MIDS ALUMNI PORTRAIT SERIES — From Geneva to Dubai: Tania Singla on advocacy, curiosity, and international arbitration

When I was considering the MIDS Program in 2017, I was very deliberate about my choice. What really drew me to the MIDS program was that it had been designed by some of the world's leading arbitration practitioners, who were actively shaping the field while simultaneously teaching. That is not something you find everywhere. I was looking for an LL.M. program that would genuinely prepare me for legal practice in an international setting, and that is exactly what the MIDS Program promised (and delivered).  The MIDS was deliberately and deeply practitioner-oriented, focusing on the skills and knowledge you could apply the moment you entered legal practice. Joining the MIDS also offered the opportunity to be a part of Geneva's unique ecosystem, in particular the proximity to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, which meant that the learning did not stop in the classroom. I valued this very much. I came to the MIDS with a clear expectation of growth, personal as much as professional. I saw it as a formative year, one that would not only sharpen my skills but also deepen my understanding of who I wanted to be in this field and how I wanted to practice.  I can confidently say now that the MIDS Program was one of the best investments I made for my legal career. 

My friends and colleagues from the 2017 - 2018 batch, and the MIDS community more generally. My cohort was composed of people who were sharp and brilliant, but also some of the kindest people I have ever known. We built deep and meaningful friendships during that year: the kind you form when you are learning and struggling alongside the same group of people through an intense, demanding year. These friendships have endured in the years that have passed, and even today, they challenge me to be a better lawyer. A special mention for Diego Gutierrez, who led the MIDS career services programme at the time. He helped me open doors that would have never been open to me otherwise, and in doing so, he transformed the trajectory of my legal career. 

Looking back at the years that have passed since graduation, I realize that I still carry the MIDS training, as well as my MIDS network, to work every day. My MIDS training has shaped how I approach cases and disputes, including how I analyse a problem, how I build an argument, and how I engage with the arbitral tribunal and opposing counsel. For example, the key focus of my oral and written advocacy is to assist the arbitral tribunal in reaching a favourable decision, as opposed to arguing with the other side. For that reason, I am often told that my submissions reflect maturity and nuance beyond what is expected of an associate at my level. And thanks to the MIDS network, I can almost always find a friendly face in every arbitration hearing or conference that I attend. It never ceases to amaze me how well-connected and global the MIDS network truly is. 

One misconception that the MIDS fundamentally changed for me is the idea that international law is abstract and disconnected from the real world. Looking back, I could not have been more wrong. An important aspect of our training at the MIDS was analysing real decisions of international courts and tribunals, which meant that we also had to think about the significant consequences of these decisions for States, corporations and individuals. When you are doing that in a city like Geneva, steps away from the institutions where these matters were being decided, it is impossible to think of international law as anything but deeply relevant and essential. Today, behind every international treaty and arbitral award, I see human decisions, human interests, and human impact. And once you see international law this way, you simply cannot unsee it. 

At the MIDS, I was taught by some of the world's leading experts in international law and arbitration, who had shaped the field through their practice and scholarship. And yet, in that classroom, they pushed us to challenge, to interrogate, and to think independently. The questions they valued the most were not the ones that showed that we had mastered the material but the ones that unsettled it. That, to me, was one of the most formative things about the MIDS experience. I learned that true expertise is not threatened by questioning but deepened by it. It is a lesson that I have carried well beyond the program. 

Here's my favourite piece of advice from the speech that JuanCa and I gave at our MIDS graduation, which remains relevant even today: "Don't let the intensity of the MIDS curriculum detract you from the beauty of the MIDS experience. Look around you. Here, you will meet people who will inspire you to become the best version of yourself, personally and professionally. These people are certainly going to understand exactly how you are feeling. Make the most of it and help each other out every time you can. Be obsessed with your journey, not your competition."