Curriculum

Table of contents

Core Curriculum
Modular Curriculum
Enrichment Curriculum
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A broad curriculum balancing foundational subjects, opportunities for specialization, and skills-based learning.

The MIDS program offers a comprehensive and extensive curriculum. To help you navigate the program, we organize it into three categories: Core Curriculum, Modular Curriculum, and Enrichment Curriculum.

The Core Curriculum is shared by all students and delivers essential, foundational knowledge. The Modular Curriculum allows students to tailor their learning, focusing on areas they wish to specialize in. Lastly, the Enrichment Curriculum encompasses a wealth of complementary learning opportunities designed to enhance both academic and professional growth.

More than a typical graduate program, the MIDS is a comprehensive journey of learning and professionalization.

Core Curriculum

Core Courses

The core part of the curriculum consists of five compulsory courses, which provide a comprehensive overview of international dispute settlement.

In the first semester, the core courses provide a solid grounding in commercial and investment treaty arbitration.

In the second semester, they cover state-to-state dispute resolution and transnational and comparative contract law, as well as the national arbitration laws of three key jurisdictions (England, France and Switzerland).

“Core Courses” were previously called “General Courses.” The new nomenclature applies to the MIDS 2024-2025 cohort and onward.

International Commercial Arbitration

Professor Thomas Schultz, University of Geneva Law Faculty and Graduate Institute

Assisted by MIDS Lecturer Dr. Mohamed Mahayni

Autumn Semester

This course provides an advanced and broad introduction to international commercial arbitration, accessible to those who have limited or no understanding of it. Its approach leans more towards first principles and fundamentals than granular practical learning. It thus prepares the way for the heavily practice-focused and in-depth discussions of commercial arbitration that make up most of the rest of the MIDS program.

Investment Treaty Arbitration

Professor Zachary Douglas KC, Geneva Graduate Institute; MIDS Program Director

Assisted by MIDS Lecturer Dr. Rukmini Das

Autumn Semester

This course provides the fundamentals of investment treaty arbitration, both in terms of its procedural aspects (by contrasting the special features of investment arbitration with commercial arbitration and state/state procedures) and the substantive obligations of investment protection. The course focuses on the issues that have given rise to controversy in the jurisprudence, and students will be encouraged to explore their own views on the key debates.

State-to-State Dispute Settlement

Professor Makane Moïse Mbengue, University of Geneva Law Faculty

Assisted by MIDS Lecturer Dr. Mohamed Mahayni

Spring Semester

This course will explore the main aspects of the law and practice of interstate dispute settlement mechanisms such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and interstate arbitration before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). The course will deal in particular with issues such as access to these interstate mechanisms, bases of jurisdiction, provisional measures, counter-claims, third-party intervention, use of experts and advisory jurisdiction.

The Law of International Commercial Contracts

Dr. Jan Kleinheisterkamp, Visiting Professor in Practice, LSE Law School; Arbitrator and Mediator

Assisted by MIDS Lecturer Dr. Rukmini Das

Spring Semester

This course offers the foundations of substantive law for international commercial arbitration. It explores the law of international commercial contracts from a comparative and transnational perspective, within the frame of the procedural and the conflicts-of-laws challenges of international arbitration. This course is not about encyclopedic knowledge of the law(s) of international contracts, but understanding first principles and being able to construct solid arguments founded thereon. Solid knowledge of your own domestic contract law is required.

English, French and Swiss Arbitration Law

This Core Course is taught by three faculty members:

English Arbitration Law: Professor Stavros Brekoulakis, Michael & Laura Hwang Chair in International Arbitration, National University of Singapore & Member of 3 Verulam Buildings (Gray’s Inn)
French Arbitration Law: Professor Maximin de Fontmichel, Professor of Private Law, Director of the Master in International Arbitration and Business Law (MACI), Université Paris-Saclay
Swiss Arbitration Law: Franz X. Stirnimann Fuentes, Principal Partner at Stirnimann Fuentes

Assisted by MIDS Lecturers Dr. Rukmini Das and Dr. Mohamed Mahayni

Spring Semester

In this course, the national arbitration laws of three important jurisdictions will be critically assessed, with a particular emphasis on the practice and procedure for the challenge of arbitral awards before the national courts. This will facilitate a close comparison between the approaches taken by the legislature and the courts to the oversight of the arbitral process.

