On February 24, EWMI’s Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project (JILEP) in Georgia delivered a conference entitled, “Contemporary Issues in Commercial Arbitration: International and Georgian Perspectives” in cooperation with Tbilisi State University National Center for ADR (NCADR), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the European Branch of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), and the ICC International Court of Arbitration. At the conference, international arbitration experts gave presentations and led discussions that allowed Georgian commercial lawyers, law professors, and law students to broaden their knowledge of international commercial arbitration. The conference also gave Georgian practitioners a unique opportunity to build professional relationships with leaders in the international arbitration field.

In the two days following the conference, the Free University of Tbilisi’s National Center for Commercial Law (NCCL) played host to teams of university students from five different countries as part of the “1st Tbilisi Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Pre-Moot.” This Pre-moot was designed to prepare the students for the actual Vis competition to be held in Vienna in March. The teams were from Germany, Latvia, Kosovo, Belorussia and of course, Georgia. The competition was held in English and the arbitrators (judges) were played by practicing lawyers and law professors (and one U.S. Embassy official).