IDR LL.M. Nikolaus Party hosted by WAGNER Arbitration, 6 December 2019
Christmas is reputed to be a family holiday: a privileged moment to gather as a family, all generations combined. This time, through all its forms of expression, creates common memories and maintains the feeling of belonging to a family. Everyone finds his or her own way of building this bond: sharing a meal, listening to stories, gathering around the crib.
And for the IDR LL.M. students, what is the best way to spend the time before Christmas away from home? A tradition has been going on for 4 years within the members of the Berlin Arbitration Community to gather and celebrate “Nikolaustag" (St. Nicholas Day) together. This annual Nikolaus Party is organized and hosted by WAGNER Arbitration, and in particular its name partner and lecturer of the IDR LL.M., Dr Philipp K Wagner, in the offices of this boutique law firm.
This year, the gathering took place on Friday, 6 December. The party was a chance for the IDR LL.M. students to meet and network with the lawyers of WAGNER Arbitration and other law firms who generously shared their know-how of the market, experience and especially some of the funny stories and moments they went through in the course of the year.
After enjoying a variety of special Christmas cookies and traditional German Glühwein, it was time for Dr Joseph Schwartz, partner at WAGNER Arbitration to give the opening speech and to welcome all the IDR LL.M. students and the other attendees to the party before leaving the floor to some of the lawyers present, such as Dr Philipp Stompfe, partner at the law firm Alexander & Partner, and Dr Nils Schmidt-Ahrendts, partner at Hanefeld Rechtsanwälte and also a lecturer of the IDR LL.M., who gave a very motivational speech about the careers in dispute resolution and potential opportunities ahead of the young lawyers.
Finally, it was time say goodbye. For some time at least, the students of the IDR LL.M. forgot about the distance that separated them from their families and loved ones and it felt like being home. In the end, as our Academic Coordinator, Alicja Zielinska-Eisen, likes to say: we are the LL.M. Family.
Meriem Rezgui, IDR LL.M. Candidate