The ELTE team achieved its best result since 2022 at the finals of the 49th Telders International Moot Court Competition in The Hague. The team, consisting of Lilla Klaudia Berényi (plaintiff and defendant), Zsófia Horváth (plaintiff), and Ádám Gábor Nagy (defendant), advanced to the finals held at the Peace Palace and finished in a prestigious second place as the best defendant in the competition.

In the written round of the competition, participants were required to analyze a complex legal case and the related issues of international law, and then prepare 60-page briefs. Unusually, this year’s case did not model litigation between two states, but rather an advisory opinion procedure concerning a legal dispute between a specialized UN body dealing with artificial intelligence (AIGO) and its host state (Gravenwald). The first question addressed the International Court of Justice’s discretionary authority, as several compelling arguments arose in the dispute on the basis of which the Court may refuse to issue an advisory opinion. The substantive issues in this year’s case concerned the privileges and immunities of international organizations, as well as the conflict between AI-based migration regulations introduced by the host state and the prohibition of discrimination.

In the oral rounds leading up to the final, the ELTE team remained undefeated against teams from Leiden University, the University of Law (ULaw), the University of Trnava, and the Kyiv School of Economics. In the final, held at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf ultimately emerged victorious in a close contest. The final panel of judges consisted of Georg Nolte (member of the International Court of Justice), Beti Hohler (member of the International Criminal Court), and Greg French (Australian Ambassador to The Hague).

With this result, the ELTE Telders Team finished in second place (Finalist Team Award), and Ádám Gábor Nagy also won the award for second-best speaker (Best Oralist Award Runner-Up) among a field of more than 100 oralists.

The team’s coaches were Dr. Gábor Bazsó (attorney, CMS), Dr. Kálmán Varga (associate attorney, CMS), and Prof. Dr. Gábor Kajtár, university professor.

We would like to thank our sponsors once again for their support this year; without them, we could not have achieved this international success. Our sponsors: National Talent Program, ELTE Talent Development Council, Frank Ignác Foundation.