The International Board of ELSA
The International Board of ELSA is elected at the International Council Meeting held during spring each year, and their term runs from August to August spanning six months.
The International board lives and works fulltime and unpaid, at ELSA's headquarters in Brussels Belgium for the duration of their term.
President - Bartosz Balewski - president(at)elsa.org
My name is Bartosz Balewski, I am 24 years old and I come from Poland. I am a fifth year law student at the Law Faculty of the University of Szczecin. Originally I from a small touristic resort called Międzyzdroje at the very North-West part of the country, about 20 kilometres from the Polish-German border.
I am an ELSA Member since I joined the University in 2007. I worked actively for my Local Group in Szczecin as well at the national level, where I held the position of the President of ELSA Poland for 19 months.
During the upcoming year I will be responsible for external relations of our Association on an international level, which I consider as a really demanding activity. Apart from that, I will be in charge of the overall coordination of the ELSA work and I will have a great pleasure to work with amazing ELSA members from 7 different countries in the International Board.
Secretary General - Anette Aav - secgen(at)elsa.org
My name is Anette Aav, I am 24 years old law student and for the term 2012/2013 I am the Secretary General of the International Board of ELSA. In addition to that I am especially honoured to take up this task, since I am the first Estonian ever in the International Board of ELSA in the 31 years of its history.
I joined ELSA in autumn 2008, when I started my law studies at the University of Tartu in the law faculty in Tallinn. Since then I have been more and more active, starting from attending the activities, later holding the positions of Secretary General and then President of the National Board. Starting from 1st of August 2012 I am living on the fast track of ELSA – working full time for the world’s largest independent law students’ association.
I consider myself a friendly and supportive person who likes to communicate and meet new people. The job of the Secretary General is an internal job – working with the Network and administrating the job of the International Board. Therefore, I believe to have chosen myself a dream job for the upcoming year.
I am looking forward to meeting you somewhere in the Network!
Treasurer - Alpo Lahtinen - treasurer(at)elsa.org
I am a 25-year-old Bachelor of Laws from University of Helsinki. As a fifth year ELSAnian I have previously had the possibility to work in ELSA as the Secretary General and Director for IT of ELSA Helsinki and the Treasurer of ELSA Finland.
As the Treasurer I am responsible for Financial Management of ELSA International. In addition to day-to-day finances, my tasks include financial planning and budgeting of ELSA International and support of National Officers in Financial Management related questions. Good communication within the FM area and interesting workshops are among my main goals for the upcoming year.
In free time I enjoy spending time with my friends, watching movies and occasionally coding for the fun or benefits.
Vice President for Marketing - Anders Liljeberg - vpmarketing(at)elsa.org
As the Vice President for Marketing of ELSA international, I am responsible for the overall coordination and planning of marketing within our Network. Marketing is an essential part of ELSA and I hope to contribute to the association through creativity and innovative thinking.
My name is Anders Liljeberg and I am a 23 year old bachelor of law from Sweden. I joined ELSA in 2009 and I have been an active officer since 2010, I have held the position as Vice President for Marketing on local and national level. My curiosity and commitment to ELSA have now taken me to Brussels to work full time for the organisation that brings so much to law students and young lawyers all around Europe.
I consider myself a structured and creative person who likes to find solutions, and I hope those characteristics will be beneficial for me and for ELSA during my term in office. When I am not working or studying, I entertain myself by photographing, doing sports or spending time with my friends.
I hope for fantastic year together with all the members of ELSA!
Vice President Academic Activities - Vasco Silva - vpaa(at)elsa.org
My name is Vasco Silva and I am 22 years old. I come from the northern part of Portugal, from Porto, world heritage site of UNESCO. I have studied at the University of Porto, Faculty of Law, where I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree.
Ever since I became an active member of ELSA in 2008, I have attended various local, national and international ELSA events and I occupied diverse positions as an Academic Activities officer on the local and national level. I held the position of Vice President for Academic Activities of ELSA Portugal for two years.
Throughout my term as an international officer I will be the main responsible for the development and promotion of Academic Activities together with the AA Team 2012/2013, consisted of all the AA officers of our Network.
Vice President Seminars & Conferences - Federica Toscano - vpsc(at)elsa.org
My name is Federica Toscano and I was born 25 years ago in a small village called Rodeano Basso, in North-Eastern Italy. I recently obtained a five-year Law degree at the University of Ferrara, where ELSA enriched my student life from the very beginning.
