OPEN COURSES SPRING 2023
Trade, Investment & Climate Change
2-3 March 2023
This course, taught by Professor Andreas Ziegler, introduces students to the legal concepts and tensions underlying international trade in goods and services as well as investment regarding climate change. It looks at the discussions at the multilateral level (especially WTO and UNCTAD) as well as some regional and domestic responses to the current challenges (eg. EU). The course relies on official documents and thereby familiarises the participants with the language and arguments used in these documents and prepares them for drafting and understanding such documents in the future. It emphasises the importance of the different priorities for different actors and the options for bridging current gaps.
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International Litigation Advanced
16-17 March 2023
Addressed to professionals with sound knowledge in this area and to students who have already completed the LL.M course in International Commercial Litigation, this course, which relies on contributions by experienced litigators, addresses specialised problems arising in the practice of international disputes. This year, Professors Andrea Bonomi and Christoph A. Kern will present the European rules with regards to the conditions for recognition and the grounds for refusal of recognition of foreign judgments. Ms. Sandrine Giroud will discuss, from the perspective of a practical lawyer, strategies, procedures and obstacles of the enforcement of foreign decisions. Alexander Layton QC will provide an overview of the English recognition rules and interim measures.
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Sports Arbitration
20-21 March 2023
This course, taught by Professor Andrea Bonomi, Despina Mavromati, Professor Antonio Rigozzi, and Sébastien Besson, focuses on the structure and particularities of the arbitral proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the case law of the Swiss Federal Court, and the various aspects of international litigation in the field of sports law. The course also introduces students to the dispute resolution system within the international federations.
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FinTech
30-31 March 2023
This course, taught by Professor Matthias Lehmann and Dr. Pascal Favrod-Coune, introduces students to the legal and economic issues raised by financial technology (FinTech). Problems in dealing with disruptive innovations will be highlighted and answers sought. For example, new payment service providers, such as PayPal, operate from one or two jurisdictions and offer their services around the world. This model creates immense challenges for supervisors and regulators. The questions they are confronting are the possibility of applying regulatory standards extraterritoriality, the exchange of information with other nation's authorities and the deference to foreign standards. Even more complex issues arise from the emergence of cryptocurrencies, robo-advisors and crowdfunding platforms. These questions will be examined, as well as the evolving response of global regulatory coordination and cooperation.
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Energy Arbitration
27-28 April 2023
This course, taught by Mr. Rahul Donde and Dr. Gloria M. Alvarez, studies the use of international arbitration in the energy sector, and how disputes arising in this context are resolved. From the investment perspective, foreign investors require strong guarantees that states will respect the “rules of the game” that constitute the basis of their investments. On the other hand, states can use their sovereign powers to regulate and protect public interests and interfere with foreign energy investments, which are of socio-economic importance. This course aims to review and understand the overall framework of international energy investments, including investment treaties and dispute resolution mechanisms.
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Investment Arbitration
11-12 May 2023
This course, taught by Professor Andreas R. Ziegler, provides an introduction to dispute settlement with regard to foreign direct investment (FDI) and Multinational Enterprises (MNE). It focuses on the relevant topics in arbitral proceedings, in particular investor-State arbitration (definitions and coverage of important agreements, arbitral institutions, questions relating to the establishment and functioning of investor-State arbitral tribunals), such as contained in bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and multilateral initiatives, such as NAFTA Chapter 11 of the OECD's project for a Multilateral Investment Agreement (MAI). Particular emphasis is given to ICSID and the UNCITRAL Rules in the specific context of FDI.
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International Arbitration Advanced
25-26 May 2023
This course, taught by Professor Andrea Bonomi, is targeted toward professionals with sound knowledge of this area and students who have already completed the LL.M. courses in International Commercial Arbitration or Investment Arbitration. The course addresses specialised problems arising in the practice of international arbitration.
This year’s edition of the course will be devoted to problems related to the conduct of arbitration proceedings (case management, terms of reference, procedural timetable, procedural orders, taking of evidence, expert witnesses, hearings, applicable rules of law, expedited procedures, confidentiality etc.), drafting of arbitration agreements, selection and challenge of arbitrators, financing of arbitration, including third-party funding, and confidentiality. The course will include case discussions and relies on contributions by experienced counsels and arbitrators.
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Human Rights and Climate Change
3 May & 7 June & 15-16 June 2023
This course begins on 3rd May with Professor Petra Butler's course on Small States, followed by a half-day workshop on 7th June, then a one-day workshop on 15th June taught by Professor Evelyne Schmid and a half-day course on the morning of 16th June.
The half-day workshop on 7th June will provide an overview of the most compelling issues of the climate action in the Swiss business sector. The multifaceted business risks posed by climate change will be presented and analysed from the perspective of Swiss commercial law, with a focus on human rights obligations arising from international conventions and the influence of European Union legislation. This year's lecturers include: Dr. Corina Heri, University of Zurich, Ms. Giulia Marchettini, Schellenberg Wittmer, and Ms. Aleksandra Pinkas, University of Wrocław. After the workshop, participants will have knowledge of the climate change legal framework applicable to business in Switzerland and be able to assess various environmental questions that Swiss companies are required to address.
Professor Schmid's workshop, taught on 15th June, will introduce participants to the interaction between climate change and human rights law. It will cover the basics about how climate change threatens human rights enjoyment and will explore the contours of the debate about how or to what extent human rights law is, or is not, able to take into account climate change threats, locally and from the perspective of global distributive justice. Participants will learn about some of the most well-known types of international climate litigation strategies based on human rights law (litigation against states, against corporations/non-state actors, advisory proceedings), and, vice versa, will also briefly look into litigation strategies by powerful non-state actors or by governments who attempt to curb or delay climate action or to shrink the space for environmental protection and activism.
The last part of the course, taught in the morning on 16th June by Ms. Lara Blecher, will look at various aspects of the ‘just transition.’ It will begin by exploring the international legal foundation for this concept and analysing examples of how just transition considerations are playing out in the real world. Participants will then be asked to draft a ‘just transition plan’ from the perspective of a government, a trade union, and a business. The session will end with a discussion about how these stakeholder perspectives overlap and conflict. The goal of this part of the course is for participants to understand better the concept of a ‘just transition.’ It will focus on the link between climate and human rights in the real world and the identification of tensions that prevent good solutions to dealing properly with both issues.
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International Mediation Advanced
8-9 June 2023
This course, taught by Rahim Shamji and Dr. Zoe Giannopoulou, will cover some of the following topics: the history and future of mediation, the psychology of conflict, negotiation and cultural context. The course also covers the various stages of a mediation, each delegate is guided on how to successfully navigate each stage effectively. Students will learn the importance of mediation and the development of mediation in the legal world. The course includes face to face teaching from our international mediation experts, and group activities in which students will learn basic mediation skills.
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Technology and Dispute Resolution
22-23 June 2023
This course, taught by Professor Eva Lein, looks at both technology used in the process of dispute resolution and disputes involving new technologies. This includes the topics of Legaltech, AI and predictive justice but also the use of digitalisation to simplify hearings and witness examinations in court and arbitration proceedings. Furthermore, students will analyse decisions in disputes involving new technologies (eg. smart contracts, digital assets). The course offers face-to-face teaching, including sessions with international experts, and workshops in which the students will discuss case scenarios.
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