AfA sponsors prize for excellence in English legal language at the FAU
Tuesday, 3rd August 2021 saw the inaugural award presentation of the prize for excellence as part of the FAU’s legal English programme. The prize was initiated by the legal language team – Fachsprache Jura – from the FAU’s Language Centre and is sponsored by the Nuremberg law firm AfA, which specialises in employment law for employees.
As a consequence of the pandemic restrictions, the award ceremony was scaled down to a cordial champagne reception at AfA’s office in Nuremberg, and due to the fact that it had not been possible to confer a prize in 2020, this year’s ceremony crowned two prize-winners.
Besides both the prize-winners, representatives of the FAU and AfA were present at the gathering. Marc-Oliver Schulze, a lawyer at AfA specialised in employment law, and Larissa Scherer, executive assistant, welcomed the guests.
Eva Ratzesberger, who is also a lawyer specialised in employment law at AfA and head of the Nuremberg office of AfA, gave a short speech in honour of the two successful students. Ms. Ratzesberger, also a law graduate of the FAU, had also completed the English legal language programme at the FAU during her studies.
Francis Henry, lecturer and programme coordinator of the specialised language programme at the Language Centre of the FAU and lecturer Dr. Kevin Pike were also there to heartily congratulate their two protégées.The optional language programme for legal English at the FAU’s Language Centre has been running successfully for over 10 years now and has enjoyed increasing popularity in recent times. It has also broadened its scope in terms of both courses and fields of law over the years. As part of the advanced course Legal Drafting & Writing Skills both prize-winners, each with two fellow students, wrote a scholarly article which was subsequently published by Cambridge University Press in its renowned periodical German Law Journal. The two articles can be found here:
The two prize-winners, Paulina Meichelbeck and Dorothee Karbe, each received a check for €500 in recognition of their outstanding achievements. In addition to that, both were offered the chance to complete part of their legal clerkship at AfA.
We are very much looking forward to a continued successful collaboration with the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg!
On 8th September 2022, the prize for excellence in the FAU’s legal English certificate programme was awarded for the second time. This prize was initiated by the University’s Fachsprache Jura team and is sponsored by the Nuremberg law firm AfA Rechtsanwälte. The official prize ceremony took place in the FAU’s Audimax.
A few weeks later, the prize winners Max Stadter, Sabrina Abler and Frans Viherlehto met for a cordial get-together in the offices of AfA in Nuremberg in order to receive their prizes. Alongside the prize winners there was a representative from the FAU as well as a representative of AfA.
Eva Ratzesberger, specialisist lawyer for employment law and head of the Nuremberg office of AfA, held a short speech for the successful candidates. Miss Ratzesberger, who herself is an FAU law graduate, also successfully completed the English legal language programme during her studies. Course lecturer Dr. Kevin Pike was also present to congratulate the successful students.
For their excellent performances in the exam, the prize winners, Frans Viherlehto, Sabrina Abler und Max Stadter, each received a cheque as well as the offer to complete one of the stages of their legal traineeship in our law firm.
