Halfway through the 2024 Spring Term at IE Law School, the first international edition of the Mitchell L. McLean Trial Competition was organized and hosted in collaboration with ELSA France. Teams from renowned universities, such as Science Po, Complutense and Paris Saclay, faced each other in criminal trials, putting to test not only their litigation skills, but also their brief writing, legal research and case law analysis.

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Demonstrating exceptional professionalism and expertise, the Petitioner, represented by the Science Po team, performed outstandingly, allowing them to win the highly sought-after 1st place. Following closely at 2nd place was our IE Law School team, who presented equally as high arguments and analysis as Science Po, yet ultimately fell short in the holistic evaluation by the panel of professionals composed of lawyers and professors. Complutense and Paris Saclay have shown an outstanding ability and effort to present persuasive legal arguments on the issue of presidential self pardon as the last pair in the finals.

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The Mitchell L. McLean Trial Competition continues to serve as a flagship competition at ELSA IE, providing the opportunity for law students to develop their legal skill by exposing themselves to real-life simulations of the American justice system, expanding their knowledge and broadening their skill-set.

 

As we head into the planification of the international Spring 2025 edition of the Mitchell L. McLean Trial Competition, we look forward to expanding ELSA IE’s network and horizons by collaborating with more universities on the European scale.