encompass law faculties in 35 European countries. The current members are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the Ukraine. The United Kingdom applied for, and was granted, Observer status at the Paris ICM, spring 2004.

 

Websites

UK groups National groups.

ELSA also co-operates with other student organisations across the world e.g. ILSA in North America, ALSA Japan, ALSA in Australia, ALSA in South Africa and AEJCI in Ivory Coast.

 

Our Special Status

ELSA has a consultative status with several international organisations, such as the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the Council of Europe. This status enables delegations of ELSA-members to participate in sessions of international bodies as NGO-representatives.