Core Courses Tutorials - Autumn & Spring

Tutorials, modeled after the Oxbridge system, are weekly small group sessions (about 10 students) led by MIDS lecturers. They offer an opportunity to revisit and explore key concepts from the Core Courses in more depth. Students actively participate in discussions and present two research papers throughout the term, engaging with both course content and their classmates' work.

Taught by MIDS Lecturers Dr. Rukmini Das and Dr. Mohamed Mahayni

Core Workshops

In addition to the five Core Courses, MIDS students follow four Core Workshops, interactive clinical modules designed to help them develop and practice key skills required in international dispute settlement practice.

Legal Writing

David Roney, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP, Geneva

Tanya Landon, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP, Geneva

Among the aptitudes that are most sought after in the domain of international dispute settlement is the capacity to display excellent writing skills: the ability to express arguments clearly and logically in concise sentences, to build convincing lines of reasoning, to identify the central theme of a case for focus and direction, to tell compelling stories and to capture the imagination of decision-makers. While some lawyers are naturals in legal writing, most take a longer route to master it. This workshop aims to formalize and theorize what makes good writing, and train participants to apply these rules and tricks in practice.

Mediation

Birgit Sambeth, Partner, Altenburger LTD Legal + Tax, Geneva

During this workshop, a respected international commercial mediator, accredited by the most prominent ADR organizations worldwide as well as ICSID Conciliator & Mediator, will take students through the nuts and bolts of mediation: When should parties settle? How to bring them to a settlement through a facilitated interest-based negotiation? What is the context, and how does the mediation process unfold? How do you prepare it most efficiently? How to structure multi-party hybrid processes such as Arb-Med-Arb, Dispute Boards, MEDALOA? How does an Investor-State mediation work? These are some of the key questions in mediation; they require special skills, which are too often ignored by counsels and arbitrators alike, much to the detriment of the parties' interests.

Financial Damages Analysis: Lawyer and Expert Witness Perspectives

Geoffrey Senogles, Chartered Accountant; Partner, Senogles & Co, Switzerland

Patricia Saiz, Arbitrator; Professor, ESADE Law School

Any lawyer working in arbitration has to engage with the evaluation of damages.

The goal of this two-part workshop is to provide an insight into the world of damages, from the different perspectives of a lawyer and an expert witness. The content covers relevant legal and financial concepts, as well as international arbitration practice. Two highly experienced international practitioners deliver this workshop series.

Advocacy in International Arbitration: Questioning of Fact Witnesses in International Arbitration

Organized by the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy (FIAA)

FIAA is a Geneva-based foundation widely recognized as the world’s leading provider of advocacy training for international arbitration. Based on our longstanding partnership, FIAA provides MIDS students with an intensive two-day workshop on witness examination in international arbitration. Through a combination of lectures, demonstrations and, most importantly, small group learning-by-doing exercises, MIDS students have a unique opportunity to learn and put into practice critically important advocacy skills and techniques, all of which has proven to dramatically improve the oral advocacy skills of each and every student.

Modular Curriculum

The Modular Curriculum allows students to tailor their learning experience, fostering a personalized academic journey and deepening their expertise in areas that matter most to them.

Students select courses that align with their interests, write a thesis on a subject of their choice, and have the option to pursue an internship experience for academic credit.

Intensive Courses

Intensive courses, organized by the MIDS and taught by distinguished faculty and professionals, offer in-depth exploration of various topics in international dispute settlement, focusing on specialized mechanisms or specific issues. Typically consisting of nine hours of class over two or three days, these courses allow students to revisit topics from the core curriculum and reflect on legal theory or philosophical aspects of dispute settlement.

Students must complete and be assessed in a minimum of eight intensive courses to fulfill the MIDS curriculum requirements. Each year, between ten to twelve courses are offered, with the selection and faculty varying annually based on availability.

Below is a list of courses offered in recent years.

* An asterisk next to the course title indicates that it is planned for the MIDS 2025-2026 program.

