Nappert Prize in International Arbitration

Made possible by the generosity and vision of Sophie Nappert, BCL’86, LLB’86, a noted arbitrator in independent practice who is based in London, this essay contest invites participants to submit unpublished papers on commercial arbitration or investment arbitration. The next competition will take place in 2024.

2024 edition

Thanks to the generosity of Sophie Nappert (BCL’86, LLB’86), the Nappert Prize in International Arbitration is celebrating 10 years since its inauguration in 2014. The prize will be awarded by McGill University for the sixth time in 2024.

Eligibility Requirements:

The competition is open to law students, junior scholars and junior practitioners from around the world. To be eligible for the prize, the authors must:

  • be either currently enrolled in a B.C.L, LL.B., J.D., LL.M., D.C.L., or Ph.D. program (or their local equivalents), or
  • have taken their most recent law degree within the last three years; or
  • have been admitted to the practice of law for no more than three years.

Co-authored submissions are permissible, but each author must meet the eligibility criteria. (Kindly note that only one author will be flown to Montreal for the symposium.)

Previous winners of the Nappert Prize (2020 and 2022) are not eligible to submit their essays for this edition.

Prizes:

  • First place: CAN $4,000
  • Second place: CAN $2,000
  • Third place: CAN $1,000

Winners of all three awards will be required to present their essays at a symposium to be held at McGill University’s Faculty of Law in Autumn 2024 (the expenses of the winners for attending the symposium will be covered).

The best oralist will receive an award of CAN $1,000.

The precise date of the symposium will be announced in the coming months.

Deadline and Submission Mode:

All essays must be submitted by 30th April 2024 11:59PM Eastern Time. Essays can be submitted using this form.

Submission Requirements:

Essays for the prize can be submitted in English, French or Spanish.

Please make sure that your essay:

  • must relate to commercial or investment arbitration;
  • must be unpublished (not yet submitted for publication) as of April 30th;
  • must be a maximum of 15,000 words (including footnotes);
  • must be formatted to Times New Roman Size 12 with 1.5 line spacing.
  • should use OSCOLA or any other well-established legal citation guide (e.g. McGill Red Book; Bluebook);
  • should be in MS Word format;
  • should not contain your name or other information about your identity.

Submitted essays should not contain any text generated through advanced automated tools (artificial intelligence or machine learning tools such as ChatGPT), unless specifically required because of the subject matter of the essay and cited as mentioned below. Use of AI-generated text will be considered plagiarism, and any essay containing such text will be disqualified.

If the subject matter of the essay necessitates it, any AI-generated text in the submission should be properly cited. For example, text generated using ChatGPT-3 should include a citation such as:

Chat-GPT-3. (YYYY, Month DD of query). “Text of your query.” Generated using OpenAI. https://chat.openai.com/

Material generated using other tools should follow a similar citation format.

Jurors:

Jurors for the 2024 will be announced in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

For more information, kindly email Ms. Tanya Oberoi at nappertprize.law [at] mcgill.ca.

2022 edition

It is our pleasure to announce the winners of the fifth edition of the competition as selected by the jury:

Winners

  • First Prize ($4,000): Maxence Rivoire (PhD Candidate, Cambridge), “The Law Applicable to the Arbitrability of Registered Industrial Property Rights”
  • Second Prize ($2,000): Priyanshi Vakharia (Staff Attorney, Volterra Fietta, LLM’22 University of Cambridge), “The Trojan Horse in Financial Crisis Sovereign Debt in Investment Treaty Arbitrations”
  • Third Prize ($1,000): Juan Felipe Coy Gómez (Lawyer, Pérez-Llorca; LLM'19 King’s College London), “La Tensa Relación entre la Transición Ecológica y los Derechos del Inversor Extranjero: Implicaciones de las Medidas Protectoras del Medioambiente Sobre la Inversión Extranjera en Sectores Contaminantes”

2022 Winners

The winners will present their papers at a symposium hosted (in-person) at the Faculty of Law, McGill University on October 18, 2022 at 5pm. The three winners will compete for a $1,000 award for the Best Oralist. To attend the event, register here.

