Annual Mock Arbitration Competition 2019 Organized for Armenian Law Schools at AUA

2 min read

YEREVAN, Armenia ‒ On March 23 and 24, 2019, the American University of Armenia (AUA) conducted the seventh annual Mock Arbitration Competition, organized by the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Clinic of the AUA Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program, in cooperation with the Council of Europe within the scope of the project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Armenia.” The project is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.

The Mock Arbitration Competition aims at equipping law school students from different universities within Armenia with practical knowledge of ADR. It 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 such competitions create platforms for them to compete and apply the acquired knowledge and skills.

This year, nine teams from seven universities took part in the competition. The participating universities were AUA, Yerevan State University (YSU) with two teams, Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (RAU) with two teams, the Police Educational Complex of the Republic of Armenia (RA), the Yerevan Juridical-Economic and Management College, and the French University in Armenia (UFAR). Prior to the Mock Arbitration, the Chairman of the Arbitration Association of Armenia, Aram Orbelyan conducted a workshop for the participants on counseling skills during arbitration.

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

This year the finalists were the teams from YSU and AUA. The first prize went to one of the teams from YSU along with the award for the best oralist of the competition awarded to Tatevik Martirosyan. The RAU team 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.