On October 22-24, a team of NYU Law students traveled to Malibu, California, for the 2010 Foreign Direct Investment International Moot Competition, sponsored by Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom. The competition, which was hosted by Pepperdine University School of Law, dealt with issues relating to umbrella clauses, attribution, expropriation, fair and equitable treatment, and the defense of essential security.
The ficticious states of Beristan and Opulentia entered into a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in 1996. Beritech, a Beristian state-owned entity, subsequently entered into a joint venture agreement with Televative Inc., an Opulentian corporation dealing with satellite telecommunications, to form Sat-Connect Inc. in Beristan. When the satellite technology was ready for deployment, Beritech and the government of Beristan accused Televative of leaking confidential information regarding Sat-Connect to the government of Opulentia. Beritech then invoked a buyout clause under the joint venture agreement and members of the Beristian civil engineering section expelled Televative's personnel from the joint venture premises. Televative commenced an ICSID arbitration against the Government of Beristan pursuant to the BIT.
The NYU Law team, which consisted of Ashok Ayyar (J.D./MPA '11), Darius Chan (LL.M. '11), Wamiq Chowdhury '11, third year exchange student Christine Van Geyn, and Sven-Michael Volkmer (LL.M. '11), won the awards for Highest Ranked Team and Best Counter Memorial, and finished second place in the Oral Competition. Van Geyn was named Best Oral Advocate and Volkmer won honorable mention in the same category.
The team was coached by Jocelyn Burgos '02 (LL.M. '06), Christian P. Alberti, assistant vice president of the American Arbitration Association's International Centre for Dispute Resolution, and Rafael Rincon (LL.M. '11).
Posted October 27, 2010