Legal Tandem

What is a Legal Tandem?

Legal Tandem is a Professional Development project in which two Local Groups from different ELSA countries organise a joint session for their members in order to discuss and compare their respective legal systems, study paths leading to a legal profession, and national working cultures within the legal sector.

The aim of the project is to promote awareness of comparative legal research, but mainly to assist law students and young lawyers in navigating the increasingly international job market by broadening their knowledge of the topics addressed:

Legal systems: The topic of legal systems concerns the procedures and processes through which a State interprets and enforces its laws. In the context of Legal Tandem, this topic is not intended to focus on any specific area of law, but rather to provide a general overview of the State’s court system, litigation process, and system of legal instruments.
Study paths: The topic of study paths to becoming a legal professional concerns the various law study programmes available within a country that lead to a qualification enabling an individual to work as a legal professional.
National working culture: The topic of national working culture in the legal profession concerns the working practices and professional environment encountered by legal professionals. This topic aims to highlight the cultural and bureaucratic differences associated with working in the legal profession across different countries.

National Knowledge Banks

National Knowledge Banks constitute an essential component of Legal Tandem in terms of quality standards. They ensure that all Local Groups, regardless of their available resources, possess the necessary knowledge to organise a Legal Tandem session and are equally prepared to compare the same information during such a session.

The National Knowledge Banks are compiled by ELSA’s National Groups, preferably in cooperation with their respective Local Groups, in order to ensure that all Local Groups within a National Group possess the same foundational level of knowledge from which to organise Legal Tandem sessions. Once the ELSA National Groups have shared their Legal Tandem National Knowledge Banks with their Local Groups, all Local Groups within those ELSA countries are, in principle, prepared to organise the project.

For guidance on what information is required for a National Knowledge Bank that serves as the basis for your local groups’ Legal Tandem projects it is very helpful to take a look at the accompanying National Knowledge Bank survey. You can also find a list of ELSA groups with National Knowledge Banks here.

How to organise a Legal Tandem

Initiation

A member of a Local Board may contact any Local Group from the country with which they wish to collaborate. Once both Local Groups have agreed to organise a Legal Tandem session, the Professional Development officers of the respective Local Groups will begin planning the project together.

Choosing a format

A physical Legal Tandem session may take place within the framework of any event that brings together two Local Groups from different countries, such as a Study Visit or a regional bilateral ELSA event.

A virtual Legal Tandem session may be organised in the form of a webinar, using a platform suitable for both Local Groups.

Planning the session

Using the Legal Tandem National Knowledge Banks, the Professional Development Officers will determine which topics and questions are to be addressed during their Legal Tandem session. The objective is for all questions to be covered by both Local Groups, thereby enabling participants, by properly analysing the adressed topics, to gain an understanding of the differences and similarities between the legal systems, as well as the academic and professional pathways, of both countries.

Following this, they should prepare presentations on their respective countries’ practices and systems relating to the jointly agreed Legal Tandem topics and issues, which will then be presented during the Legal Tandem session. The ideal length of a Legal Tandem session is 1-2 hours. Please make sure that the time is divided evenly between the presentations by both local groups and allow enough of time for questions and discussion.

In order to maintain participant engagement and attention throughout the session, the Professional Development Officers may also invite participants to complete short group tasks concerning their respective systems of legal education.

Promoting and registration

The marketing of the event may commence at least one week prior to the opening of registration. Registration should remain open for a minimum period of one week. The recommended maximum number of participants per Local Group is between 20 and 25 participants.

It is strongly recommended to schedule a preparational call with the group of participants prior to the event in order to provide them with all necessary information and to guide and support them in brainstorming for the presentation.

Participant presentations

The Professional Development officers shall divide the participants within their Local Group into approximately three groups and assign each group a task to be answered using one to two presentation slides. Within this framework, topics such as study planning, the structure of courses and the academic culture in general can be disussed and compared. The presentation of the results should not exceed five minutes.

In order to achieve the project’s objective, the Professional Development officers must ensure coordination so that the same questions are assigned to participants in both countries.

Conducting the session

During the Legal Tandem session, PD officers are responsible for delivering the presentations concerning their respective country.

They shall especially facilitate and moderate the session in a way that ensures the highest possible level of interaction and discussion among participants. In virtual formats, this requires participants to have their cameras turned on.

Evaluation

After the Legal Tandem session, PD officers should gather evaluations and feedback from participants, preferably in written form to contribute to the further development of this project. Thay shall also issue and send Certificates of Participation to the participants.

For more detailed information, especially on the organisatial process of a Legal Tandem, please feel free look into the Legal Tandem Handbook. Additionally, you can find more materials in the relevant section on the Officers' Portal.

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