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Centre for European Legal Studies

CELS Lasok Lecture 2023:

In our centenary year our Lasok Lecture was held on Wednesday 8 November 2023 by Christopher Docksey, Honorary Director-General of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and past lecturer at Exeter Law School.

The topic of the lecture was 'The Court of Justice and Traits and Trends in Data Protection Law'.

We were delighted to also welcome Dr.Paul Lasok, Exeter alumnus and son of Dominik Lasok to introduce this lecture.

Lasok Lecture series

The annual Lasok Lecture, held since 1977, attracts eminent speakers including EU commissioners, politicians and judges to deliver a paper on an aspect of European Union law of current and significant interest to a wide public audience. All Lasok lectures are held on the Streatham Campus and video linked to our Cornwall Campus.

The lectures are named after Dominik Lasok QC (1921-2000), Emeritus Professor of European Law. Professor Lasok was one of the pioneers of the academic world of European Law. As the first Director of the University of Exeter's Centre for European Legal Studies, Professor Lasok developed the LLM European Law. He received many honours including Honorary Doctorates from Universities in Aix-Marseilles, Istanbul and Poznan, honorary membership of the Virginia Bar, the Polish Order of Merit and was an officer of the French L'Ordre des Palmes Academiques. As a tribute to this remarkable man, the University has a memorial fund in his name, the money from which is used to improve the resources of the Lasok Law Library.

Previous Lectures

(Due to the Covid pandemic there were no lectures 2019-2021)

CELS Lasok Lecture 2018: "Quo vadis, civis Europeus?" by Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EU, Eleanor Sharpston QC

CELS Lasok Lecture 2017: "Brexit and Human Rights" by Professor Steve Peers

On March 15, Professor Steve Peers (University of Essex) was invited by the Centre for European Legal Studies to give the annual Lasok Lecture on the topic of "Brexit and Human Rights". It captivated our audience and led to an interesting debate. The lecture has been recorded for those of our students and colleagues who have not been able to attend: Watch here.

Complete list of the Lasok Lectures

Year	Speaker	Title of Lecture
October 1977	Professor Andreas Matthias Donner Judge and Former President of the Court of Justice of the European Communities	*The Court of Justice as a Constitutional Court of the Communities.*
February 1979	Lord Mackenzie Stuart Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Communities	*The Freedom of Movement of Goods.*
February 1980	Christopher Tugendhat Commissioner of the European Communities	*European Community Budgetary Issues.*
April 1981	Dr Claus-Dieter Ehlermann Director General of the Legal Service of the Commission of the European Communities	*The Role of the Legal Service of the Commission of the European Communities in the Creation of Community Law.*
February 1982	Rt.Hon. Douglas Hurd, CBE, MP Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office	*Prospects for the European Community in 1982.*
March 1983	Alan R Tyrrell, QC, MEP	*The Parliamentary Challenge to the Community Law Making Process.*
May 1984	Ivor Richard, QC Commissioner of the European Communities	*The Future of Community Social Legislation.*
May 1985	Sir Gordon Slynn Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Communities	*Judicial Review of Community Administrative Acts.*
January 1986	Stanley Clinton Davis Member of the Commission of the European Communities	The European Community: Law in Action.
January 1987	John Temple Lang Legal Adviser, Legal Service of the Commission of the European Communities	*The Duties of National Courts under the Constitutional Law of the European Community.*
January 1988	Advocate General Carl Otto Lenz The European Court of Justice	*The Court of Justice of the European Communities 35 years on.*
February 1989	Henry G Schermers Professor of Law, Leiden University	*European Law on "Illegitimate" Children.*
February 1990	Advocate General Francis Jacobs The European Court of Justice	*Judicial Process in the European Court and the Role of the Advocate General.*
March 1991	Judge David Edward Judge at the Court of First Instance of the European Community	*The Future Shape of the Community's Judicial System.*
Feb 1992	Dr Bernhard Schloh Legal Adviser to the Council of Ministers of the European Communities	*The Implications of Maastricht.*
March 1993	The Rt.Hon. Lord Oliver of Aylmerton Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn, Retired Lord of Appeal	*The European Horizon of an English Judge.*
February 1994	Kurt Almestad President EFTA Surveillance Authority	*The Legal Nature of the European Economic Area.*
May 1995	Professor Ole Due Former President, European Court of Justice	*How to understand the judgments of the Court of Justice.*
May 1996	Professor Pieter van Dijk Member, Council of the State, The Netherlands, and Judge at the European Court of Human Rights	**Judicial Protection of Human Rights in Europe; Divergence, Co-ordination or Integration?**
May 1998	The Honourable Michael Beloff, QC The President, Trinity College, Oxford	What does it all mean? How to interpret the Human Rights Act.
May 1999	The Rt Hon Sir Edward Heath, KG MBE MP	*Britain and European Integration since 1945.*
May 2000	António Vitoríno EC Commissioner	*The Charter of Fundamental Rights as a foundation for the area of freedom, security and justice.*
May 2001	Professor Aslan Gündüz Mamara University, Istanbul	*Enlargement of the European Union – a view form the East with specialreference to Turkey.*
May 2002	Joseph H. H. Weiler European Union Jean Monnet Professor of Law, Director, The Centre for International and Regional Economic Law, New York University (NYU), School of Law.	*The Convention on the Future of the European Union: some 'Unconventional' Observations.*
May 2003	Thymen Koopmans Former Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, emeritus Professor of Law, Leiden, Utrecht and Cambridge	*Law, Politics and the Judiciary in the European Union*
March 2004	Gisela Stuart MP Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, former representative for national parliaments on the presidium of the Convention on the Future of Europe.	*The Making of Europe's Constitution*
March 2005	Paul Lasok QC Monckton Chambers	The European Constitution: New Wine or Old?
March 2006	Prof Dr Georg Ress Professor of International Law, University of Bremen, Germany
June 2007	Judge Nicholas Forwood of the Court of the First Instance of the European Communities	The European Court of Justice - new Structures for a new era
March 2008	Professor Stephen Weatherill Jacques Delors Professor of European Law and a Fellow of Somerville College, University of Oxford.	The Failure of the EU's Constitution-Making Project, and Some Other Reasons to be Cheerful.
March 2009	Professor Bruno De Witte	Institutional change in the European Union: its mechanisms and its nature
March 2010	Professor Andrea Biondi from King’s College London
May 2011	Professor Paolo Mengozzi, First Advocate General of the European Court of Justice	The judicial protection of individual rights and the principle of proportionality after the Lisbon Treaty’.
May 2012	Professor Allan Rosas, Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union	The title of the lecture was 'Balancing Fundamental Rights in European Law'.
March 2013	Professor Mattias Kumm Inge Rennert Professor of Law at New York University School of Law and Research Professor on Globalization and the Rule of Law at the Social Science Research Center and Humboldt University in Berlin	'Human dignity, proportionality and judicial review in Europe: understanding the structure of human rights practice on law'
April 2015	Professor Norbert Reich Emeritus Professor of Private law and European Economic Law at the University of Bremen, Visiting Professor of Law and Governance at Groningen University, the Netherlands, and is a renowned expert on European private law.	"EU Citizenship - Progressive Concept or Regressive Failure?”
April 2016	Diana Wallis, Senior Fellow, University of Hull, School of Law President, European Law Institute, Vienna and former Vice President of the European Parliament	21st Century European Civil Justice; Looking for the view from the Hedgehogs
March 2017	Professor Steve Peers (University of Essex)	Brexit and Human Rights
March 2018	Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EU, Eleanor Sharpston QC	Quo vadis, civis Europeus?