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At this year’s 15th Czech-Slovak Law Student Competition for the Best Student Paper, known as the Student Research and Academic Competition (SVOČ), the Faculty of Law at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (UWB) achieved two major successes. The first came from student Nela Černáková, whose paper was titled “Can Don Giovanni Arrive on a Motorcycle?” She took third place in the combined section covering copyright, labor, family, and private international law. Kamil Nový also achieved a third-place finish in the doctoral student section.

Černáková explored whether a radical directorial interpretation can be considered a use of a work that diminishes its value. “SVOČ gave me the opportunity to explore a topic of my own choosing in depth and present my own perspective in an academic setting. Defending my work before an expert panel was particularly valuable, as discussions with specialists always bring new ideas to consider,” said the future lawyer. In her paper, she examined the legal foundations of the so-called post-mortem protection of copyright works, the nature of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni as an open structure for interpretation, and several specific modern productions that provoked conflicting reactions among experts and the general public alike.

Doctoral student Kamil Nový focused his paper and conference presentation on so-called insolvency clauses—contractual provisions that allow a contractual relationship to be terminated upon the commencement of insolvency proceedings against one of the parties. In his paper, “Insolvency Clauses as a Blind Spot in Czech Insolvency Law,” Nový analyzed the status of these provisions in the Czech Republic and compared them with the legal frameworks in Germany and Austria. He examined whether the absence of general regulation helps achieve the objectives of insolvency proceedings and, based on his findings, proposed a more appropriate legal framework for insolvency clauses.

“I greatly appreciated the approach of the evaluation committee, whose members took an active interest in the individual topics and provided us with valuable feedback. The opportunity to present our own research, discuss it, gain new perspectives, and meet fellow students from other faculties is what I consider the greatest benefit of the whole event,” said Nový, adding that he would take part in SVOČ again next year. He also recommends the competition to other students who would like to try defending an academic paper and gain new insights from their peers.

The Czech-Slovak round of SVOČ was hosted in Pilsen in early September by UWB’s Faculty of Law. A total of 85 students from nine Czech and Slovak law faculties took part in the competition, which featured eight sections. According to Vilém Knoll, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law, the competition was intense. UWB was represented by ten contestants.

“All the contestants from our faculty received very good evaluations in their respective sections. As organizers, we were also pleased with the positive feedback on the event’s organization and friendly atmosphere from both the participating students and the academics serving on the evaluation committees,” Knoll said.

The established Czech-Slovak law student competition is held as an academic conference. Papers qualify after passing the faculty-level rounds of SVOČ. The judges assess not only the papers themselves but also how well their authors present them. The panels consist of experts from all nine participating law faculties. The competition is held annually in the first half of September, with the participating faculties taking turns hosting it. Next year, the event will move to Slovakia. This year, the symbolic baton was passed to the Faculty of Law of Trnava University in Trnava.