I covered the position of VP Seminars & Conferences of ELSA Ferrara for two years; after that, I was elected as local President and, at the same time, appointed Director for Human Rights of ELSA Italy. During my ELSA career I have always been focused on improvement of the ELSA Vision and the Philosophy Statement in every project I led. The strength of its words and all experiences that I lived during the past years gave me motivation to look beyond the local level, for a more intense commitment to our association.
After one year of being a national S&Cer, I am now in Brussels, willing to work, together with the entire Seminars & Conferences Team, to develop the S&C area, but also to improve the ELSA policy and projects: internationality, quality and sharing are the key words for my S&C Year!
Vice President STEP - Dena Dervanović - vpstep(at)elsa.org
My name is Dena Dervanović and I am Vice President of the Student Trainee Exchange Programme of ELSA International 2012/2013. I come from a small, sunny country of Montenegro. I am a student at the Law Faculty of the University Donja Gorica, and I am 22 years old.
My ELSA carrier started in 2008, on my first year of studies. I was immediately attracted by STEP and the fact that a group of law students are willing to find traineeships in legal practice in order to help law students get prepared for their future careers in law. Seeing that a lot of students respond to these offers positively and that there is an effective exchange of experience and cultural richness, I wanted to contribute to the development of the system on the local, national and international level.
People often wonder what is the factor of success in STEP. Personally, I believe it is about teamwork. There is a whole STEP Network that works for achieving the same goal – bringing our exchange system to perfection and contributing to legal education of law students and young lawyers. Furthermore, the positive feedback we get from our employers is a sign that what we do is different and that enhances the legal background of future lawyers.
During my term in office, I will set my focus on implementing the STEP Calendar, obtaining close contact with national officers and strengthening the STEP system further.
Vice President for Moot Court Competitions - Corinna Mückenheim - mootcourts(at)elsa.org
My name is Corinna Mückenheim and I am a 24 year old law student from Halle (Saale), a little town in Germany. I started my ELSA career by being a participant at the ELSA Moot Court Competition (EMC2) in 2009/2010. After experiencing the Regional Round in Helsinki, Finland and the Final Oral Round in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, I started to understand that ELSA is not just about developing legal skills – it is about meeting interesting people all over the world and gaining friends.
After the EMC2 I started promoting and developing Moot Courts at the local and national level. After all the experiences and knowledge I gained over the past few years, I wanted to contribute to the network on the international level. Thus, I applied for the International Board and will now work as the Director for Moot Court Competitions. I have the honor to be responsible for the 11th edition of the EMC2, the very 1st edition of the Human Rights Moot Court Competition and the entire network when it comes to Moot Courts.
I am looking forward to an unforgettable ELSA year!
Directors and Assistants of ELSA International
Director for Advertisements - Viltė Kristina Steponėnaitė - advertisements@elsa.org
Vilte Kristina Steponenaite, Director for Advertisements, became the first officer of ELSA International reappointed to ELSA Directorate for already three terms in a row. Starting her activity in the field of marketing in 2007 Vilte Kristina continuously expertised in media market, has gathered a significant experience while working as a public relations expert, press secretary and marketing projects manager both in business and non-governmental sector. At the moment Vilte Kristina is continuing her career in the leading law firm in Baltics where she specialises in media and journalism law and, additionally, continuously supports our organisation with a professional advice in the field.
Vilte Kristina Steponenaite is also the last year master’s degree student at the University of Vilnius, specialising and actively participating in scientific activities in the field of EU law.
Director for Alumni - Kamal Jafarov - alumni@elsa.org
My name is Kamal Jafarov and I am 23 years old. I have recently finished my masters degree in tax law in King’s College London. My hometown is Baku, which I think is one of the beatiful cities in the world.
I am one of the founders of ELSA Azerbaijan and I have been involved actively in the development of ELSA Azerbaijan for last two years.
Finally, during this year, I will be holding the position of Director for Alumni within which our primary goal is to improve our Network and to keep continuous communication with former members of our Association in all levels
Director for Delegations - Ovidiu Razvan Nistor - delegations@elsa.org
My name is Ovidiu Răzvan Nistor, I am a 24 year-old student from the beautiful Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. I started my ELSA career in ELSA Cluj-Napoca, where I held the position of Vice President for Student Trainee Exchange Programme, the next year becoming the President of ELSA Romania.
