ELFA activities - Conferences

Since its creation, ELFA has organised annual conferences on issues of practical and theoretical importance to law faculties in Europe. During the annual conferences, the Annual General Assembly of the association takes place. Since 2000, ELFA is also organising additional conferences in between meetings of the Annual General Assembly.

On this page, we provide an overview of the conferences that have been organised since the year 2000.

28 February - 1 March 2008: Hamburg, The role of law schools in continuing legal education (CLE)

To view the papers and presentations of the conference, please click here

From 28 February till 1 March 2008, ELFA organises its 2008 General Assembly and Conference in Hamburg, Germany. The General Assembly will take place on Saturday 1 March 2008.

Information on the venue, hotels and the itinerary can be found here.

All documents related to this conference and GA can be found here:

- the conference programme
- the registration form
- the call for papers
- the practical information




February 2007: Barcelona, Strengthening the European Dimension of Legal Education

To view the papers and presentations of the conference, please click here

On 23-24 February 2007, ELFA organises its 2007 Annual General Assembly and Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Please find here all documents related to this conference:
- the conference programme
- the registration form
- the call for papers
- the resolutions

A list of hotels in Barcelona can be found here

Practical information on how to get from the airport to the conference centre can be found here

February 2006: Leuven, Researching Legal Education - Who teaches law? Where is law taught? How is law taught?

On 9-11 February 2006, ELFA organises its 2006 Annual General Assembly and Conference in Leuven, Belgium. During this meeting the 10th anniversary of ELFA wil be celebrated.
Please find here all documents related to this conference:
- the conference programme
- the registration form
- the call for papers

At the General Meeting, ELFA will be discussing changes in the articles of incorporation. Please follow this link to see the proposed changes.

February 2005: Sharing experiences of legal education in Europe - Un partage d'expériences sur la formation juridique en Europe - Compartiendo experiencias en el campo de la formación jurídica en Europa - Erfahrungsaustausch über die rechtswissenschaftliche Ausbildung in Europa, Graz

On 18 and 19 February 2005 ELFA organised its Annual General Assembly and Conference in Graz, Austria.
This conference dealt with the way the experience of legal education in Europe may be shared. The current situation with the realisation of the Bologna programme and its combination of Bachelor and Master degrees is highly divergent within Europe, and in some states there are still more fears than optimistic expactation among the law teachers. As was done in previous conferences, the developments of the European space of higher education and its effect on the study of law were examined in order to be able to take a clear position to defend the place of legal education in future discussions. Again there were speakers from all over Europe presenting in the plenary sessions and workshops, and all participants were invited to actively contribute to the workshops and discussion.

Click here to open the conference announcement.

Following papers were presented in the plenary sessions:
- Willibald Posch: Die Zukunft der Rechtswissenschaften an den Universitäten. Erfahrungen und Befürchtungen um den "Bologna-Prozess"
- John Bell: Legal Education and Bologna: A British Perspective
- Waltraute Steger: Die Position der Europäischen Anwaltschaft zur Studienreform nach dem Bologna Modell

Some texts that were presented in the workshops are available here.

November 2004: Quality Assurance, Accreditation and European Legal Education, Utrecht

On 19-20 November 2004, ELFA's QUAACAS Committee organised a conference on quality assurance, assessment and accreditation in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Quality assurance and accreditation are key concepts in the Bologna process and in the ongoing redefinition of the roles to be played by universities, public authorities, and society in the future shaping of EUropean higher education. It is closely linked to the change from ex ante state regulation of higher education to ex post control via quality monitoring and outcome-based funding, and perhaps the key to a European educational area dominated by autonomous institutions of research and higher education enjoying the general trust of society.
It was the aim of this conference to analyse "quality assurance" as a means of institutional self-improvement and a prerequisite for external acceptance and international accreditation.

The papers of this conference are now available here.

You can view the call for papers here.
Click here to download the conference programme (PDF version). The registration form (Word) is available here.

February 2004: Legal education in Europe: Academics, legal practitioners and students in search of a common future, Strasbourg

On 20-21 February 2004, ELFA is organising its annual conference and general assembly in Strasbourg, France.
You can click here to view the programme and registration form for this conference.

June 2003: Transatlantic business transaction: Choice of law, jurisdiction and judgments, Barcelona

On 1-3 June 2003, ELFA organised its first conference in co-operation with the American Association of Law Schools (AALS). The main topics of the conference were: Conflicts in transatlantic business transactions; Current problems in jurisdiction to adjudicate and recognition of judgments; State of the law, jurisdiction to legislate and choice of law; and, E-Commerce and internet.
Click here to view the programme of this conference.

February 2003: New directions in European Legal Education: Credible, credited and continuing legal education, Birmingham

On 20-22 February 2003, the University of Birmingham hosted the 2003 annual conference and general assembly. The conference tackled three main topics: The role of law schools and continuing legal education; The application of ECTS in legal studies; and, Developments in the Sorbonne-Bologna process.
Click here to open the programme of the Birmingham conference.

March 2002: Information technology in legal education. Teaching and learning, Sevilla

On 15-16 March 2002, ELFA organised a conference on the use of ICT in legal education and training in Europe in the framework of its eLegal project.
The programme of this conference is available here.

February 2002: Western and Eastern European legal education in transition, Riga

On 22 and 23 February 2002, the 2002 annual conference and general assembly were organised in Riga, Latvia. During the general assembly, the ELFA Board presented its position statement on the Sorbonne-Bologna process.
Click here to view the conference programme.

February 2001: The organisation of legal education: present and future, Milan

On 23 and 24 February 2001, Milan was the location of the 2001 annual conference and general assembly.
The programme of the conference can be viewed here.

October 2000: The European lawyer: Phantom or reality?, London

On 27-28 October 2000, the CICERO conference "The European lawyer: Phantom or reality?" was organised in London.
The programme of this conference is available here.

February 2000: Legal education in a unifying Europe, Amsterdam

On 24-26 February 2000, ELFA organised its 2000 annual conference and general assembly in Amsterdam.