Under the direction of Dr. Johannes Fischer (President of the State Administrative Court of Upper Austria), JKU Vice-Rector Andreas Janko and Univ. Prof. David Leeb (both from the JKU Institute of Constitutional Law and Political Sciences), the annual moot court event focuses on an administrative court proceeding addressing a filed, subpeonaed complaint affecting additional parties and brought all the way to the administrative court. Teams of up to three people play the roles of the involved parties, law enforcement, and the judge’s senate.

This year’s moot court session focused on beavers in which a complaint was filed against an official decision to “remove” (=kill) of a number of beavers. After the hearing, the students received feedback from the course instructors and the judge who served in the original case.

The administrative court team now has until the end of July to decide whether or not the beavers will be allowed to stay or not. Afterwards, the students will have an opportunity to use the course as part of their thesis. This would require a legal opinion of the issue together with the moot court.