Scholarships

On 25th August 2007 the General Assembly of AIJA, Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats, has approved in Toronto, Canada the establishment of the "AIJA Scholarship Programme" (the "Programme") under the following principles:

  1. The purpose of the Programme is to support financially young lawyers' (including in-house counsel) participation in events organised or co-organised by AIJA (Congresses, Conferences, Seminars etc), if absent such support he or she would not be able to take part therein. As a guiding rule, scholarships shall primarily be granted to lawyers below 35 years of age.
  2. Scholarships are granted upon the candidate submitting a reasoned application, which demonstrates
    • the benefits for he or she of taking part in the event,
    • ii) the absence of alternative means to finance the participation in the event and
    • iii) that such participation would serve to promote the overall objectives and goals of AIJA.
  3. Applications shall be submitted to a committee (the "Scholarship Committee") made up of the chair/co-chairs of the Membership Forum and Law Course Committee of AIJA and the Co- Chairs of the Human Rights Committee for review. The granting of a scholarship shall be decided upon by the Association Manager and the Treasurer taking the recommendation of the Scholarship Committee into due consideration.
  4. AIJA can make a scholarship subject to the applicant undertaking specific tasks for the benefit of AIJA in exchange of the scholarship, e.g. preparing reports, making presentations of relevant topics, assist AIJA in arranging future events or promoting AIJA and its objects in his/her country/region.
  5. Scholarships are not subject to the applicant being a member of AIJA, but a scholarship can consist, in whole or in part, of AIJA waiving for a defined period of time the payment of ordinary membership fees.
  6. In addition to the foregoing, scholarships may consist of full or partial waiver of registration fees for the AIJA event as well as full or partial reimbursement of travel- and living costs associated with the participation. Please note that the Scholarship Programme rules do not apply to speakers at AIJA events, who get a lot of visibility and thus as a general rule - should they attend the entire event - cannot be exempted from paying the respective registration fee and are not entitled to reimbursement of travel or accommodation expenses.
  7. The funds of the scholarship are generated inter alia via:
    1. A one-time contribution decided by the General Assembly in 2007 of EUR 20,000;
    2. Allocation of a certain amount or percentage of AIJA's annual net income to the Programme, as recommended by the Bureau and decided by the General Assembly as part of its approval of the annual accounts of the Association;
    3. Donations from members and other third parties.
  8. The Bureau, acting upon consultation with the Scholarship Committee, shall administer the Programme and shall be entitled to lay down any additional rules, regulations and guidelines for the purpose of administering the Programme.
  9. The Scholarship Committee and the Bureau shall report of the activities of the Programme to the General Assembly each year at its ordinary meeting.

Based on this the following rules shall apply:

  1. These rules applying to the scholarship programme and a separate registration form (as attached to this document) shall be published on the website of AIJA.
  2. In each programme for an AIJA event (congress, half year conferences and seminars) a cross reference to the scholarship programme shall be incorporated.

The following kind of scholarships can be granted. Only one kind of scholarship can be granted per applicant and only once for each applicant:

a) Full Scholarships

"Full scholarship" shall be defined as free participation of the scholarship holder to the event including all scientific and social events and including free accommodation (in a hotel of AIJA's choice) and travel costs (cheapest ticket, i.e. second class / economy). Any additional costs and extras will have to be covered directly by the scholarship holder.

The full scholarship includes the following benefits and obligations:

  • After the scholarship has been granted the scholar has to prove that he/she has informed - at least 6 weeks prior to the event - at least 20 other persons not being members of AIJA at his home town or country's bar association about the AIJA event he/she will be taking part with the aim that they register as paying participants.
  • The scholar has to report to the Association Manager of AIJA about possibilities to market the respective event in his home town and country at least 6 weeks prior to the event.
  • At the event the scholar will be introduced to the members of the bureau of AIJA and should be prepared to introduce himself/herself to the bureau members. This introduction shall include the way the applicant learned about AIJA, the way he/she is willing to inform others about AIJA in future and his / her expectations to the event he/she is taking part.
  • During the event the scholar will have to prove to have been present at least 50 % of the official /scientific program by signing attendance lists of the respective events.
  • During the event the scholar will have the opportunity to be introduced to and meet other AIJA members.
  • After the event the scholar will need to write a report in English or French about his/her experiences during the event which will be published in the next e-zette or any other publication of AIJA. The report has to comprise at least 400 words.

