Bosnia and Herzegovina

Support of German-Speaking Young Law Professionals and Strengthening of the Role of German Law

Details
Published: June 3, 2014
In June 2013, the project work of the IRZ in Bosnia and Herzegovina mainly focused on the support of German-speaking young law professionals and those interested in German law. The events were kicked-off by a one-week block seminar on the didactics/teaching of law terminology and the translation of legal texts at the Law Faculty of the University of Sarajevo. The participants of this seminar included the lecturers teaching the subject German Law Terminology within the supplementary study course in German law organised jointly by the IRZ and the Law Faculty in Sarajevo as well as students of the supplementary study course. The main organiser of this seminar supported by the IRZ was the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD, with which the IRZ cooperates in many projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


This seminar was followed by the event "Legal Work in Practice" for the students of the supplementary study course, which dealt with the importance of so-called "soft skills" in the daily routine of a law professional, amongst other issues. Furthermore, the participants were trained in communication techniques and in preparing application documents. What was outstanding was the lively participation of the course participants in the events held in German. The law terminology seminar has even led to the founding of a respective Facebook group by one participant.

Furthermore, the IRZ sent a large number of books to the "IRZ Library of German Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Sarajevo". This library complements the supplementary studies and enables the many German-speaking young law professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina to discuss topics of German law in their seminar papers, MA as well as doctoral theses. Almost 400 kg of literature (standard commentaries and text books, but also monographs and journals) have meanwhile been transported to Sarajevo in total. These could be purchased thanks to a major donation of the German Insurance Association GDV.

The IRZ's invitation to the Annual Round Table of the "Library of Law and Related Subjects in Southeast Europe" (meaning the territory of former Yugoslavia) in Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was also related to German law and its role as a law of orientation in the region. This event, which was attended by representatives of the university library as well as other libraries from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, was part of the international conference "Current Developments in Civil and Commercial Law" already organised for the eleventh time by the Law Faculty of Mostar. Upon the request of this association, the IRZ presented its numerous publications in the languages of the region (amongst them also the "Edition of German law" and the "Journal for Regional, German and European Law"). Moreover, a further cooperation was agreed on this occasion, which includes the dissemination of the IRZ publications in the languages of the region via this library network.