Faculty of Law Team Takes Part in Price Media Law Moot Court

More than half a year of hard work on written memorandums, and then exercising oral arguments and an exhibition game with Queen Mary University of London led to a long-awaited result: the HSE Faculty of Law team was invited for the first time to participate in the international round of the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition. The team represented Russia in the competition, which was held at the University of Oxford from April 9 to 13. This year’s event was dedicated to user content regulation by social media and their liability, illegal distribution of personal photos and fake news, as well as discriminating speech.

The Faculty of Law team consisted of undergraduate students Evgenia Savelieva (3^rd year of studies), Elena Sherbakova (4^th year) and Natalia Kutuzova (4^th year), as well as students of the master’s programme ‘Intellectual Property and IT Law’ Elena Soldatenkova (1^st year), Tatiana Zubareva (2^nd year) and Konstantin Yuferov (2^nd year). The team coach was Paulina Smykovskaya, lawyer at Avito.ru.

This year’s finals were held on a new platform (Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford). The participants represented universities from many parts of the world (Great Britain, USA, Germany, Brazil, Singapore, South Africa, Australia, and many others). The HSE students had a priceless opportunity to participate in a moot court in English with the best teams from all over the globe. Despite the fierce competition, the HSE Faculty of Law team received high grades both for written memorandums and oral presentations from the judges who were experts in human rights and media law.

In addition to the experience of legal argument, the students also got a unique chance to attend a series of events with leading professionals in law, including a workshop on oral presentation skills with S. Fillimore, a family law attorney, a discussion on the freedom of speech with M. Price, an expert from the USA, and a Q&A session with the legal support team for Facebook and Instagram. There were also a lot of informal events, where lawyers from various countries could discuss their professional issues, including from those countries where freedom of speech is a pressing issue. And finally, the students got to see the legendary student town and soak up its atmosphere.

The Faculty of Law team is grateful to the HSE Endowment, the administration of the Faculty of Law, legal firms Kosenkov & Suvorov and Peterka & Partners, without whom this trip would be impossible, and Avito.ru, which provided opportunities and venues for the competitors’ training.