AI Tools and Technologies for International Arbitration*

Dmitri Evseev, arbitrator at Arbitra International and founder of ARBI.CITY

This MIDS intensive course, taught by Dmitri Evseev, arbitrator at Arbitra International and founder of ARBI.CITY, will explore the practical uses and limitations of today's AI tools in the field of dispute resolution. The course will provide a primer on the technology behind large language models, semantic search, and neural machine translation and explore core use cases such as document analysis and summarization, automated transcription and translation, AI drafting assistants, and many more. The course will also cover AI best practices and guidelines, such as the SVAMC's Guidelines on the Use of AI in Arbitration.

Arbitration of Intellectual Property & Technology Disputes*

Professor Jacques de Werra, Professor and Director of the Digital Law Center, Faculty of Law, University of Geneva

In the knowledge economy, intangible assets, technology and data (that can be protected by intellectual property rights [IP]) are of strategic importance for the competitiveness of companies and of countries. This has unsurprisingly led to an increase of international IP and technology disputes. Arbitration has emerged as a privileged way to solve such disputes. On this basis, the goal of this intensive course is to present and discuss the use of arbitration for solving IP & technology disputes in the light of recent trends and of potential future developments.

Commercial Arbitration in Asia*

Professor Jane Willems, Associate Director, IADS International Arbitration and Dispute Settlement Program and Visiting Professor, Tsinghua University

This course introduces the trends and fundamental legal concepts underlying domestic and international commercial arbitration in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. It starts with the legal framework and the institutional organizations active in the field. It then turns, relying on a comparative approach of arbitral and judicial practice, to the main characteristics of commercial arbitration in the region, underlying (i) the enforcement of agreements for arbitration ; (ii) the commencement and conduct of arbitration proceedings ; and (iii) recourse against arbitral awards as well as enforcement of arbitral awards.

Contract Law in International Commercial Arbitration

Professor Patricia Saiz, ESADE Law School, Arbitrator

Every dispute that gives rise to a commercial arbitration arises out of a contract and calls for the tribunal to apply and interpret such contract. How do arbitrators deal with contract issues? Taught by an experienced arbitration practitioner, member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and professor of international commercial and investment arbitration, this course reviews topics that are recurrent before arbitral tribunals, including interpretation, default and termination, liability, waivers and limitations to liability, force majeure and changed circumstances, and damages.

Dispute Settlement Mechanisms for Environmental and Climate Change Disputes*

Professor Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, University of Geneva

Environmental and climate change disputes at the international level are on the rise, frequently being litigated before various types of dispute resolution mechanisms. The specific contours of these disputes with respect to common interests, risk prevention or intergenerational equity deserve special attention. This course will focus on the dispute settlement mechanisms (ICJ, arbitration, investment arbitration as well as specialized means) which are available as well as the procedural tools that can be employed, for example, resorting to expert evidence, provisional measures or counter-claims.

Ethics in International Arbitration

Professor Catherine Rogers, Bocconi University

This course explores the professional obligations of the primary participants in international arbitration—arbitrators, lawyers, experts, institutions, tribunal secretaries, and third-party funders. Despite international arbitration’s impressive growth and obvious maturation in recent years, many unanswered questions remain about the applicable ethical duties and professional conduct of these participants in arbitral processes. During this highly interactive course, students will develop practical, conceptual, and theoretical frameworks for resolving ethical questions that arise in their practice, and an ability to anticipate the conduct-related issues that may affect their clients’ rights and their professional obligations.

Fundamentals of Investment Treaty Arbitration

Professor Georgios Petrochilos KC, Founding Partner, Three Crowns; Visiting professor, University of Fribourg

This nine-hour foundational course will cover the following: 1) Who is entitled to bring an investment-treaty claim, against whom, and in respect of what types of claims/counter- claims; 2) The main arbitral fora in which such claims can be brought; and the considerations to take into account in selecting or opposing a forum; 3) Obstacles to the admissibility of claims and counterclaims; and 4) The principal causes of action in investment-treaty claims (expropriation, fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, discrimination, MFN).

ICC Arbitration*

Alexander G. Fessas, Secretary General, ICC International Court of Arbitration

ICC Paris study trip with Professor Pierre Tercier

The International Court of Arbitration is the world’s most preferred arbitral institution. Its unique set of rules and practices have been applied to more than 28,000 disputes since 1923. Students taking ICC Arbitration are offered a practical overview of the ICC arbitration process and its specificities. This course runs for 18 hours, and culminates in a two-day visit at the ICC headquarters and a law firm in Paris.

