The Faculty welcomes the news that PhD student Maxence Rivoire has won first prize and best oralist in the prestigious 2022 Nappert Prize in International Arbitration.
The Nappert Prize is a biennial essay competition in the field of international arbitration. Administered by McGill University, it was created in 2014 by Sophie Nappert, a noted arbitrator based in London. For the 2022 edition, over 45 submissions were received from junior scholars, junior practitioners, and students from around the world.
Maxence’s paper, entitled 'The Law Applicable to the Arbitrability of Registered Industrial Property Rights' was selected by a panel of distinguished jurors, including Martin Doe Rodriguez (Permanent Court of Arbitration), Professor Lawrence Boo (National University of Singapore & the Arbitration Chambers), Jonathan Brosseau (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University), Kyongwha Chung (Covington), Alexander Fessas (ICC International Court of Arbitration), Meg Kinnear (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes), Courtney Lotfi (Jones Day), and Natalia Marina Zibibbo (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer).
For his first place, Maxence received CAD $4000 in prize money and an invitation to present his paper at a symposium hosted at the Faculty of Law of McGill University on 18 October, along with other prize winners Priyanshi Vakharia and Juan Felipe Coy Gómez. At the symposium, Maxence also received an award for best oralist, worth another CAD $1000. The oral segment of the Prize was judged by a panel composed of Professor Andrea Bjorklund (McGill University), Dr Joshua Karton (Queen’s University), and Vasuda Sinha (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer).
Maxence’s paper suggests a framework to resolve conflicts of laws relating to the question of whether patent and trademark disputes can be resolved by arbitration. It is based on his doctoral research, supervised by Professor Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan, on international arbitration, intellectual property, and private international law.
Responding to this award, Maxence said:
"I am extremely honoured to have received the Nappert Prize in International Arbitration. I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Professor Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan and my advisor Professor Richard Fentiman KC for their help and advice, as well as everyone who supported my research. Thank you also to the jury, to Professor Darren Rosenblum and Tanya Oberoi for organising the contest, and to Sophie Nappert, whose generosity made the prize possible. I would strongly encourage everyone with an interest in international arbitration to participate in the next edition. It is a wonderful opportunity for the new generation to get our voice heard in the arbitration community".