Moot Court on International Investment Law Held at the Master’s Program in Law of International Trade and Dispute Resolution
On May 24, 2025, the final round of the now-traditional internal moot court competition was held among the first-year students of the Law of International Trade and Dispute ResolutionMaster’s program at HSE University.
On June 24, 2025, the final round of the now-traditional internal moot court competition was held among the first-year students of the Law of International Trade and Dispute Resolution Master’s program at HSE University.
Moot courts are important for the training of future international lawyers as they offer students a hands-on opportunity to develop key skills in legal research, writing, and oral advocacy in English.
This year’s moot court participants argued an arbitration dispute between a state-owned investor and a host state, where the claimant alleged that the host state had unlawfully restricted the operations of its bank, amounting to de facto expropriation and violations of investment protection guarantees under the applicable investment agreement.
The participants’ performance was evaluated by faculty members, program alumni, and arbitration practitioners, including: Aleksandr Nazarov, Alena Ilchenko, Anastasia Burnakina, Anastasia Santalova, Anna Avdulova, Valeria Zibareva, Vladimir Goroshchenko, Vladislav Starzhenetsky, Dmitry Smirnov, Elena Murashko, Konstantin Ksenofontov, Matvey Tarasov, Sergei Sushkov, Tatiana Petrova, and Yulia Dragunova.
Throughout the rounds, eight teams demonstrated strong preparation and presented convincing legal arguments in both written and oral form. The two strongest teams advanced to the final, which was arbitrated by the following panel:
· Ilia Rachkov, Partner at NSP Law Firm
· Anastasia Simonova, Senior Associate at VERBA LEGAL
· Natalia Soldatenkova, Senior Associate at EPAM Law Offices
Victory went to the team of Animesh Mishra, Dilyara Rakhimova, Polina Polukhina, Alisa Kun, Jubie Suh, and Adriana Bokoeva.
Animesh Mishra was named as the best oralist of the moot. Additional individual awards for oral advocacy went to Angelina Kazmina, Dilmurod Kholmatov, Elizaveta Novichkova, Mustafa Erdogan, Timur Thamokov, and Evan Lang.
The arbitral panel also recognized the best written submissions. The award for best memorandum for claimant went to the team of Alexander Pliner, German Brana, Dmitry Pochtarenko, Cristina Comina, Ramazan Orazakhun, and Evan Lang. The award for best memorandum for respondent was given to the team of Usama Ahmad Khan, Dilmurod Kholmatov, and Muhammad Inzeman Khan.
The program administration and faculty extend their sincere thanks to all arbitrators for their time and valuable contributions, and wish the students continued success as they build on their newly developed skills and pursue further professional achievements.