The costs for attendance of the scholarship holders will be calculated on an "at cost" basis for the respective event as calculated in the respective budget of the event without any margins. The scholarships shall not be at the expense of the respective budget and therefore shall not be included in the budget.

alternatively:

b) Partial scholarship

Partial scholarships may be granted either instead of a full scholarship or in addition to full scholarships as mentioned above.

The decision upon granting additional partial scholarships lies with the bureau taking into consideration the financial situation and the strategic goals of AIJA, as well as the aim to retain the scholars as AIJA members and regular attendees of AIJA events. The decision on changing a full scholarship into partial scholarships lies with the Association Manager and the Treasurer.

alternatively:

c) Waiver of the annual membership fee

Scholarship might also be granted as a waiver of the membership fee for a defined period of time which generally shall not exceed one year.

  1. Each applicant shall deliver the application form together with documents requested therein no later than three (3) months before the respective event starts unless it otherwise informed regarding the respective event.
  2. The application shall be sent (electronically, by fax or mail) to the Brussels address of AIJA.
  3. The staff of AIJA will review the application in order to check that the applicant is eligible for the scholarship. The Scholarship Committee will review the applications in the merits and make a proposal to the Association Manager and the Treasurer.
  4. The Association Manager and the Treasurer jointly decide on the scholarship taking the recommendation of the Scholarship Committee into due consideration – if needed they can ask the organising committee / general reporter of the respective event.

  1. In order to be eligible for a scholarship, the applicant must be either a law student, an attorney, attorney candidate or an in-house counsel, and shall not have participated at AIJA events within the previous two years and shall not have received another scholarship from AIJA in the past.
  2. Only persons who have not yet reached the age of 35 by the end of the application deadline may apply.
  3. Only fully completed applications can be taken into consideration.
  4. Apart from extraordinary situation the decisions shall be based on an equality principle.
  5. Applicants have no claim to get a scholarship even if all prerequisites are met. The decision is taken at free discretion taking into consideration the principles as laid down above. The decisions cannot be appealed against.

  1. Any deviation of the principles as laid down above can only be decided upon in case of extraordinary situations based on the country the respective AIJA event takes place, any specific goal AIJA wants to achieve by changing these principles or in case of cooperation with other associations.
  2. A deviation of these principles may be suggested by the organizers of the respective event, the Association Manager and / or by the members of the Bureau.
  3. The Bureau finally decides on such deviation. The changed scholarship principles shall be published on the website and highlighted in the respective programme.

  1. In case the scholarship is granted by waiver of a part or the entire participation fee, the AIJA staff, the local organiser(s) as well as any other person involved in the registration procedure of the respective event shall be immediately informed about the decision. The applicant shall register ordinarily highlighting the scholarship approval in the registration form. The local organiser(s) and/or any other person involved in the registration procedure shall gather all such registrations and inform the Treasurer together with the final settlement of the event. Such scholarships shall not be charged to the event budget (see II a) and b) above). Any costs for participation of a scholar ship holder incurred by the organising team of the respective event on spot shall be reimbursed by AIJA provided that the cost is covered by the scholarship.
  2. In case the scholarship is granted by reimbursement of travel costs the applicant shall inform AIJA about such costs prior to booking and wait for approval. He shall pay in advance the cost and hand in a receipt. In case the applicant can prove that such advance payment is not possible the applicant shall hand in the invoice for payment by AIJA.
  3. In case the scholarship is granted by reimbursement of accommodation costs it shall first be checked whether free contingents of the hotels organised by the local organising committee can be used. If this is not the case, the same procedure as laid down in 2. above shall apply.
  4. In case a scholarship is granted by waiver of the AIJA membership fee the staff of AIJA as well as the Secretary General shall be informed immediately to update this decision in the membership database and statistics.

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