Summer Camp 2021

The fifth edition of our popular Summer School took place as a ‘Summer Camp,’ as it did last year. Once again, the event was very well received: we welcomed lawyers, students and many other interested parties from Haiti, Puerto Rico and Brazil, among other places.

As in previous years, a rich academic programme was on the agenda: after the opening of the summer camp by Prof. Dr. Georg Borges, managing director of our university's Institute for Legal Informatics, lectures were held on 9 August on topics including the ‘Montagspost’ project – a news service covering current decisions of the Federal Court of Justice – and the ‘INITIATIVE’ project. ‘INITIATIVE’ stands for ‘Intelligent Human-Technology Communication in Mixed Traffic’. The evening was then rounded off with pizza and cold drinks. This was followed until 13 August by, for example, a workshop on legal informatics by Daniel Braun (Technical University of Munich) and a lecture on the technical and legal foundations of artificial intelligence by Prof. Dr. Christoph Sorge (Saarland University). The lectures were rounded off by numerous discussion rounds in which the participants were able to actively contribute. This allowed our guests to learn how to argue in front of an international audience and proven experts and to present their own position on specific legal issues.

At a meeting at Saarbrücker Staden – one of the city's ‘trendy’ meeting places – new friendships and professional contacts were made. There was also a barbecue evening where participants could experience how ‘geschwenkt’ (barbecuing in the Saarland dialect) is done in Saarland.

Overall, the feedback from our participants was extremely positive, as in previous years, despite the coronavirus pandemic, which was of course always present. Participants were not only able to broaden their legal horizons. The new acquaintances and the time spent together will hopefully remain fond memories for everyone for a long time to come.