Honourable Mentions

  • Galo M. Márquez Ruiz (lawyer, Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez; LLM’24 QMUL), “A Modern Data Analysis Approach on Abusive and Dissuasive Arbitration Clauses on the International Digital Market”
  • Umika Sharma (PhD Candidate, National University of Singapore; LLM'18 QMUL), “Invisible Inequality: The Lack of Regional Diversity in International Arbitration”
  • Aram Aghababyan (Coordinator, AUA LLM Program ADR Clinic; LLM'21 UVA), “Government Blocking of Social Media Platforms as Expropriation of Contractual Rights”

Our distinguished jury

We are immensely grateful to our jury for their careful evaluation of the essay submissions for the prize.

  • Martin Doe Rodriguez, Senior Counsel, Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague
  • Professor Lawrence Boo, Adjunct Professor, National University of Singapore & Head of Chambers, the Arbitration Chambers, Singapore
  • Jonathan Brosseau, Lawyer and PhD Candidate, University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris
  • Kyongwha Chung, Counsel, Covington, New York
  • Alexander Fessas, Secretary General, ICC International Court of Arbitration, and Director for ICC Dispute Resolution Services, Paris
  • Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Washington, DC
  • Courtney Lotfi, Counsel, Jones Day, Frankfurt
  • Natalia Marina Zibibbo, Counsel, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, New York

 

We are also grateful to Sophie Nappert, BCL’86, LLB’86, whose generosity and vision has made this prize possible.

Any questions may be directed to nappertprize [at] mcgill.ca (Ms. Tanya Oberoi)See the 2022 Call for Papers.

2020 edition

We are happy to present the winners of the fourth edition of the competition, as selected by the jury:

Winners

  • First prize (4,000$): Diana Itzel Santana Galindo (lawyer, Mexico; LLM’19 QMUL), “The Role of the Seat in Smart Contract Disputes"
  • Second prize (2,000$): Cara North (Consultant, Lipman Karas; LLM’19 MIDS), “The Erosion of Commercial Law as a Consequence of Arbitration
  • Third prize (1,000$): Juan Felipe Coy Gómez (lawyer, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; LLM'19 KCL), “El Medioambiente y el Arbitraje Internacional de Inversión: Estado Actual y Propuestas Para la Reforma del Sistema Arbitral en la Gestión de Disputas Medioambientales

Diana Itzel Santana Galindo, Cara North and Juan Felipe Coy Gómez.
Left to right: Diana Itzel Santana Galindo (First prize); Cara North (Second prize); and Juan Felipe Coy Gómez (Third prize).

The winners presented their papers at an online symposium hosted by McGill University on October 20, 2020. At the symposium, the three winners competed for a $1,000 award for best oralist, which was won by Cara North.

Honourable mentions

  • Harisankar Mahapatra, (LLM’20, Miami), “The Future of Investment Dispute Settlement in the Post-Achmea Era
  • Mikhail Batsura, (LLM’19, NYU), “Limits to Party Autonomy in Appointing Counsel in International Commercial Arbitration
  • Léa Deroche, (LLM’20, McGill), “War Clauses In International Investment Law: A Need For Clarity
  • Eleanor Dennis, (BCL/JD candidate, McGill), “Judicial Consideration of Substantive Invalidity: Understanding the Courts’ Protective Role under the New York Convention and the Model Law

Our distinguished jury

We are grateful to our jury for their careful and thorough consideration of the essays.

  • Professor Lawrence Boo, Adjunct Professor, National University of Singapore & Bond University
  • Mr Alexander Fessas, Secretary-General & Director of ICC Dispute Resolution Services, International Chamber of Commerce, Paris
  • Professor Fabien Gélinas, McGill University, Montreal
  • Professor Katia Fach Gómez, University of Zaragoza, Spain
  • Mr Diego B. Gosis, Partner, GST LLP, Miami
  • Dr Ridhi Kabra, Associate, Three Crowns LLP, London (winner of the 2014 edition)
  • Ms Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Washington, DC
  • Ms Caline Mouawad, Partner, King & Spalding LLP, New York
  • Professor Marie-Claude Rigaud, University of Montreal

We are also grateful to Sophie Nappert, BCL’86, LLB’86, whose generosity and vision have made this prize possible. The next Nappert Prize competition will be held in 2022. 

