It is hard to put into words all the experience gained by this year’s CEEMC winners in the UK. It was a week full of emotions, surprises and unforgettable moments.
It all began with a neat typical touristic weekend in London which included sightseeing, visiting some of the places of interest, exploring the air of the city in the company of great weather.
With clear sky and bright sunshine started our busy Monday when we had a scheduled meeting with the deputy president of the Supreme Court – Lady Hale. She welcomed us into her office and was eager to tell us about the Supreme Court and ready to answer all our curious questions about her job and the life of a deputy president of such an important institution. We received a lot of information regarding the UK legal system, thus enriching our knowledge about the Common law. We were happy to attend a hearing before the Supreme Court and to see the advocacy skills of experience lawyers. Lady Hale was sitting and we were all amazed by how real life court sessions resemble the sessions we had experienced during the moot court, namely the interaction between judges and councils – typical for the Common law system.
In the evening we attended a very interesting lecture, given by Judge Paul Mahoney about The Relationship between the Strasbourg Court and the national courtsin the Inner Temple. During the pre and post –lecture drinks we were able to meet lots of practitioners as well as students, training to be future barristers. We discussed the similarities and differences between the Continental and the UK legal systems and other topics of mutual interest such as practical issues of being a lawyer in Bulgaria and in the UK.
The rest of week we spend in Cambridge, where we met Professor Cornish. He gave us a tour of the Law Faculty and the Library. We were able to attend some of the introductory lectures and experience what it feels like to be a L.L.M. student in Cambridge. We spent some time in research, using the amazing facilities which are provided in Cambridge Law faculty. Among our activities during the week was a lunch with Dr. Jonathan Morgan, meeting with Professor Fentiman and an amazing candlelight dinner at Magdalene’s College in the company of Professor Cornish.
During that amazing week, which will never be forgotten by us, we met a lot of legal professionals – not only academics, but also practitioners and judges. Hence we understood better all the aspects of Common law – most of its contemporary issues and what makes the whole system work. We were also able to answer questions concerning our legal system and in that way contributed to achieve better understanding for our concept of law, which is an absolute precondition for our friendly mutual existence in the Community (using this term due to its historical value).