In the period of 21-23 November 2017 students from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law attended the international winter school in international investment law  in Durres, Albania,  in preparation for the competition in international investment law – the Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot Court. The organizer and sponsor of the winter school was German organisation GIZ Open Regional Fund South East Europe Legal Forum, the event was supported by UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law), while significant organisational help was provided by Assistant Professor Dr. Milena Đorđević, the Director of the Center for Legal Skills at our Faculty. Besides the Belgrade team, participants at the winter school were students from the faculties from Novi Sad, Skopje, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Zenica, Pristina and Tirana.

During the first day of the program, the students had a chance to attend lectures on general topics in investment law, and to get acquainted with the rules of the competition, which will take place in March 2018 in Frankfurt. Dr. Adela Llatja, Project Manager at GIZ ORF, Dr. Judith Knieper, Representative of UNICTRAL, Mrs. Alma Hicka, Albanian State Attorney, Mr. Erion Muharremaj, Vice Dean for international cooperation at the Faculty of Law in Tirana and Arne Fuchs Attorney at Law, the organizer of the Frankfurt Investment Moot, held a speech on that occasion. After the lectures, a tour of Tirana was organized for the winter school participants.

During the second day of the winter school, the professors and professionals from the region held lectures to the students. The lectures on relevant topics related to this year’s case were held by: Professor Toni Deskoski (“Jurisdiction Rationae Personae of ICSID”), Professor Maja Stanivuković (“The Precedent in Investment Arbitration”), Mrs. Gentrita Bajrami (“Challenge of Arbitrators in Investment Arbitration”), Assistant Professor Dr. Vangel Dokovski (“Third Party Funding”), the Belgrade team coaches, Mr. Nikola Ilić and Mrs. Andrea Nikolić (“Fair and Equitable Treatment”) and Mrs. Bojana Ristić, the Novi Sad team coach (“Taking of Evidence In Investment Arbitration”). Work of the panel during the second day was moderated by Assistant Professor Dr. Milena Đorđević.

On the third day of the winter school, a preparatory pre-moot, in which each team performed twice in English before the three-arbitrator panel, once taking the role of the claimant and then taking the role of the respondent, was organised. After the oral hearings with the teams from Zenica and Podgorica, and based on the general impression they made on arbitrators, the Belgrade team qualified for the finals, where they met with the team from Novi Sad. However, although owing to fine details, the first place went to the University of Novi Sad, while the Belgrade team took second place.

This year’s Belgrade team for the Frankfurt Investment Moot consists of the undergraduate and graduate students: Andrea Stevanović, Stefan Stanimirović, Nemanja Ćurčić and Stefan Jugović (more on the team see). The students are being prepared for this prestigious international competition by the second-year Ph.D. students Nikola Ilić, Assistant Lecturer at our Faculty, and Mrs. Andrea Nikolić. The topics that the students will deal with at the competition concern the jurisdiction of the ICSID arbitration, the appointment and challenge of arbitrators, the rules of evidence, as well as the substantive protection of foreign investments.