Faculty hosts Clifford Chance workshop

The Faculty was delighted to welcome lawyers from global law firm Clifford Chance to the Faculty for the inaugural Clifford Chance Workshop, held on Wednesday 15 July. The workshop was intended to give members of the Faculty and the firm the opportunity to discuss together some of the current research being undertaken in the Faculty, and to celebrate the generosity of Clifford Chance in funding the establishment of a new Lectureship in the Conflict of Laws.

The presentations were given by Mr Hayk Kupelyants, the newly appointed Clifford Chance lecturer, Dr Albertina Albors-Llorens and Dr Michael Waibel. The event was chaired by Professor Richard Fentiman, who formerly practiced at Coward Chance, a predecessor to Clifford Chance.

Albertina has degrees from both Valencia and Cambridge, and is a specialist in EU law, with particular emphasis on EU trade and competition law. She has written extensively on many aspects of EU law, especially in the area of competition, and is co-author of Goyder's EC Competition Law (2003), the classic text on the subject. A winner of the University's Pilkington Prize for Excellence in Teaching, she becomes Reader in EU Law in the Faculty from October. Her presentation explored the principles of Consumer Protection in the context of EU competition law.

Michael, a graduate of the LSE, Harvard, and Vienna, is University Lecturer in Public International Law, with particular interests in international economic law, and international dispute settlement. Amongst his numerous publications, he is the author of Sovereign Defaults Before International Courts and Tribunals (2011), which won the 2012 ESIL Book Prize, having been described by the judges as a "remarkable book … an impressive and original treatment of a subject that is of the utmost relevance for the present state of the international economic system". Michael addressed the issue of international financial control in Greece and explored its presence in Greek history, dating as far back as the 1800s.

Hayk, who holds French, English and Armenian law degrees, will take up the newly-created post of Clifford Chance Lecturer in the Conflict of Laws in October 2015. He is currently completing a PhD in the Faculty on Sovereign Debt Adjudication, jointly supervised by Richard Fentiman and Michael Waibel. A recipient of the prestigious Diploma in Private International Law from the Hague Academy of International Law, he is primarily interested in private international law in a commercial context, and will teach on the Faculty’s course in International Commercial Litigation from October. In his presentation, Hayk discussed the role of the English Courts in the scrutiny of sovereign debt restructurings.

The presentations are available to access below:

• Mr Hayk Kupelyants: 'The Role of English Courts in Scrutinising sovereign Debt Restructurings';
• Dr Albertina Albors-Llorens: 'The consumer in EU Competition Law';
• Dr Michael Waibel: 'International Financial Control in Greece: Then and Now'.

A gallery of photographs from the event is available on Flickr: