Students From the Faculty of European Studies Gain New Experience at Riga City Pardaugava Court

For the second year in a row, Ligita Landzmane, a senior lecturer of the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Faculty of European Studies, organised an opportunity for the second year students from the Startup Entrepreneurship programme of the Department of International Business and Economics to attend and observe court proceedings.

The lecturer considers that observing court proceedings, especially the debates and the delivery of the verdict, increases prospective lawyers’, entrepreneurs’ and managers’ professionalism. ‘By closely observing court proceedings, it is possible to improve one’s argumentation skills,’ says Landzmane, who is an experienced lawyer herself.

This year, thanks to a recommendation by Gunta Sokolova, judge of the Riga City Pardaugava Court, students were able to observe the debates. The students acknowledged that the experience they gained through observing the prosecutor and the attorney, who both raced for victory by means of detailed reasoning, would be helpful whilst developing their scientific research papers. In particular, the students said it would help them pay more attention to choosing and forming their arguments and their reasoning.

Waiting for the delivery of the verdict turned into a meaningful seminar, as students actively debated, argued and tried to predict the outcome.