International Courts and Tribunals and Provisional Measures*

Professor Mamadou Hebié, Associate Professor of international law, Leiden Law School; Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration

Provisional measures raise several difficult questions for the judges and arbitrators having to decide on their request. This is true not only with regard to the conditions to be met in order to indicate them, but also with regard to the impact the decision may have in the following steps of the procedure (jurisdiction, merits). This intensive course will critically assess the case law of inter-State courts and tribunals, as well as that of investor-State arbitration.

Investment Arbitration in Action*

Dr. Michele Potestà, Partner, Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler

Ms. Catherine Kettlewell, Senior Legal Counsel, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

How does an investment arbitration proceeding unfold in practice? This intensive course will walk students through the main steps and phases of an investment arbitration proceeding, seen from the various viewpoints of parties, counsel, tribunal, tribunal secretaries, arbitral institution, and other actors (e.g., non-disputing parties). The course includes a practical exercise centered on an investment mock case, which will allow students to train their practical skills and better understand and anticipate procedural steps in an arbitration.

Investment Arbitration in Africa

Professor Makane Moïse Mbengue, University of Geneva; Affiliate Professor, Sciences Po Paris (School of Law)

African states have contributed significantly to the development of international investment law but also to the development of dispute settlement mechanisms dealing with investment disputes. This course aims at analysing the participation of African states in the shaping of universal mechanisms such as ICSID in particular. It will also show how specific procedures for the settlement of investment disputes have been put in place within the African continent, for instance through African regional courts and at the level of the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA). Last but not least, the course will emphasise on-going reforms and proposals in Africa with respect to investment arbitration.

Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement

Professor Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, Professor Emerita, University of Geneva; Partner, Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler

At the same time as it grew exponentially, investment arbitration started attracting increasingly vocal criticism especially about the lack of transparency, consistency and legitimacy. This course seeks to understand where investment arbitration comes from, what the profound reasons for the current critiques and concerns are, and why they are raised now. It then focuses on the reform initiatives that are presently ongoing, be it through treaty drafting, rules amendments by institutions, such as ICSID, and most importantly through the UNCITRAL reform process. Should investment arbitration be abolished in favor of national courts, or mediation? Should it be replaced by an investment court? Or supplemented by a permanent appellate mechanism? Should it be simply improved? How? Answering these questions will allow to reflect on the purpose of international dispute settlement and on how to design a workable and fair justice system.

Sports Law and Arbitration*

Dr. Kendra Magraw, former CAS Counsel

Switzerland is the host to several international sports federations, as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). CAS acts as the world’s highest sports tribunal for many types of disputes (such as disciplinary, eligibility, anti-doping and commercial disputes) for many major sports and sporting events, such as the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. Like many types of international arbitration, the number of sports arbitrations has skyrocketed in recent years. Students taking Sports Law and Arbitration will be introduced to the concept of lex sportiva and the different procedures before CAS, as well as hot topics in international sports arbitration.

The Arbitration Agreement in International Commercial Arbitration*

Professor Sébastien Besson, Partner, Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler

The arbitration agreement is the cornerstone of international commercial arbitration. It raises complex theoretical issues that have direct practical consequences. This course explores these issues in depth, including the enforcement of the arbitration agreement, the contents of the arbitration agreement (including so-called “pathological” arbitration agreements), the laws governing arbitration agreements, the notion of separability and the principle of competence-competence, the scope of the arbitration agreement and arbitrability. The course has a comparative law dimension and examines the relevant international treaties and some selected domestic arbitration laws.

The New York Convention of 1958*

Professor Albert Jan van den Berg, Emeritus Professor of Law (arbitration chair), Erasmus University (Rotterdam); Distinguished Faculty Co-Chair, International Arbitration LL.M. Program, University of Miami School of Law; Visiting Professor, Georgetown University Law Center (Washington DC), National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and Tsinghua University Law School (Beijing); Partner, Hanotiau & van den Berg (Brussels)

The New York Convention of 1958 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards is the single most important legal text in international agreements and arbitral awards. Students taking the New York Convention of 1958 course obtain a unique insight into the application of the Convention and into the great challenges it faces to keep current with the world of arbitration as it has evolved since 1958.

