Stage 1

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Introduction

Law Academy Liaison Project is a unique opportunity for unexperienced lawyers and yet-to-be graduates to contest their abilities in solving legal issues in a modern and client-oriented fashion. The work is done completely in English and resembles working in a modern internationally oriented law firm and a modern corporation’s in-house legal team. The best candidates have the opportunity to present their findings and improve their legal, professional and language skills while at the same time being exposed to potential employers and senior professionals.

Liaison Project is comprised of two parts.

Stage 1 includes the individual work on the case, in which candidates work on a mock case from their homes and supply their papers online for our review. The best candidates are invited to participate in the second part of Liaison Project.

During Stage 2 we engage students in a half to one-day interaction with other candidates in a form of presentations, workshops and team work simulations. Stage 2 is moderated by Law Academy experts and experienced professional from the corporate world, who will make comments on your general level of legal aptitude, your career and legal English. This will make you aware of your strengths and weaknesses, giving you guidance on how to uprade your competences. 

Skills you develop

Just like other Law Academy projects, the Liaison Project helps legal professionals become more successful lawyers and law practitioners while supporting businesses. This includes the development of your research skills, openness in solving legal and business issues, better understanding of different professions’ views and lingo. You should become business-sensitive and better prepared for working in an international environment.

Your career plans and employability, as well as the English language skills will be a topic during Stage 2, and depending on your formal degree and personal interests, you will receive concrete guidance from Law Academy experts.

Eligibility

Liaison Project is primarily open to young graduate lawyers and yet-to-be law graduates from all universities and business schools. We strongly encourage all lawyers, business school graduates, paralegals and any other person involved in the legal work, no matter of where they currently work or are unemployed, and irrespective of their age, formal degree and work experience, to join us. This project requires at least B2 level of the English language, as well as a general insight into various aspects of the Croatian business law covered in our case. However, as we offer no rankings or material awards, and assess only the work presented during the project, no formal proofs of education, work experience or the English language skills is needed to access this project.

This project does not include a work of law professors and it is not a student project in which a candidate’s repetitive knowledge of statutes or ability to convince a jury in a debate or a mock court environment are of any value. We invite candidates with experience in moot court cases, debates and other student-oriented competitions, and yet unsatisfied with the actual level of exposure to real life situations, to join us in this project.

Registration

Candidates who wish to access our Liaison Project and start their individual work should submit their findings by e-mail (info@law-academy.eu) or use our contact form. We strongly advise the cadidates to submit their CVs and a motivation letter. A person can register only once in one turn, and only as an individual. As the aim of this and all other Law Academy projects is to boost individual’s potentials and supply him/her with the unique set of educational and professional inputs, no group applications are accepted.

Fees

The participation in the Liaison Project is free of charge for the candidates.

Case

For the purpose of our case you should imagine yourself as a legal counsel working for an inhouse legal team of a listed corporation. On Saturday morning you receive a number of forwarded emails from your team’s assistant who explains that your colleagues are out of reach for personal and business reasons. The emails contain the corporation’s CEO’s, the country manager and your head’s communication from the last week in which the country manager Ante Matić, who is a civil engineer holding an MBA degree, wishes to receive a legal opinion on facts summarized in one of the emails by your HR colleague Karla.

Ok, so you wish we make a list of possible remedies for our situation. No problem, it will be at your desk by EoW, so you can contact our boards in Bonn and Paris. Here is the summary of facts as we discussed them in our general meeting from this Wednesday with Legal and CFO.

The workers’ rep whom we installed in the supervisory board claims we were supposed to pay our part-time workers – 39 of them, the same as our permanent staff (120). They also argue that the temps although some of them working through agencies (10) and as professionals registered with the tax authorities (4), should have received the vacation money (HRK 3,000 net) and Christmas bonus (HRK 1,500 net). They rely on an opinion of the ministry of labour saying that all employees should be treated equally.

We also received a letter from our ever-active trade union with quotation of our already expired bargaining agreement covering the topic of fringe benefits. They have an ambiguous position on this, and invoke who knows whose intervention. The Chamber informed our sales of a project introduced by EU on fair trade, and we wish to participate. We expect that this issue of fringe benefits is finally resolved on a national level, but first our sales should present this proposal at the Chamber's Board of Directors meeting on Monday, before we are audited by our key account in a week's time. We accessed their equal opportunities programme, and as a part of this programme we introduced part-time in the first place.

Now it seems we are somehow punished for helping staff to work from home and be with the kids, and have other sorts of flexibilities, which our regular employees do not have.

Instructions

You should prepare a comprehensive and easy-to-read legal opinion. We strongly recommend that your opinion does not exceed two pages (ideally your response should be a one-pager), but it is up to you to make the best possible decision on the format, content and the style. Your response should reflect your understanding of the issues and their consequences, risks, costs and possible solutions. 

We will not issue any additional explanations as to facts, applicable law, style or anything else in relation to the case. This project serves you to improve your overall performance and your prime interest is to practice working in real situations and to be assessed by a team of business professionals.

You will receive no rankings or awards based on results of this project. Thank you notes can be issued upon individual candidate’s request. However, we strongly encourage you to take this opportunity to improve your overall performance in a fashion presentable to potential employers, whereas, as to our understanding, a mere reference to a complex project like this one in a cover letter does not suit this purpose.

Schedule

Part 1 legal opinions to be submitted by 14 October 2016.

Part 2 will be held on 4 December 2016.

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