Triumph, the result of a pure mind with high morale!

Athens Law School World Champion, ahead of Harvard!

World champion became the Law Faculty of the National University of Athens and won eight awards at the World Round of the international university competition Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot 2015, held in London from 29 October to 1 November.

The group of undergraduates of Law, winning the first place, outperformed universities such as Harvard University, Georgetown University and King’s College London. This year’s participation in the contest FDI Moot was the Law School’s third, and its team consisted of students Despina Arslanidi, Eleftherios Dafermos, Thomas Papadogianni Varouchakis, Demetrios Stamatis, Nicoletta Chalikopoulou and Maria Eleni Chryssanthakopoulou. Coaches of the team were students Eirini Kikarea and Kleoniki Maria Sergaki, members of the group which had represented the Athens Law School in last year’s competition FDI Moot 2014 ranking third in the world. The Group prepared under the scientific supervision and guidance of the lecturer Anastasiou Gourgourini.

In particular, the Law School team won the following awards: the Skadden, Arps Trophy FDI Moot 2015 for winning the Grand Final, the Baker & McKenzie Prize 2015 for the highest score (written and oral performance) among all groups that participated in the preliminary phase matches (Highest Ranked Team), the Award for Best Memorandum applicant investor (Best Claimant Memorial), the Prize of the Fourth Best Memorandum concerning the calculation of the investor compensation (4th Ranked damages Aspect in a Memorial), the award for Best speaker of the Grand Final (Best Advocate in the Final Hearing), taken by Maria Eleni Chryssanthakopoulou the Thomas Wälde award for Best Advocate for the matches of the preliminary phase took Despina Arslanidi the Manuela Béltran Woman Advocate award for the matches of the preliminary phase took Despina Arslanidi and the Honorable Mention Advocate award for the matches of the preliminary phase, which took Maria Eleni Chryssanthakopoulou.

This year’s competition theme FDI Moot was highly topical and related to a claim by a foreign investor / energy producer of photovoltaic plants against the host state of the investment to the International Arbitration Court of London (London Court of International Arbitration). In particular, the State had made, by law, the horizontal reduction in the guaranteed price (Feed-In Tariffs) and the radical overhaul of the regulatory framework for PV in view of reducing the cost of producing energy from renewable sources due to rapid technological developments and the strong concerns regarding the energy security of the state and sustainability of the national energy financing mechanism of photovoltaics. Therefore, the students had to face a number of complex legal issues, among others, to the jurisdiction and admissibility of investment appeal in view of EU law, fair and equitable treatment of the claimant investor, invoking the defense of necessity from the host country of the investment, the types of redress and the calculation of the investor compensation.

Overall, 83 universities from around the world took part in the competition. After the completion of the Regional Rounds of the competition in August 2015, the World Round, held at King’s College London between October 29th – November 1st, 2015, was attended by the 51 best teams in the world. Renowned academics and executives of international law firms served as judges at the World Round of FDI Moot 2015.

The FDI Moot, a mock international investment arbitration competition, relates to the constantly evolving international law to protect foreign investment and a simulation of the arbitration settlement of international investment disputes procedure. Organized every year under the auspices of the Centre for International Studies (Salzburg, Austria), the law schools of the Suffolk University (Boston, Massachusetts), and Pepperdine (Malibu, California), the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS), (Frankfurt / Cologne, Germany), and the Centre of European Law university of King’s College London. Each participating team must argue, in writing (memorials) and orally (formal pleadings), both the side of the claimant foreign investor and that of the respondent host State in a fictitious case before a panel of international arbitration experts.

It is worth noting that students of the winning team decided that the prize money they received for the excellent performance of the team to be allocated to financial support for the participation of the new team of the Athens Law School in the competition FDI Moot 2016 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Source: topontiki.gr