Researchers' Activities

Dr Romesh Weeramantry, Head of International Dispute Resolution at CIL, has published an op-ed in the Straits Times entitled “Post-Conflict Ukraine: Russia’s Obligation to Compensate”.

This annotated bibliography provides an introduction to investor-State conciliation and mediation, and a snapshot of the major publications on this topic.

Dr Romesh Weeramantry, Head of International Dispute Resolution at CIL, has been appointed to the Sri Lankan Minister of Justice’s Expert Committee to advise on the drafting of a new Arbitration Act for Sri Lanka

For the second consecutive year, CIL was represented in the pool of arbitrators of the Vietnam National Rounds of the FDI International Moot. Research Associate Eugenio Gomez-Chico and Research Consultant Emily Choo sat as arbitrators for various rounds, including the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final match of the event. This year, team Rigaux from Hanoi Law University won against 14 other teams, advancing to the regional rounds in Seoul, South Korea.

In addition to participating as arbitrators, Ms Choo delivered a lecture on ‘The Impact of Amicus Curiae Interventions in Investor-State Disputes’, and Mr Gomez-Chico spoke on ‘How to Prepare and Win an FDI Moot Competition’ in the workshop.

Research Consultant Emily Choo was a judge at the Vietnam CISG Pre-Moot. She was previously invited to judge the national rounds of both the Foreign Direct Investment Moot and the Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot.

 Rachel Tan Xi’en (CIL Practice Fellow) and Dana Chang (Wong Partnership) emerged champions at the Essex Court Chambers–Singapore Academy of Law (ECC-SAL) Mooting Competition 2019, after five rounds of competition. They won against the team from Wong Partnership in the final round held on 8 January 2019 at the Supreme Court of Singapore.

The ECC-SAL Moot is open to young lawyers from around Asia who have been qualified for no more than three years, to hone their advocacy skills. This year’s topic involved a dispute before the Singapore International Commercial Court concerning the question of the implication of terms in a contract and the validity of entire agreement clauses. The moot finals were judged by Justice Kannan Ramesh (Supreme Court of Singapore), David Foxton QC (Head of Essex Court Chambers) and Ng Jern-Fei QC (Essex Court Chambers).

Practice Fellow Rachel Tan Xi’en won the 2018 CIArb Competition on 21 November 2018. The essay competition is organised by the Singapore branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The essay topic concerns a scenario on a culture clash between common and civil law procedures and the different approaches to taking evidence in international arbitration in the two legal systems. It invites entrants to submit a draft procedural order and an explanatory note to that order. The judging panel comprised Ms Judith Gill QC and Mr Duarte G Henriques.

This is the third time that a CIL researcher has won the CIArb Competition. In 2013 and 2015, Harpreet Kaur Dhillon and James Losari won the competition respectively.

Research Associate Rachel Tan coached the NUS team that emerged runner-up at the Asian Law Students Association (ALSA) Investment Law Moot held in Yangon from 24 to 27 August 2018. At the keenly contested final, two NUS teams battled through four intense rounds simulating an investor-state dispute before the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The runner-up team comprises second-year NUS law students: Ong Kye Jing, Wileen Saw, Timothy James Chong, and Isabella Tan.

CIL Researchers Ms Emily Choo and Mr Eugenio Gomez-Chico were invited to judge the inaugural Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot (FDI Moot)—Vietnam National Round (7–8 July 2018). The moot was hosted by the Ho Chi Minh University of Law and organised by the Vietnam Society of International Law. The national round is part of the FDI Moot organised by the Center for International Legal Studies, which aims to help future lawyers attain a practical understanding of investment law issues, and offers a unique forum for academics and practitioners from around to world to discuss developments and assess emerging talents. The winning teams were from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh University of Law.

CIL Director Lucy Reed, Head of International Dispute Resolution (Practice Skills) J Christopher Thomas QC, Head of Investment Law and Policy Jansen Calamita, Practice Fellow Emily Choo, and Global Associates Mark Feldman and Tara Davenport were part of the faculty of the 2017 Singapore International Arbitration Academy, which was organised by the CIL on 25 October 2017–2 November 2017. Ms Emily Choo was also team coach to one of the teams that took part in the Academy’s arbitration moot.

CIL Research Associates Millicent McCreath, Robert Real and Zoe Scanlon attended the Academy as participants and took part in the arbitration moot. Ms Zoe Scanlon was awarded a prize for excellence in advocacy.

Professor Reed, Mr Thomas, Research Associate Professor (CIL) Calamita and Ms Choo were speakers and moderators in the panel sessions in the CIL International Conference on Global Currents in International Investment Law on 2 November 2017.