During the upcoming year I will be responsible with researching, promoting and improving the ELSA Delegations, as well as assisting the delegates before and after the participation.
I consider myself a very active and passionate person, interested in anything that is not ordinary. I am very keen on travelling, snowboarding, cars and metal music and I hope that one day I will be a successful lawyer. I feel very honored to have been given the chance to work with the International Board and I am looking forward to the best year of my life in ELSA.
Director for Human Rights - Burcu Filiz- humanrights@elsa.org
My name is Burcu Filiz and I'm 24 year old Human Rights Law masters student in İstanbul, Turkey. Currently I work as research assistant in Public Law and teaching assistant in General Public Law, International Public Law and Human Rights.
As I enter my fourth year in my ELSA career and finish my third term as Director for Human Rights in ELSA İstanbul; I'm really excited to serve our network in my specialized field of law. My aim in term is to remind our Network that human rights are the basis of existence of ELSA, and to promote it through the Network and externals. I see this as our main duty for the Network, for our countries and for our world.I hope I will get advice and suggestions from everyone to reach this goal in 2012/2013 term."
Director for Knowledge Management - Paul Wermann - knowledgemanagement@elsa.org
Looking back at a fairly long ELSA history in several positions at local and national level the knowledge management directorship at ELSA International adds up as the yet lacking position on international level as well as concludes my career in this very network. In particular as Vice President for Seminars and Conferences of ELSA Germany knowledge management already was one of th major fields that had to be dealt with. Yet, knowledge management needs to be conducted in all our groups and institutions. Besides my position, I study Law in Germany, also I spent a year teaching in Georgia recently.
Director for Legal Writing - Tessa Mallia Borg - legalwriting@elsa.org
My name is Tessa Mallia Borg and I am a 22 year old law student at The University of Malta. I am currently President of ELSA Malta and a Director for Legal Writing within ELSA International.
The thing that attracted me to ELSA is the embodiment of a vast network of people who have one thing in common – the study of law. This association enables students to benefit academically, establish professional contacts and meet people from all over Europe.
ELSA has thought me the meaning of forming part of a network – sharing ideas at an International Level. It has made me what I am today and has formed unforgettable and strong rooted relationships with people from all over Europe, with various legal backgrounds.
Undoubtedly, legal writing is one of the most fundamental areas in Legal Education. My aim is to develop and create projects within the Network which would give students and young practitioners the opportunity to not only write but also publish their own academic research.
Director for Media Law Programme - Marko Dolonec - medialaw@elsa.org
I am 22 years old Croatian national, currently enrolled in the fourth year of the legal studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb.
My ELSA Career started back in days of 2009 when I enrolled the Faculty of Law and was searching for extracurricular activities. ELSA captured my attention immediately and until today my dedication to it and fascination with it become only stronger and bigger. From being an active member to being an officer with international reputation, I was gradually taking steps in the local and national board. Love, work and achievements are three main determinants of my work in ELSA. Working for the ELSA Network has always been the generator of my personal growth in international environment, of making new friendships and of of developing of the mutual understanding.
As Director for Media Law Programme I will work together with IB to prepare the Network for the new Intrnational Focus Programme era and to help officers to be well prepared for its implementation from the very beginning.
Director for Public Relations - Klaudyna Krupa - publicrelations@elsa.org
My name is Klaudyna Krupa and I am 22-year-old student of Faculty of Law in Jagiellonian University and I come Cracow, Poland. I joined ELSA in 2009. My adventure with the Association has started in my Local Group in Poland - ELSA Cracow.
I worked in STEP, Marketing, then I realised what really wanted to do - Public Relations. I have held the position as Director for Public Relations on local level and the position as Director for Press Room on national level in ELSA Poland.
Personally, I like spending my time with friends, reading favourite books and thinking about everything listening to hip-hop and rap or even jazz music at the same time.
Director for Student Hunting - Dariia Oliinyk - directorstep(at)elsa.org
My name is Dariia Oliynyk and I am 22 years old. I come from the beautiful city Lviv, which is situated in the western part of Ukraine. I have a Master degree on International Economic Law, and currently I am starting my career as a lawyer and have a chance to recognize fully the advantages of STEP for our profession.
