Armenia’s Mock Arbitration Competition 2018 Held at AUA

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YEREVAN, Armenia ‒ On March 24 and 25, 2018, the American University of Armenia (AUA) hosted the sixth annual Mock Arbitration Competition, organized by the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Clinic of the AUA LL.M. program with the cooperation of the Council of Europe and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland within the scope of the project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Armenia.”

The Mock Arbitration Competition aims at equipping law school students from different universities within Armenia with practical knowledge of ADR.

The competition provides students with the opportunity to arbitrate a real case helping them enhance their skills that will be used in building justice mechanisms in Armenia. As one of the arbitrators pointed out, the Armenian education system provides good academic knowledge to students and these kinds of competitions create platforms for the students to compete and ensure the practical use of that knowledge, as well as to develop rhetorical skills and to get advice from top professionals in the field.  

This year, eight teams from six universities took part in the competition. The participating universities were AUA, Yerevan State University (YSU) with two teams, Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (RAU), Vanadzor State University (VSU), the Police Educational Complex of the Republic of Armenia (RA), and the French University of Armenia (UFAR) with two teams. The VSU team received a special prize of acknowledgement for being the only regional university that has participated in the Mock Arbitration for all six years.

Participating arbitrators included practitioners of private international law and judges and professors from the different universities of Armenia. Additionally, representatives from the Financial Arbitration Center associated with the Union of Banks of Armenia and representatives from the Office of Financial Ombudsman of Armenia were also present.

The finalists were the teams from YSU and the Police Educational Complex of RA. The first prize went to one of the teams from YSU along with the award for the best oralist of the competition awarded to Mr. Martun Stepanyan. The team of the Police Educational Complex of RA received the award for the best written submission.

The AUA LL.M. program ADR Clinic offers a unique opportunity for undergraduate and postgraduate students  from legal departments of all the universities of Armenia to participate in this competition. It serves as a professional platform for participants who want to hone their legal skills in arbitration, and receive substantive recommendations from top professionals in the field of law and dispute resolution.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.