For Queen’s Law student Azeem Manghat, studying at Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 this term was more than just an opportunity for him to complete an LLM in International and European Business Law. Manghat took full advantage of a moot opportunity to compete – and win – with his team from Jean Moulin Lyon 3 in the 4th annual EUROPA Moot.

“I was really interested in gaining some more litigation experience and this was an amazing opportunity, as the moot is co-organized by the European Court of Justice,” Manghat said. “It was intimidating, because you have the opportunity to plead before some of the most reputed and experienced judges within the European Union. It was also especially meaningful for me, considering that the subject matter was one really close to my heart. This year’s EUROPA Moot looked at the subject of the Syrian refugee crisis, zeroing in on the subject of refugee law, the rights of minorities within the European Union and the free movement of persons within the EU.”

Manghat and the Jean Moulin Lyon 3 team made the most of limited time – and space – to prepare. “For the weeks before the moot, my team and I moved into the same apartment, shutting ourselves in and constantly going through our arguments,” he said. “We had a laundry rack as a podium, and one team would plead while the other offered up advice, criticism and support. On our way to Greece, we even set up shop in the Frankfurt Airport, pleading in a departure gate, to the displeasure of many people attempting to sleep nearby. Karmically, the entire trip in Greece was spent in a sleep-deprived blur of prepping and pleading. It got to the point that if we were to be woken in the middle of the night, the first words we would say would be ‘Good afternoon justice, learned friends...’”

After scoring first place in the preliminary rounds to advance, the Lyon 3 team moved on to place first in the semi-finals against Qatar, and ultimately first place in the finals versus Greece. “In all four of our pleadings, we were before a panel of judges from the European Court of Justice,” Manghat explains, “including the First Advocate General of the Court, Melchior Wathelet, and the former president of the Court, Vasilios Skouris.”

While the judges were impressive, so were the surroundings. “The finals were held in the historic Roman forum of Philippi,” Manghat said. And – true to reality – the judges put the team through their paces. “Neither my partner nor I were able to make it past the introductory paragraph of our arguments before the five judges lobbed a barrage of hostile questions our way for 14 minutes each,” Manghat recalled. “This was really nerve-racking, because I never got to read my arguments. Instead, I was given the opportunity to show the judges my knowledge of the legislative, judicial and political framework applicable to the whole case, on the spot. In hindsight, we found out from the judges that they wished to test our abilities and knowledge separate from our prepared arguments.”

The entire experience was a crucible, Manghat says, but one that he emerged from stronger than before. “This experience made me realize that I could not only stand up to an intense level and degree of questioning, but that I could excel within it,” he said. “This was an amazing opportunity to step into the shoes of member state lawyers as they stand before the European Court and to apply all the skills that I learned both in law school and during the course of my master’s.”

Manghat will be returning to Kingston in the fall to complete his JD studies at Queen’s Law.