When students play court

It was a “really cool experience”, the Moot Court on the subject of public procurement law, says David Bodingbauer, law student at the Johannes Kepler University (JKU). At a moot court, students simulate an oral hearing, they represent their clients in teams, and “real” judges take over the administration of justice. “This gives you a really good insight into how court hearings are conducted,” says Bodingbauer. “You don’t get that in your studies otherwise.” The judges were Michael Fruhmann from the Ministry of Justice, Kerstin Holzinger from the Administrative Court and Hubert Reisner from the Federal Administrative Court.

Four teams took part in the procurement law negotiations: one from the Kepler University, one from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), one from the University of Innsbruck and a mixed team from the JKU and WU. They represented the fictitious bidders in a bidding process.

“At least a partial success”

Bodingbauer’s client had previously been excluded from the proceedings because of alleged anti-competitive agreements. The task now was to get the client “back in the running”. Bodingbauer’s team received a review request. “At least a partial success,” says the student happily. Because victory in the moot court went to the team from the business university.