Since I became a member of ELSA in 2008, I occupied diverse positions: as a STEP officer on the local and national level. I feel I am a real fan of STEP, that’s why I decided to apply for the position of Director for Student Hunting this year. During my term as Director for Student Hunting I will focus my effots on supporting the implementation of the STEP Calendar, developing STEP as a brand and improve its promoting. I am open for productive dialogue with all STEP officers!
What you need to know about me as a person is that Student Hunting is the only kind of hunting I am fond of. In life I am an extremely peacefull person. I love art. My second vocation is painting.
Less words, more deeds! It is allways my pleasure to work with ELSA people!
Assistant for EMC2 Regional Rounds - Lars Olaf Raabe - emc2regionalrounds@elsa.org
My name is Lars Olaf Raabe born in Halle, Germany, as son of two musicians. I am used to play piano and drums and I study law for the state exam and besides that I am doing a master in Business Law & Economy Law in Halle.
I often listen to music which inspires my day and I enjoy talking and being connected with people. Personally, I like to use my abilities to connect people and to defeat any obstacles within nations. That is why have decided to work for ELSA.
Assistant for Expansion - Nevin Alija - expansion@elsa.org
My name is Nevin Alija, I am 22 years old and for the term 2012/2013 I am the Assistant for Expansion of the International Team of ELSA. It is an honor to be the first Albanian to make it to the international team. My ELSA career started with refounding ELSA Albania and being president of the National Board for the term 2010/2011.
I am currently attending a Masters in Transnational Trade Law and Finance, which has brought me to travel and study in three different countries. That is how I have understood even more how lucky we were to have ELSA at our universities. During this term it will be my objective to assist groups, to inform them how to grow bigger and to bring ELSA to those universities where it is not present yet.
I consider myself a friendly, easy going person who loves to be part of this network more than anything. I value this chance given as a mean to getting to know new cultures, legal systems and above all people. I wish you all a fruitful year!
Assistant for International Focus Programme - Iva Šimková- ifp.assistant@elsa.org
My name is Iva Šimková and I am 23 years old. This is my final year of my studies, so hopefully in May 2013 I will finish my master in Brno, the Czech Republic.
Most of my ELSA days I have been S&Cer, but few months ago I was elected as President of ELSA Czech Republic. This year I also had the pleasure to be appointed as Assistant for IFP ELSA International and together with two amazing girls, Antonella and Diana, I've been working to make the last year of current topic Health Law even more visible.
Assistant for International Focus Programme - Diana Correia de Sá - ifp.assistant@elsa.org
My name is Diana Correia de Sá and I am a twenty-two year old student from Porto, currently in the last year of my law degree at University of Porto.
I joined ELSA in 2008 and started my ELSA career one year after as local VP for Seminars and Conferences. Since the beginning I worked really closed to the International Focus Programme, organizing the first IFP Health Law Conference in my country in October 2010. I kept my interest on this area and last Summer I decided to participate in the International Essay Competition on “Medical Responsibility” organized by ELSA University of Coimbra.
During these last 4 years I had the opportunity to work not only as a local officer but also as national officer which gave me an international perspective of ELSA. This term in office I accepted the challenge of being part of the IFP Team as a way to improve the impact of this great programme in our network.
Assistant for Social Media - Martin Vogel - socialmedia@elsa.org
My name is Martin Vogel, I am 24 years old, from Giessen, Germany, and currently studying law at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. I will serve as the Assistant for Social Media during the 2012/2013 term.
A former National Board Team member in Germany, I have already a couple of years of expirience with ELSA in the social media sphere and I will try to put this expirience to good use during my year with the International Board, building a social media strategy and filling the various channels with interesting content from all over the network.
When I am not twittering or being on Facebook, I love to play and watch Basketball and Soccer, read and beat my friends in Xbox games.
Assistant for study visits - Ana Roce - studyvisits@elsa.org
My name is Ana Roce and I'm from ELSA Zagreb, Croatia. This is my fourth year in ELSA. At the moment I'm the assistant for Study Visits of ELSA International for the second time.
Study Visits offer a great opportunity to all Local Groups in getting new knowledge, meeting great people, learning about other cultured and cities and sharing different knowledge and experience! My primary task is to help ELSA groups in organising their Study Visits, finding suitable partners and to ensure the quality of the academic program.
