Team coached by ERC members make it to finals in PIL moot
News
Guest lecture International Commercial Courts Cyprus
Xandra Kramer gave a guest lecture on ‘International commercial courts: a game changer in international litigation?’ at the Neapolis University Pafos in Cyprus on 12 April 2024. She discussed the rise of international commercial courts in the Middle East and Europe, in the context of needs of international business, court specialisation and access to justice and in relation to international arbitration.
Focussing on key features of these courts she gave insights on the different courts, and in particular the Singapore and Netherlands Commercial Court. Highlighting some innovative features and the opportunities the Hague Judgments Convention of 2019 offers, she concluded that these courts have an effect on the international litigation market, but they have not triggered a huge shift from arbitration or other courts to these new business courts.
Published: June 2, 2018
Three ERC members (Xandra Kramer, Erlis Themeli and Georgia Antonopoulou) in collaboration with other members of our department (Alina Ontanu, Marta Kolacz, Priskila Penasthika) coached the Erasmus Law School team in the Pax Moot Court on Private International Law.
In this picture our students Despoina Mouridi, Melvin Hanswijk, Benedicte Mourisse and Emma Ustunalp (from right to left) are happily posing to Xandra’s photographic lens before the Peace Palace in The Hague. They have just won the second place in the finals.
These four students were selected to represent ESL in the first global Pax Moot competition. Together with their coaches they the students studied and intensively prepared the ‘case’. It concerned a civil action claiming damages for environmental damage in Bolivia allegedly caused by a Dutch group of companies. Furthermore, the ‘case’ involved parallel proceedings before different EU courts, investment arbitration proceedings, and raised issues of collective actions before the Dutch courts.
On 22 May 2018, the ESL Pax Moot Court team visited the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris and pleaded against the team representing the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Following the successful preliminary round in Paris, the team won the semi-finals against Paris I Sorbonne in The Hague. In the finals the Erasmus team encountered the Sciences Po students. Both teams pleaded for the first prize with creativity and inspiring enthusiasm. As the presiding moot judge (Hans van Loon, former Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law) explained, after long deliberations the scale finally tipped in favour of our French opponents. Nevertheless, our students Melvin Hanswijk and Despoina Mouridi received special commendations from the jury for their pleading skills and Melvin was offered an internship with the law firm NautaDutilh. We would like to thank the students for their remarkable effort and commitment, and hope that this moot experience will remain a beautiful memory helpful for their future career. It was great coaching you!