Optional Courses

Optional Courses

1. Special Guest Lecture on the International Court of Justice; H.E. Dr. Peter Tomka, Judge and former president of the ICJ

 

2. Mediation; responsible supervisor: JUDr. Martin Svatoš, PhD.

 

Mediation is as an amicable mode of alternative dispute that became inseparable part of resolution of the both commercial and civil disputes. This curriculum focuses not only on the Czech regulation but mainly on international use of mediation. It provides the participants with both theoretical and practical knowledge of mediation use.

The course is built as an interactive curriculum that requires students’ active participation in numerous roles playing, exercising and discussions. It covers the basics of mediation process, techniques and skills.

 

3. Studies of the International Criminal Court Case-law; responsible supervisor: JUDr. Milan Lipovský, PhD.

 

The subject is intended for students with special interest in public international law, particularly international criminal law.
Goals of the subject are:
- get the students acquainted with the current case-law of the ICC and other international criminal tribunals (when relevant)
- provide space for critical analysis and group debate about the case-law, its qualities and sources
- provide space to gain experience in presentation of own opinions

To reach the above-mentioned goals, the students are required to prepare every week according to the list of sources and exercises, to prepare answers to provided questions and actively participate in the lectures. Home preparation is thus combined with thematically focused interactive lectures.


 

4. Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights; responsible supervisor: JUDr. Mgr. Alla Tymofeyeva, PhD.

 

This optional course is intended for the students with good knowledge of English who want to learn how to effectively search, evaluate and interpret the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the ECtHR”). The aim of the course is to provide students with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills, which could be used in further study and practice of law. ECtHR’ case-law affects a very wide range of legal sectors and is applicable to both the procedural and substantive law. Knowledge of the basic principles of interpretation of the law of the ECHR and skills to quickly navigate through the individual judgments and decisions of the ECtHR, will help students to work effectively with legal texts. The course can also serve as preparation for the moot court competition in International or European Human Rights Law in the English language.

The structure of the course includes the following topics:

    1. History of the ECHR and the ECtHR
    2. Admissibility of application
    3. Rights relating to personal liberty (Articles 2-5 of the ECHR)
    4. Rights relating to spiritual freedom (Articles 8-12 of the ECHR)
    5. Rights relating to procedural safeguards (Articles 6-7 and 13 of the ECHR)
    6. Rights of legal persons under the ECHR
    7. ECtHR and the Venice Commission
    8. ECtHR and the CPT
    9. ECHR and the Czech Government

 

5. Dispute Resolution in Sport-Related Matters; responsible supervisors: Prof. Dr. Michael Geistlinger, JUDr. David Kohout, PhD.

 

Due to many specifics in the area of sport, which usually require fast decisions concerning the rights and obligations of various subjects involved, the sport associations have created an internal system of bodies, which deal with most disputes that may arise in that particular discipline. Be it a doping case, dispute over a professional contract between a club and its player or disqualification from competition etc., such cases are usually dealt with by specific sport tribunals in an expedited way. However, this does not mean that state courts or European courts would not play an important part in the jurisdiction over the sport-related disputes. The interplay of various decision-making bodies relevant for sport will be analyzed in this course.

a. Alternative Dispute Resolution vs. State Courts – Specifics of Dispute Resolution in Sport

b. Authority of Sport Associations to Decide about Athlete´s Rights and Duties

c. Types of Proceedings before Bodies of the Sport Associations

d. Court of Justice of the EU and European Court of Human Rights – Jurisdiction over Cases Related to Rights of Athletes

e. Court of Arbitration for Sport I. – Emergence, General Concept, Types of Proceedings

f. Court of Arbitration for Sport II. – Leading Case-Law

g. Court of Arbitration for Sport III. – Recent Challenges and Future of ADR in Sport

h. Jurisdiction in Specific Cases – Doping; Olympic Games

 

6. Legal Compliance as Prevention of Disputes; responsible supervisor: Mgr. Milena Nosková, PhD., LL.M., MBA

 

The aim of the course is to teach students to correctly assess the field of legal compliance as a crucial tool for prevention of disputes, to understand key principles of legal compliance and key concepts of hard compliance (GDPR, AML, whistleblowing, criminal liability of corporations, HR compliance, corporate governance, antitrust legislation) and soft compliance (culture of compliance, ethical compliance). Within this course, students shall be acquainted with foundations of risk assessment in legal compliance including risk assessment with respect to potential disputes, compliance programs, codes of conduct/ethical codes and legal compliance from organizational perspective and dispute settlement perspective.

