CELS in Eastern Europe

British Centre for English Legal Studies, Warsaw University

The British Law Centre at Warsaw University is an initiative spearheaded by CELS under the academic supervision of Professor W R Cornish. First established in 1992, the Centre has been greatly assisted by the British Know-How Fund, the Civic Education Project and a number of leading law firms. The British Centre provides a four-semester course, in the English language, on core elements of English and European Union Law. It is a very popular course which leads to a Cambridge University Diploma and to credits in the Warsaw University Law Degree. This Diploma is provided by the Institute of Continuing Education, Cambridge University.

The Warsaw Course has led to the creation of a Correspondence Course with Tutoring which now runs in co-operation with several law faculties across Central and Eastern Europe.

Each year the British Law Centre organises an EU Law Mooting Competition which attracts teams from various Central and Eastern European Universities. This is judged by a distinguished panel of academic lawyers and judges. The participants' skills in written and spoken English are thoroughly tested.

British Council Cambridge Legal Research Fellowships

The British Council supports a small number of legal research fellowships. These awards are offered jointly by the British Council, CELS, and the Polish Ministry of Justice.

Each year, from March 2000, two Polish judges are selected to spend approximately one month in Cambridge, researching a chosen specialised area of Community law. The aim of the scheme is for the judges to produce publications and to give seminars on their return to Poland in order to raise awareness of different aspects of Community law. Each judge is assisted by a CELS mentor during their time in Cambridge.

Further information about these fellowships can be found on the British Council Poland’s website at British Council Poland.