Theoretical and Practical Aspects of International Commercial Arbitration Involving States and State Entities

Professor Eduardo Silva Romero, Founding Partner at Wordstone Dispute Resolution, Professor Emeritus at Rosario University in Bogotá; Lecturer at Paris 2 University and Sciences Po Paris

The decline, political or otherwise, of investment arbitration has caused an explosion in the use of international commercial arbitration to resolve investment disputes. States and State entities, however, have always had confidence in the international commercial arbitration system. The statistics and works of the ICC International Court of Arbitration support this proposition. It is, as a result, timely and relevant to examine anew the theoretical and practical aspects of this classical type of arbitration when used by private parties, on the one hand, and States and State entities, on the other. In particular, (i) notions such as subjective arbitrability, the prohibition to rely on the State’s internal law to escape the effects of an international commercial arbitration agreement, the applicable law to State contracts, and (ii) practical issues such as the drafting of the arbitration agreement, the formation of the tribunal, the transparency of the proceedings, and the enforcement of the award in those cases, among many other notions and practical questions, should be reassessed.

WTO Dispute Settlement*

Professor Gabrielle Marceau, Geneva University; Senior Counsellor, WTO Research Division (ERSD)

This course focuses on how the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO operates from a legal, political and diplomatic perspective. In reviewing the procedural steps of actual disputes, including the use of experts, the retaliation stage, together with alternative means of settling disputes, the students will be able to better understand how States and other international actors can address international economic tensions resulting from societal choices, while pursuing the WTO goals of both fighting illegitimate protectionism and protecting legitimate public policy objectives. It will also help understand the context of the suspension of the Appellate Body's activities and the calls for specific or general reforms in the WTO, and its dispute settlement system.

Elective Courses

Elective courses provide students with the opportunity to explore topics beyond the core and intensive courses, allowing for deeper engagement in areas related to international dispute settlement or adjacent fields. These semester-long, weekly courses are drawn from the regular curricula of the University of Geneva (UNIGE) Law Faculty and the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), and take place on the respective institution’s campus.

Each year, the MIDS pre-selects 20 to 30 elective courses based on their relevance and compatibility with the MIDS schedule. Students are required to take at least two electives as part of the MIDS curriculum.

Elective courses offered in recent years

Climate Change Litigation (IHEID), Professor Anne Saab

Comparative Methodology: Contract Law (UNIGE), Professor Thomas Kadner Graziano

Compliance with International Law: Theories and Mechanisms (IHEID), Professor Fuad Zarbiyev

Contemporary Challenges of Public International Law (UNIGE), Professor Gloria Gaggioli Gasteyger

Current Issues of International Law through the Case-Law of International Courts and Tribunals (UNIGE), Professor Makane Moïse Mbengue

Economic Analysis of Law (UNIGE), Professor Rashid Bahar

Global Justice and International Law (IHEID), Professor Alice Pirlot

International Arbitration (UNIGE), Professor Thomas Schultz

International Commercial Litigation (UNIGE), Professor Gian Paolo Romano

International Environmental Law (UNIGE), Professor Makane Moïse Mbengue

International Intellectual Property Law (UNIGE), Professor Jacques de Werra

International Investment Law (IHEID), Dolores Bentolila, Nathalie Bernasconi, Michele Potestà

International Trade Law (IHEID), Professor Joost Pauwelyn

Internet & IT Law (UNIGE), Professors Christian Bovet, Jacques de Werra

Law without the State (IHEID), Professor Thomas Schultz

Regulating the Internet (IHEID), Professor Neha Mishra

The Law(s) of Global Governance: Research Seminar (IHEID), Professor Nico Krisch

The Theory and Practice of Treaty Interpretation (IHEID), Professor Andrea Bianchi

TradeLab International Economic Law & Development Clinic (IHEID), Colette van der Ven, Scott Andersen

WTO Law and Practice (UNIGE), Professor Gabrielle Marceau

LL.M. Thesis

The thesis is a carefully argued scholarly paper presenting an original argument that is well substantiated with primary and secondary sources. The thesis includes a substantial research component and must deal with a topic that falls within the scope of international dispute settlement. It must be written under the guidance of an academic supervisor, chosen from the faculty leading the Core Courses, Intensive Courses, or Elective Courses. Being the final element of the MIDS LL.M. program, the thesis gives the students an opportunity to demonstrate expertise in the chosen area.