The structure of the course includes:

  1. Introduction to legal compliance as a tool for prevention of disputes
  2. Legal compliance from organizational perspective
  3. Compliance program
  4. Hard compliance – GDPR, AML, whistleblowing, antitrust, HR, corporate governance, criminal liability of corporations
  5. Soft compliance – culture of compliance, ethical compliance
  6. Risk assessment with respect to disputes and dispute settlement in legal compliance

 

 

7. Jessup Moot Court; responsible supervisor: JUDr. Milan Lipovský, PhD.

 

The aim of the course (divided into Jessup I and Jessup II) is for students to acquire, while working on (fictional, hypothetical) case,

  • Ability to effectively find, interpret and apply relevant sources of public international law, ability to use legal information systems that enable access to applicable law, court decisions and other relevant sources.
  • Mooting skills: i. e. ability to appear and effectively perform before the panel of judges. These skills do not only include improvement of language skills, they also provide improvement in self-confidence of the student and in his/her ability to express himself/herself appropriately towards the judges.
  • Ability to compose their own submission in English language pursuant to the rules of the competition simulating a submission to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
  • Ability to effectively and quickly analyze oral presentation of the counterparty and to persuasively respond to it before the panel of judges in the oral round.

The above-mentioned goals are achieved especially by the combination of student’s own analytical work, team cooperation, consultations (in general manner) with the coach of the team and by taking active part in the competition.

 

8. International Investment Law and Arbitration Moot; responsible supervisor: Doc. JUDr. Vladimír Balaš, CSc.

 

Optional course International Investment Law and Arbitration Moot introduces student to one of the most dynamically developing fields of international law. By solving practical tasks and through simulation of fictional dispute between investor and host state, student is acquainted with the basic concept of international investment law and generally with the protection of individuals in international law and acquires knowledge of the most commonly used procedural rules in international arbitration, especially of those used in investment arbitration.

In addition to improvement of knowledge and specialization in international investment law, student obtains skills necessary for practicing law that are related to legal research, analysis of evidences, composing written submissions, citation of sources and oral presentation of arguments.

Aims of the lectures:

  • Specialization in the international investment law and arbitration,
  • Acquaintance with basic databases in international investment law,
  • Mastering the various methods of preparation and composing of written submissions,
  • Improving skills necessary for presenting arguments in English language through rhetorical exercises,
  • Flawless cooperation in team.

 

9. Vis International Arbitration Moot; responsible supervisors: Doc. JUDr. Vladimír Balaš, CSc.; JUDr. Petr Bříza, PhD., LL.M.

 

The aim of the course is to explicate the principles of resolving disputes arising from purchase contracts in international sale of goods through arbitration by solving the model case. The work with the model case is long-term. At first students solve individual requirements of the negotiated contractual relationship given to which they get closely acquainted with the regulation of the issue in the Convention on the Contracts on International Sale of Goods ("CISG") which is part of the contemporary legal order of the Czech Republic as well as it is part of the legal orders of approximately more than 80 other countries. Subsequently, students are introduced to the conflict between fictional contractual partners which is intended to be resolved by arbitration. Regardless of the specific model case (that always leads to more detailed focus on some of the particular issues within CISG and the issue of the international arbitration) students acquire a general overview of the circumstances in which the CISG is applied, the principles it is based on, the way it is interpreted and the ways they can work with it in their practice. At the procedural level, students learn to compose valid arbitration clause and to orient themselves in various types of the currently offered arbitration proceedings etc.

 

In addition to acquiring the knowledge of the relevant law, students try the role of the attorney and will have opportunity to obtain or improve following legal skills:

 

  • Prepare and formulate legal documents and submissions – students take part in negotiating of the fictional contract including the formulation of the selected provisions of the contract, especially the arbitration clause.
  • Search, categorize, analyze and interpret the law – students are led from the beginning of the dispute between the contracting parties to analyze the situation from the perspective of law independently in order to objectively assess the situation, another part of the student’s work is to get acquainted with some of the databases of court decisions pursuant to CISG and with other relevant tools in this field of international law.
  • Prepare legal arguments and counter-arguments – students in teams cooperate on the preparation of arguments for a selected party of a dispute based on objective analysis of the situation.