Case Studies: ELSA (European Law Students' Association)

LISTSERV Announcement Award: ELSA (European Law Students' Association)

The European Law Students' Association (ELSA) – the world's largest independent law students' association – has used L-Soft's LISTSERV^® technology to create a unique network of people working together toward the same goals across geographical and cultural borders.

ELSA, which is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, operates primarily through its local groups, housed at more than 200 universities throughout 35 European countries. The organization's membership – nearly 30,000 students and recent graduates who are interested in law and have demonstrated a commitment to international issues – has a diverse range of activities, interests and communication needs. Accordingly, ELSA has structured and tailored its LISTSERV lists to serve the students, alumni, trainers and local and national officers in its membership, with the primary goals of promoting the organization's activities and ensuring the efficient flow of information.

In addition to a general list to which all members can subscribe, ELSA also has mailing lists dedicated to the activity and interest areas of its members – 14 email lists in total:

ELSA is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year; in 2002, the group turned to LISTSERV as its primary communication vehicle. "Activities are promoted better and better through our network since we started using the email lists. Nowadays, since Internet is the most accessible mean of communication to our members, we find it natural to focus on this channel. This way, we have managed to overcome the accessibility problem for members with a very active life, who are continuously moving throughout Europe. It also helped us a lot in coordinating our activities," said Josefin Björklund, President of ELSA International.

Björklund noted that there was an information gap among ELSA's membership regarding events occurring in other countries, adding that with the LISTSERV lists, activities are now properly described and promoted to target members. The organization as a whole as well as its individual members have benefited.

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