Success of PF UK Students in the Czech-Slovak Round of the SVOČ Competition in Pilsen

On 10 and 11 September 2026, the 15th annual Czech-Slovak interfaculty round of the Student Scientific and Professional Activities (SVOČ) competition took place. This year, the Faculty of Law of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen hosted the annual culmination of the SVOČ competition. Four Czech law faculties (Masaryk University in Brno, Palacký University Olomouc, the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, and Charles University in Prague) and five Slovak law faculties (Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Pan-European University in Bratislava, Comenius University in Bratislava, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, and the University of Trnava) entered a total of 85 papers that had successfully advanced from their respective faculty rounds.

Thanks to the competition’s long-standing tradition and popularity, the Faculty of Law of Charles University (PF UK) once again sent the largest delegation of all participating faculties to the interfaculty round. A total of 28 PF UK students competed across eight sections, seven for master’s students and one for doctoral students. They achieved excellent results, returning to Prague with four first places, four second places, and two third places.

The award winners were:

Matyáš Barták, with his paper The Shadow of Precedent: Empirical Analysis of Reasoning with Previous Decisions at the Czech Supreme Court (1st place in Section A: Legal Theory, Constitutional Law, Human Rights)

Nicolas Ölveczky, with his paper Home office na cestě teze, antiteze a syntézy. Sonda do interakce pracovního a antidiskriminačního práva (1st place in the combined Sections E and F: Copyright Law, Labour Law, Family Law / Civil Procedure, Private International Law)

Matěj Vozábal, with his paper Dětský certifikát: nepovedený ideál (1st place in Section G: Criminal Law)

Michael Vraný, with his paper Právní otázky v životě a díle JUDr. Emila Spiry (1st place in the combined Sections I and B: Roman Law, Legal History / Social Sciences – Political Science, Sociology, Economics)

Jakub Vejrosta, with his paper Dosud opomíjená úskalí § 2627 ObčZ a cesta ven: Analogická aplikace částečného odstoupení od smlouvy (2nd place in Section D: Private Law – Substantive Civil Law and Commercial Law)

Václav Lipš, with his paper Formátování jako náležitost podání? Court rules a jejich možné zavedení v ČR (2nd place in the combined Sections E and F: Copyright Law, Labour Law, Family Law / Civil Procedure, Private International Law)

Václav Lipš, with his paper Zproštěn a odsouzen. Kritická analýza možnosti přímé změny zprošťujícího rozsudku odvolacím soudem na rozsudek odsuzující (2nd place in Section G: Criminal Law)

Lucie Vonásková, with her paper Limity krajní nouze jako okolnosti vylučující protiprávnost přestupku v argumentaci environmentálních obránců (2nd place in the combined Sections H and J: Administrative Law, Financial Law, Social Security Law, Environmental Law / Law and Digital Technologies)

Ivan Kotsupal, with his paper Žádné slovo nepřátelům svobody? Obranyschopná demokracie a svoboda projevu (3rd place in the combined Sections I and B: Roman Law, Legal History / Social Sciences – Political Science, Sociology, Economics)

Mgr. Tomáš Koref, with his paper Interpreting Statutes in the Heart of the Continent: Case Law Dominates, Text Remains Scarce, and Formalism Declines (3rd place in Section K: Papers by Students in Doctoral Study Programmes)

We would like to thank all the students who represented the Faculty of Law of Charles University in the competition and congratulate all the award-winning participants, both from PF UK and the other participating faculties, on their excellent results.