OREANDA-NEWS. May 28, 2013. The end of the first study year was celebrated at SORAINEN Student Academy organised in co-operation with international law student association ELSA in Latvia. Eight lectures took place during this study year which began last September.

“We have always been active participants in projects organised to support law students and enhance knowledge. SORAINEN Student Academy is our major event to date. For me the best moment was congratulating all the 27 law students who started the active studies,” comments SORAINEN partner Girts Ruda.

Lecture topics this year included mergers and acquisitions (M&A), intellectual property protection, litigation, public and private partnership projects, real estate and taxes, as well as work organisation of a law firm and marketing issues. Students were asked to assess the quality and content of each lecture, and the average evaluation – from a possible five points – was very high at 4.92.

Organisers of the academy answered many questions – in addition to the specifics of a particular field of law, many questions related to career development at a modern law firm, communication with clients, skills to manage complicated situations and not to succumb to stress at decisive moments. ELSA Latvia president Dainis Pudelis, having assessed the project, concludes, “The academy undeniably facilitates development of legal education in Latvia and gives students more options for improving their knowledge outside the system of formal legal education. Hopefully, the SORAINEN initiative will serve as a template and inspiration for others and the informal legal education will become an integral part of legal education.”

During the three years that SORAINEN offices in the Baltics invite future law specialists to acquire practical knowledge, the total number of graduates of the SORAINEN Student Academy has reached 118. This is also the seventh summer during which law students get acquainted with office routines by participating in the summer trainee program.

“In the second half of the summer we will select a new group for the academy of 2013/2014 to continue the successful experience of this study year,” says SORAINEN Latvia office manager Elina Luse, asking candidates to follow the information published on SORAINEN website regarding application.