Winning the Central and East European Moot Court was an incredible experience in itself, but the award was more incredible than we could ever expect it to be.
After a long and sunny summer the day had finally come when we boarded our plane to London and began the wonderful experience that was our week in Cambridge. At the arrival to Emmanuel College we were shown, by the friendly porters, to our very own house situated beside the college. We were welcomed to Cambridge by Ms. Ann Smith and Professor William R. Cornish, who have arranged for our visit and all the included activities. We spent the first day exploring Cambridge and visiting some introductory lessons. We have also been given a tour of the Squire Law Library by the Squire Law Librarian, Mr. David F. Wills and were able to use it throughout the whole week. We were impressed by the modern architecture of the Law Faculty, the quality of its library and the boundless volumes it offers to students.
On Wednesday we visited the Supreme Court, which is a fairly new institution in the United Kingdom’s judiciary system; it was only constituted in 2009 when it replaced the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords as the highest court in the United Kingdom. We were very fortunate to be able to meet Baroness Hale of Richmond, the first and currently the only female judge at the Supreme Court. She took the time from her undoubtedly very busy schedule to talk to us, share some of her wisdom and show us around the court. It truly was an incredible experience. We finished the visit to London with a quick tour of central London and headed back to Cambridge where the next two days were more academically colored.
We spent most of the Thursday and Friday at the Faculty of law, where we got the opportunity to sit in on some of the lectures, some under- and other postgraduate. We were also very lucky to have been invited to the Trinity College where we were hosted by Professor Catherine Barnard, who also very kindly took the time for us and we joined her for lunch and a tour of perhaps the best known college in Cambridge. We got to see the apple tree under whose ancestor Newton sat when he discovered gravity, discovered that Christopher Robin was a student in Trinity and saw the manuscript of Winnie the Pooh.
On Friday evening we were invited to a formal dinner at Corpus Christi and Magdalene College, so two of us attended the Corpus Christi on invitation of Dr Jonathan Morgan and two joined Professor William Cornish for dinner at Magdalene. It was a unique insight into traditions still held and valued at Cambridge University.
We left England on Sunday full of wonderful memories and impressions. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Cornish for inviting us to Cambridge and enabling us to experience this wonderful opportunity, Ms. Ashmore and Ms. Smith for all their work and kindness in organizing the trip, Baroness Hale of Richmond for a unique insight into a day of a Supreme Court justice and of course Professor Barnard and Dr Morgan for hosting us at lunch and dinner respectively and for showing us the ins and outs of their Colleges.