Kindly direct any questions to Mr. Lucas Clover Alcolea (nappertprize [at] mcgill.ca). See the 2020 call for papers.

2018 edition

Here are the winners of this third edition of this competition, as selected by the jury:

Winners

  • First Prize ($4,000): Dina Prokic (BCL/LLB’17, McGill; Attorney & Counselor at Law, New York), “SIAC Proposal on Cross-Institution Consolidation Protocol: Can It Be Transplanted into Investment Arbitration?"
  • Second Prize ($2,000): Alastair Simon Chetty (LLB’18, National University of Singapore), “Embracing Practical Solutions in Dealing with the Distinct Shades of Abuse of Process in Investment Arbitration”
  • Third Prize ($1,000): Ella Wisniewski (LLM’17, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Solicitor, Herbert Smith Freehills), “A Changing Climate: The Future of Legitimate Expectations in Energy Investment Disputes”

The winners came to present their papers at a symposium hosted by McGill University on November 1, 2018, where Ms Wisniewski also captured the $1,000 award for best oralist.

Alastair Simon Chetty, Dina Prokic, and Ella Wisniewski
The winners of the 2018 Nappert Essay Prize: Alastair Simon Chetty, Dina Prokic, and Ella Wisniewski.

Our distinguished jury

We are grateful to the jury for its careful and thorough consideration of the essays:

  • Julie Bédard, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York & São Paulo
  • Professor Lawrence Boo, Adjunct Professor, National University of Singapore & Bond University
  • Professor Olivier Caprasse, Universities of Liège and Brussels, Member of the Brussels Bar
  • Professor Kun Fan, McGill University, Montreal
  • José Feris, Partner, Squire Patton Boggs, Paris
  • Alexander Fessas, Secretary-General & Director of ICC Dispute Resolution Services, International Chamber of Commerce Court, Paris
  • Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Washington, DC
  • Eduardo Zuleta Jaramillo, Partner, Zuleta Abogados Asociados, Bogota

Honourable mentions

  • David Chriki (LLM'2017, Hebrew University), "SLAPPing Police Powers with Investment Arbitration"
  • Philip Keul (Law Student,Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), "Security for costs in International Commercial Arbitration"
  • Luigi Pedreschi (PhD Researcher in Law, European University Institute), "Investor-state arbitration under CETA: "FIT" for practice?"
  • Alexey Vyalkov (Associate, Clifford Chance), "The role of equity in the assessment of damages under custom: where are Diallo and The Arctic Sunrise taking the law and are they dangerous for investment treaty arbitration?"

Contest facts

For this edition, we received over 80 submissions from scholars and junior practitioners from (almost) every continent. This was the first year that the Prize accepted papers written in Spanish which, with the existing inclusion of French and English, makes this a trilingual competition! This is a fitting reflection of the diversity and multiculturalism inherent to international arbitration.

See the 2018 call for papers.

2016 edition

The jury has selected the following papers as the winners of this second edition of this competition:

Winners

  • First Prize: Nathan D. Yaffe (JD student, NYU), “Transnational Arbitral Res Judicata”
  • Second Prize: Julia Godolphin  (BCL/LLB student, McGill), “Resolution of Tax Disputes in International Arbitration”
  • Third Prize (tie): Jonathan Brosseau-Rioux (LLM student, Cambridge), “The Legal basis for the Application of Domestic law in Investment Arbitration”;
    Bernardo Rohden Pires (LLM student, George Washington School of Law), “Can the MFN Clause in the GATS Serve as a Jurisdictional Gateway?”

The winners will present their papers at the Nappert Symposium on October 19, 2016, at McGill University's Faculty of Law. Registration to the symposium is free but mandatory.