Internship Experience

The MIDS program offers students the opportunity to enhance their education with an internship experience, which is counted towards their graduation requirements. Internships may take place at a law firm or institution specializing in international dispute settlement. The internship experience component of the curriculum allows students to explore their individual interests while gaining practical, hands-on experience that enhances their learning outcomes.

The MIDS maintains robust connections with a wide range of employers, including law firms, international organizations, and arbitral institutions, and many networking opportunities are built into the MIDS curriculum. MIDS career services support students in their internship search, as well as throughout the application and interview process with individualized coaching; the majority of students secure an internship before completing the program.

The total internship experience may be between three and twelve months, occurring between the end of exams in mid-June to the end of September the following year; most internship experiences require a one-year extension of the MIDS student status.

Enrichment Curriculum

The Enrichment Curriculum offers a diverse range of supplemental activities designed to broaden students' perspectives and enhance their overall learning experience. By taking part in these activities, students engage in dynamic experiences that complement their core and modular studies.

The Enrichment Curriculum includes:

An academic retreat featuring a mini-moot court
Compact workshops
Institutional visits
Conferences
Lectures and seminars

Academic Retreat

The MIDS Academic Retreat is a two-day event focused on a moot court exercise in international arbitration. Students, divided into teams, prepare and present oral arguments under time pressure, guided by experienced coaches. The exercise sharpens skills in legal analysis, strategy, oral advocacy, and teamwork. Hearings are held before tribunals of experienced arbitration practitioners. In addition to enhancing professional skills, the retreat provides valuable opportunities for networking and socializing with peers and professionals.

Compact Workshops

Compact workshops are focused, short-format sessions that take place over a few hours, offering valuable learning and skill development within a condensed period. Led by MIDS staff, these workshops also serve as introductions to key areas of support offered by the program, which students can explore further throughout the year in individual meetings on areas such as careers, research, and writing.

Career Services Workshop

Autumn Semester

This workshop is meant to help students develop the skills and confidence required to succeed in breaking into international dispute settlement markets, be this in an international law firm, an arbitral institution, an international organization, an international court, or a private company. The workshop facilitators (including a dispute settlement professional and the MIDS Executive Director and Career Advisor) will focus on how to strategically plan their professional career, how to draft a curriculum vitae and cover letter, how to have a professional presence on social media, how to network both online and in person, as well as how to face a job interview.

Academic Research and Writing Workshop

Autumn Semester

Early in the academic year, the MIDS Lecturers organize a workshop on academic research and writing to offer guidance to the students. The workshop offers practical insights for written components of the MIDS curriculum, including exams and research papers. The workshop relies on specific writing samples and includes short in-class exercises. The topics of avoiding plagiarism and using proper citation techniques will also be covered.

Thesis Workshop

Spring Semester

This spring-semester workshop on LL.M. thesis writing is designed to help students to refine their work and stay on track for timely submission of early drafts. It covers strategies for sharpening arguments, improving clarity, and managing revisions. The session also offers practical tips for interacting effectively with faculty supervisors and incorporating feedback. This workshop provides valuable guidance to help students finalize their thesis and meet key deadlines.

Institutional Visits

MIDS students participate in study trips to key international dispute settlement institutions in Switzerland, Paris, and The Hague, with costs covered by the program.

In the first semester, students visit the ICC in Paris, where they engage with ICC officials and practitioners of leading law firms, which complements their intensive course on ICC Arbitration.

In the second semester, students travel to The Hague to meet judges and staff from the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal.

Additional institutional visits may include the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Conferences

As part of the MIDS curriculum, students must attend one or two conferences of their choice, in Switzerland or abroad, the cost of which is borne by the MIDS. The MIDS offers several conferences for the students from which to choose. The offer depends on the conferences available for that academic year, but it generally includes the ASA conference in Switzerland, the BIICL Investment Treaty Forum in London, and the ICC annual conference in Paris, among others.

