Announcing the winners of the 2020 Nappert Essay Prize in International Arbitration
The Faculty of Law at McGill University is delighted to announce the winners of the 2020 Nappert Prize in International Arbitration. A panel of nine distinguished judges selected the following three papers among over 60 entries.
- First prize (4,000$): Diana Itzel Santana Galindo (lawyer, Mexico; LLM’19 QMUL), “The Role of the Seat in Smart Contract Disputes"
Diana Itzel Santana Galindo is a Mexican attorney, graduated from Universidad Panamericana. Diana is also a recent LL.M. graduate in Comparative and International Dispute Resolution at Queen Mary University of London. Following her studies, she undertook legal internships at the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB International), Beijing Arbitration Commission (BAC/BIAC), and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) - Second prize (2,000$): Cara North (Consultant, Lipman Karas; LLM’19 MIDS), “The Erosion of Commercial Law as a Consequence of Arbitration”
Cara North is a consultant at Lipman Karas. Cara is a 2019 graduate of the Masters of International Dispute Settlement (MIDS), a joint programme between the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International Development Studies. Before completing the MIDS, Cara was working as a Senior Associate in the London Office of Lipman Karas LLP and a consultant at the Hague Conference on Private International Law working on the Hague Conference's Judgments Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Civil or Commercial Judgments. - Third prize (1,000$): Juan Felipe Coy Gómez (lawyer, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; LLM'19 KCL), “El Medioambiente y el Arbitraje Internacional de Inversión: Estado Actual y Propuestas Para la Reforma del Sistema Arbitral en la Gestión de Disputas Medioambientales”
Juan Felipe Coy is a graduate of University Carlos III of Madrid (bachelor's degree in Economics and bachelor's degree in Law) and King's College London (LLM'19), and he spent an academic year at University of California. He worked as a trainee at Garrigues and Allen & Overy, he is currently working at the dispute team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He is a member of the Madrid Bar Association.
The winners will present their papers at an online symposium hosted by McGill University on 20 October 2020. During the symposium, the Nappert Prize winners will have the opportunity to compete for a 1,000$ award for best oralist, before a distinguished panel of experts:
- Prof. Lauro Gama Jr, Pontifical Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro
- Ms Carmen Núñez-Lagos, Nuñez-Lagos Arbitration, Paris
- Mr Martin Doe, Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague
RSVP to the Nappert Symposium on 20 October 2020.
There are also four 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, McGill), “Judicial Consideration of Substantive Invalidity: Understanding the Courts’ Protective Role under the New York Convention and the Model Law”
We are grateful to Professor Lawrence Boo, Alexander Fessas, Professor Fabien Gélinas, Professor Katia Fach Gómez, Diego B. Gosis, Dr Ridhi Kabra, Meg Kinnear, Caline Mouawad, and Professor Marie-Claude Rigaud for their careful and thorough consideration of the essays.
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. More details will be available in late 2021.
Find out more by visiting the Nappert Prize page.
Congratulations to the 2020 winners!