Otto Riese Lecture Series
The programme organizes a lecture series in honour of Otto Riese.
Otto Riese (1894-1977) was a professor and Dean at the University of Lausanne Law School who became the first German judge at the European Court of Justice. Find out more...
Next Lectures:
September 2013
Past Lectures:
21 February 2013: Prof. Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann: The Judicial Task of Administering Justice in International Economic Adjudication (7th Otto-Riese Memorial Lecture)
Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, Emeritus Professor at the European University Institute and former legal adviser (since the inception of the Legal Service in 1982) at the GATT/WTO Secretariat will deliver the Otto-Riese-Memorial Lecture on occasion of the opening ceremony of the Spring Semester of our LLM Programme.
20 September 2012: Thomas R. Graham (Member of the WTO Appellate Body) 6th Otto-Riese Memorial Lecture)
Thomas R. Graham has been associated in different capacities with the modern GATT/WTO multilateral trading system since its creation. Since December 2011 a Member of the WTO Appellate Body, he looks back at a distinguished career in Government, International Organizations and Private Practice. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he started his professional life in Geneva as a legal counsellor for the United Nations, worked later as Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington D.C. and then joined private practice. Before being elevated to the Appellate Body, Thomas Graham was Senior Counsel for King & Spalding, chairing its International Trade Group. Otto Riese (1894-1977) was a professor and Dean at the University of Lausanne Law School who became the first German judge at the European Court of Justice.
23 February 2012: Dr. Frieder Roessler, Executive Director, Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) (5th Otto-Riese Memorial Lecture)
Frieder Roessler served as Executive Director of the ACWL from its inception in 2001 until July 2012. In this capacity, he played a significant role in establishing and developing the ACWL. Since stepping down from his position as Executive Director, he has continued to serve as Senior Counsel at the ACWL in a part-time capacity. Mr. Roessler was educated in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. After completing his legal training in Germany, he worked for the World Bank and then for the GATT and the World Trade Organization. In 1989, he was appointed Director of Legal Affairs, a post which he held until 1995. Mr. Roessler's main task at the GATT and the WTO was to advise dispute settlement panels and to prepare drafts of their reports or supervise their preparation by his staff. He was also closely involved in the legal aspects of the Uruguay Round negotiations and participated in the legal drafting process at the end of the Round. After leaving the WTO, Mr. Roessler joined the faculty of law of Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He has also been an adjunct professor at the Jean Moulin University of Lyon and at Paris and taught at the universities of St. Gallen in Switzerland and of Minnesota in the United States. Between 1995 and 1998 he gave courses and seminars at Georgetown University on international economic law, the external relations and trade policies of the EC, WTO dispute settlement procedures (with Prof. John Jackson), and trade and the environment (with Prof. Edith Brown-Weiss).
28 September 2011: Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch (4th Otto-Riese Memorial Lecture)
Marie Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch is with the title of a Secretary of State Director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Berne, Switzerland. From 2007 Federal Council Ambassador and Delegate for Trade Agreements, Switzerland's chief negotiator at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as well as member of the SECO Board of Directors and in addition to the WTO responsible for the OECD and free trade agreements as head of the World Trade Division in the Foreign Economic Affairs Directorate. Previously, from 1999 to 2007, head of the WTO sector. From 1995 head of section in the WTO section of the Federal Office of Foreign Economic Affairs FOFEA. 1992/1993 she worked at the World Bank (Washington D.C., USA) as assistant to Switzerland's Executive Director's. From 1990 to 1995 scientific adviser in the Legal Service and International Investment and Technology Transfer Service in the FOFEA. 1989 gained her MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau, F). 1988 Junior Consultant at McKinsey in Zurich. 1987 gained her law degree at the University of Berne qualifying as an attorney.
23 September 2010: H.E. Ambassador Roberto Azevedo : Brazil as a Global Player in the World Economy (Third Otto Riese Lecture)
H.E. Roberto Azevedo is the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the WTO and other Economic Organizations in Geneva. After a distinguished career in the Foreign Service of his country, he joined the Permanent Mission of Brazil in Geneva for the first time in 1997, then as First Secretary. Since then, he has headed the delegation of Brazil in many high-profile dispute settlement cases (e.g. the cases on Brazilian Export Credits for Regional Aircrafts, on EC Anti-Dumping Duties on Malleable Cast Iron Tube or Pipe Fittings, the WTO-compatibility of the U.S. Byrd Amendment, Brazilian Measures Affecting Imports of Retreated tires, U.S. Subsidies on Upland Cotton, the EC Banana Regime and EC Export Subsidies on Sugar) and served as distinguished panellist on other cases. He became Ambassador of his country in Geneva in 2007 and has established himself as one of the most prominent voices on trade-related issues.
3 March 2010: Victor do Prado (WTO): Current Challenges for the World Trading Order (Second Otto Riese Lecture)
Victor do Prado is Deputy Chef de Cabinet of the Director General of the World Trade Organisation Pascal Lamy. He addresses the current state of the Doha Round and its dynamics as seen from within the WTO.
17 September 2009: Jacques Bourgeois: "Les paradoxes de Lamy" - some thoughts about the WTO (First Otto Riese Lecture)
Jacques Bourgois served from 1987-1991 as principal legal adviser of the European Commission, where he was in charge of foreign trade policy and, later, antitrust policy. Previously, he had served for several years as head of the Trade Policy Instruments Division in the Directorate General for External Relations, and was responsible for the implementation of the EU's regulations on antidumping and subsidies, as well as for safeguard measures and protection against illicit commercial practices.