Public Lectures

Each year, the MIDS organizes public lectures featuring distinguished academics and practitioners who discuss current dispute resolution issues, new developments in international dispute settlement, and the work of key international organizations and institutions. These lectures enrich the curriculum and significantly enhance students’ understanding of contemporary challenges in the field.

Speakers at MIDS lectures have included, among others, Professor Georges Abi-Saab, Professor José Enrique Alvarez, Dr. Claudia Annacker, Professor Yas Banifatemi, Professor George Bermann, Hon. Ian Binnie CC KC, Professor Andrea Bjorklund, Professor Stavros Brekoulakis, the late Professor David Caron, the late Professor James Crawford, Professor Yves Daudet, Mr. Donald Donovan, Professor Jeffrey Dunoff, Professor Pierre-Marie Dupuy, the late Professor Emmanuel Gaillard, Professor Chiara Giorgetti, Professor John Y. Gotanda, Sir Christopher Greenwood GBE CMG KC, Judge Xue Hanqin, Professor Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, Ms. Meg Kinnear, the late Mr. Pierre Lalive, Mr. Toby Landau KC, Ms Lucinda Low, Professor Pierre Mayer, Professor Nicolas Michel, Ms. Isabelle Michou, Mr. Salim Moollan KC, Mr. Alexis Mourre, Professor William Park, Professor Lucy Reed, Professor W. Michael Reisman, Mr. David Rivkin, Mr. Bernardo Sepúlveda-Amor, Professor Linos-Alexander Sicilianos, Professor Eduardo Silva Romero, Judge Bruno Simma, Professor Pierre Tercier, Judge Peter Tomka, and the late Mr. V.V. Veeder QC.

Seminars

Unlike MIDS lectures, which are open to the public and usually attract large audiences, MIDS seminars are for MIDS students only.

Seminar speakers in recent years have included Professor Yas Banifatemi (on umbrella clauses in investment treaties), Mr. Doak Bishop (on the settlement of energy disputes), Judge Charles Brower (on the Iran-US Claims Tribunal), Mr. Brooks Daly (on the PCA), the late Professor Armand de Mestral (on ISDS between the EU and Canada and the IS), Professor John Y. Gotanda (on interest in arbitration), Professor Bernard Hanotiau (on complex arbitrations), Professor Mamadou Hébié (on handling procedural incidents at the ICJ), Ms. Meg Kinnear (on ICSID), Professor Makane M. Mbengue (on dispute settlement at the WTO), Professor Campbell McLachlan (on lis pendens), Professor Yannick Radi (on international investment law and arbitration), Mr. David Rivkin (on arbitration at the Olympics), Judge Pablo Sandonato de Léon (on dispute settlement in international organisations), Mr. Michael E. Schneider (on construction arbitration), Mr. Tullio Treves (on the international tribunal of the law of the sea), and Ms. Sofía Klot, Ms. Marta García Bel, and Professor Patricia Saiz (on the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge).

Other Seminars

Q&A Sessions with Star Arbitrators

The Q&A Sessions with Star Arbitrators are organized yearly with different top arbitrators. Based on Chatham House rules, arbitrators give insights into their views on the evolution of dispute settlement, sharing their vast and diverse experience with the students. Star arbitrators in recent years have included Mr. Felix Dasser, Professor Bernard Hanotiau, Mr. Laurent Lévy, Professor Pierre Mayer, Professor Jan Paulsson, Mr. Michael E. Schneider, and Professor Brigitte Stern.

Collaborative Seminar Series

The MIDS has established partnerships with different law firms and arbitral institutions based in Geneva. Some of these partnerships have flourished into yearly seminars, where MIDS students also have the opportunity to informally meet and exchange with their lawyers, partners, and counsel.

Below is a list of seminars offered in recent years:

LALIVE Training Seminar (focus on commercial arbitration proceedings)
Swiss Arbitration: Careers, Insights and Institution’s Practices
Schellenberg Wittmer: Practical Aspects of Working with Experts and Witnesses in International Arbitration
MLL Legal: MIDS Career Seminar

MIDS-NUS Double Degree

The MIDS-NUS Double Degree Program is an exceptional opportunity for students to receive training from two leading institutions and expand their networks in both Geneva and Singapore.