McGill University Faculty of Law was delighted to receive more than 70 submissions from scholars and junior practitioners affiliated with more than 60 institutions for the 2016 Nappert Prize in International Arbitration.
After an initial review, anonymized versions of more than half of the submitted papers – written by students from some two dozen countries including but not limited to the Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, Peru, the Philippines, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and the United States – were evaluated by a panel of seven jurors. After careful review, the jury has selected the following papers as the winners of this second edition of this competition (all dollar amounts are Canadian dollars):
- First Prize (4,000$): Nathan D. Yaffe (J.D. student, NYU), “Transnational Arbitral Res Judicata”
- Second Prize (2,000$): Julia Godolphin (B.C.L./LL.B. student, McGill), “Resolution of Tax Disputes in International Arbitration”
- Third Prize (tie) (1,000$ each): Jonathan Brosseau-Rioux (LL.M. student, Cambridge), “The Legal basis for the Application of Domestic law in Investment Arbitration”; Bernardo Rohden Pires (LL.M. student, George Washington School of Law), “Can the MFN Clause in the GATS Serve As A Jurisdictional Gateway?”
The winners will also be invited to come present their papers at a symposium hosted by McGill University on October 19th, 2016. The Nappert Prize winners will have the opportunity to compete for a 1,000$ award to be given to the best oralist by a panel comprised of Andrea K. Bjorklund, Full Professor at the McGill University Faculty of Law, Pierre Dalphond, Retired Judge of the Quebec Court of Appeal and Senior Counsel, Stikeman Elliott, and Céline Lévesque, Dean and Full Professor, Civil Law Section, University of Ottawa.
W are grateful to the jury for its careful and thorough consideration of the essays:
- Sébastien Besson, Partner, Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, Geneva
- Chester Brown, Professor of International Law and International Arbitration, The University of Sydney Faculty of Law
- José Feris, Deputy Secretary-General, ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris
- Henry Gao, Associate Professor, Singapore Management University
- Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Washington, DC
- Cesar Pereira, Partner, Justen, Pereira, Oliveira, and Talamini, São Paolo
- Abby Cohen Smutny, Partner, White & Case LLP, Washington, DC.
Honorable mentions:
- David Isidore Tan (LL.M. student, NYU), “Enforcing National Court Judgments as Arbitration Awards under the New York Convention”
- Fortunat Nadima Nadima (B.C.L./LL.B. student, McGill), “The Path Towards Transparency Via Domestic freedom of Information Laws”
- Maria Bhatti (PhD student, Monash University), “Interest on Arbitral Awards and Sharia”
- Mevelyn Ong (LL.M. student, Columbia), “The Interplay of Sovereignty, Personality and Consent in The Execution of Arbitral Awards”
- Relja Radović (PhD student, University of Luxembourg), “When I Grow Up I’ll Be A Court”
- Velimic Zivkovic (PhD Student, London School of Economics), “A Holistic Approach to Applicable Law In Investment Arbitration: Reasons, Elements, Goals”.
Authors of the submissions received hailed from around the world, with every continent save Antarctica represented. Most of the applicants were affiliated with institutions in either Europe or North America, although almost a quarter of the submissions were from Asia, more specifically from India and China. Approximately 60% of the applicants were male, and the other 40%, female. Most of the applicants were between 20 and 29 years old.
McGill is grateful to Sophie Nappert, BCL’86, LLB’86, whose generosity and vision have made this prize possible.
This contest is biennial. The next Nappert Prize contest will be held in 2018. More details will be available in late 2017.
Congratulations to the four winners!
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