The Centre for Advanced Research & Training in Arbitration Law (CARTAL) at National Law University, Jodhpur is going to conduct the Gary B. Born National Essay Writing Competition on International Arbitration, 2016.

Themes:

• The “Born” Bilateral Arbitration Treaty Proposal: The Way Forward
• Privatisation of “Justice Delivery”: Desirability and Propriety of Arbitrating Public Law Claims.
• The UNCITRAL Model Law: Suggestions for a Second Amendment / 10 Year Review of the UNCITRAL Model Law

About the Essay Competition:
With the increasing use of Arbitration, especially in the sphere of commercial dispute resolution, it is but only apt and timely to encourage research and study in this area. As a wholly consensual dispute resolution mechanism, distinct from the public justice system embodied by national courts and most often shrouded by confidentiality, arbitration is been rightly described as a privatised system of law.

Therefore, its use in addressing claims arising from investment disputes, that with more often not, necessarily involve public law issues, has been continually seen with suspicion. However, this suspicion has not marred its popularity and in fact, it is this that led to Mr. Born and his team at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, proposing the Bilateral Arbitration Treaty – “BAT”.

The focus of this proposal is on bilateral treaties which would provide for international arbitration, under the UNCITRAL Rules, as a default mechanism for resolution of international commercial disputes between corporate parties. This competition seeks to encourage law students to study the feasibility of the BAT Model, and address continuing concerns of the desirability of arbitration of public law claims, and whether the UNCITRAL Model Law can thereby be re-amended, keeping in mind the developments of the last decade.

The competition has the gracious support and patronage of Mr. Gary B. Born himself, who is currently also the President of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre’s Court of Arbitration and an expert in international arbitration in his own right, having participated in more than 600 international arbitrations, including four of the largest ICC arbitrations and several of the most significant ad hoc arbitrations in recent history. He is consistently ranked as one of the leading practitioners in the field. He is also one of the only three lawyers in the world to hold the global “starred” status in Chambers’ rankings.

Rules of the Competition:

• There is no registration fee for the competition.
• The competition is only open for students enrolled in a 5 year integrated undergraduate law degree programme or a 3 year LL.B. degree programme, recognized by the Bar Council of India.
• To participate in the competition, interested students shall submit a soft copy of their completed essay on or before 31st July, 2016, 23:55 hrs at editors@ijal.in. Late submissions shall not be accepted under any circumstances whatsoever.
• No hard copy submissions are required.
• No part of the essay should contain any form of identification of the participant, and any such information if found would lead to disqualification.

Submission Guidelines:

• The essay must be submitted in MS Word format only.
• The essay must contain an Abstract, not exceeding the limit of 250 words, wherein the keywords are mentioned and the tentative conclusions are set out. It must also clearly indicate the theme chosen for the essay.
• One participant can submit an entry for one theme only.
• Co-authorship is not permitted.
• The essays must not exceed a total of 7000 words (excluding footnotes; however descriptive footnotes and substantive text in the footnotes is not permitted).
• The essay must be sent along with a separate document (as a separate MS Word document) containing the following information about the author:
  • Full Name
  • Theme chosen
  • Current year of study
  • Name and full address of Law School / University
  • Name and full postal address of Author
  • Phone Number of University
  • Phone Number of Author
  • Email id of Author

• All submissions must be original and bona fide work of the participants.
• The contestants by entering in the competition agree to indemnify the organisers from and against all claims, suits and damages based on any claim of copyright infringement or plagiarism or un-authorized use.
• All entries shall be considered to be the property of NLUJ, for which NLUJ also reserves the right of publication of the same in any book, journal, or in any other manner as it may deem appropriate, without providing any royalty or compensation.
• The essay should not be submitted for any other competition and / or for any other purposes. Any further publication after declaration of results, shall only be pursued after express permission has been sought from the organisers.
• Font type should be Times New Roman and Font size should be 12 pt. for the text and 10 pt. for the footnotes.
• Line spacing should be 1.5 for the main text and 1.0 for the footnotes.
• Footnotes must follow The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Harvard, 19th Edition) throughout.

Deadline:
The last date for submission is 31st July, 2016 by 23:55hrs

Contact:
Ms. Sanjana Srikumar
Phone: +91-9799568482

Mr. Varun Mansinghka
Phone: +91-8094860084

Centre for Advanced Research and Training in Arbitration Law
National Law University, Jodhpur NH-65,
Nagaur Road, Mandore
Jodhpur – 342304
Email: editors@ijal.in