The Nappert Prize winners will also have the opportunity to compete for a 1,000$ award to be given to the best oralist by a panel comprised of Professor Andrea K. Bjorklund (McGill), the Hon. Pierre Dalphond (Stikeman Elliott), and Professor Céline Lévesque (University of Ottawa).

Our distinguished jury

We 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

Honourable mentions

  • David Isidore Tan (LLM student, NYU), “Enforcing National Court Judgments as Arbitration Awards under the New York Convention”
  • Fortunat Nadima Nadima (BCL/LLB 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 (LLM 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”

Contest facts

For this edition, we received over 70 submissions from scholars and junior practitioners affiliated with more than 60 institutions, and hailing from places such as Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, Peru, the Philippines, Vietnam, the UK, and the USA.

Most of the applicants were affiliated with institutions in either Europe or North America, and almost a quarter of the submissions were from Asia, more specifically from India and China. Approximately 40% of the authors were women, and the other 60% were men, and most were between 20 and 29 years old.

See the 2016 call for papers.

2014 edition

See the 2014 call for papers and the 2014 winners announcement.

Winners

  • First Prize: Ridhi Kabra (LLM student, Cambridge), “Has Abaclat v. Argentina left the ICSID with a ‘Mass’ive Problem?”
  • Second Prize: Mitchell Moranis  (JD student, Harvard), “Between Power and Procedure:  The Changing Balance of Investment Treaty Protections”
  • Third Prize (tie): Antoine Champagne (BCL/LLB student, McGill), “Moral Damages Left in Limbo”;
    Robert Kovacs
    (Associate, Linklaters; PhD Student, U. of Geneva), “International Arbitration and Insolvency:  A Question of Applicable Law”.

Andrea Bjorklund; Robert Kovacs; Mitchell Moranis; Ridhi Kabra; Antoine Champagne; Sophie Nappert.
Left to right: Prof. Andrea Bjorklund, Robert Kovacs (tied for third); Mitchell Moranis (second place); Ridhi Kabra (first place); Antoine Champagne (tied for third); and Me Sophie Nappert.

Our distinguished jury

  • George A. Bermann, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law, Columbia Law School, New York
  • Teresa Cheng, Senior Counsel and Chartered Arbitrator, Des Voeux Chambers, Hong
  • Giuditta Cordero-Moss, Professor, University of Oslo
  • José Ricardo Feris, Deputy Secretary General, ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris
  • Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General, ICSID, Washington DC
  • Philippe Pinsolle, Partner, Quinn Emmanuel, Paris

Honorable mentions

  • Horia Ciurtin (Babes Bolyai University, Romania), “A Hermeneutical Perspective upon the 'Mitigation of Damages' Principle: The Metamorphosis of a Concept in International Law.”
  • Joel Dahlquist (Uppsala University, Sweden), “Beside the Point: On Obiter Dicta in Investment Treaty Arbitration.”
  • Elsa Paparemborde (BCL/LLB student, McGill), “Preventive Requests for the Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards: Toward an Effective Filtering Mechanism under the New York Convention.”
  • Adam Plenkiewicz (BCL/LLB’14, McGill), “Comparing Proximate Causation in International Law.”
  • Fabio Santacroce (Freshfields, Rome), “The emergency arbitrator: a full-fledged arbitrator rendering an enforceable decision?”

Nappert Prize Competition Collection

Nappert Prize posterThe ICC, in cooperation with McGill University, has released a collection of the best articles written by participants of the 2014 Nappert Prize competition.

Edited by Professor Andrea Bjorklund, holder of the Fortier Chair, the collection is composed of nine articles chosen by experienced practitioners and arbitration experts from the inaugural Nappert Prize Competition in International Arbitration organized by McGill University's Faculty of Law in 2014.

Topics covered include:

  • Procedural questions raised by the interface of arbitration with bankruptcy proceedings or mass claims
  • Genesis of substantive law as developed by arbitral tribunals
  • Links between municipal and international law
  • Principle of proximate causation and its transition to international investment arbitration

To find out more, visit store.iccwbo.org/nappert-prize-in-international-arbitration

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