By: Jocelynn Lake
Bonjour! Je m’appelle Jocelynne Lake, et je suis stagiaire à Strasbourg! This summer I had the amazing opportunity to spend two months in France, working for the European Centre for Law and Justice. And what an experience—prior to this summer, I had never been outside of North America. Strasbourg was the perfect first taste of European culture; located at the “crossroads of Europe,” I was able to explore Germany, Switzerland, Luxemburg, and much of the Alsace region of France.
At the office, I focused primarily on producing a comprehensive report tracking the finances of abortion lobbying organizations, both internationally and in Europe specifically. This report will be published in the near future, with my name on it! Thus far, no one has published a report like this before (which made gathering the data quite difficult), even though there have been several influential pro-abortion reports of this nature. I also helped translate and edit the English version of a brief that one of the attorneys submitted to the European Court of Human Rights, as well as helping translate countless emails, articles, and newsletters.
The office atmosphere was amazing; they welcomed me in and treated me like family. Even though I speak very little French, they were all kind, willing to speak English and equally willing to teach me French (something I was praying for!). They surprised me with a celebration for my birthday, and their kindness and generosity to a stranger was perhaps the most beautiful thing I experienced in Europe (which is never short on beautiful things).
I was impressed at how influential the ECLJ is: they are one of very few prominent conservative voices in Europe. With legal work in both the ECHR and the United Nations, they are representing the Christian conservative movement in an increasingly hostile world, and I was proud to play whatever small role I could this summer.
Beaucoup de remercîment pour l’ECLJ, et beaucoup de remercîment pour the Center for Global Justice pour cette expérience!
This post was written by a student at Regent University School of Law. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.