In 2005 Interleges set up The Stephen Rayner Award to honour the memory of its co-founder Stephen A. Rayner of London. This has become an established annual event focussed on international commercial law and international dispute resolution.

The subject matter for The Stephen Rayner Award 2007 was

LIS PENDENS in international commercial arbitration: freedom of parties v.monopoly of State courts in dispute resolution

and Interleges received entries of a very high standard from law students and legal trainees from across the world on this specialised topic. Entries had to be written in English and could be no more than 5,000 words in length. After careful consideration, our four judges (Salim El Meouchi, President of Interleges, Stefano de Bosio, Vice-President of Interleges, Massimo Vittori, Counsel at the UN/WTO international trade centre and Dr. Arthur Appleton, Counsel White and Case International Trade LLP) have awarded first place to Evgeniya Rubinina, an MPhil in Law student at Balliol College, Oxford, England. In her essay Evgeniya looked at the relationship between the right of arbitral tribunals to determine their own jurisdiction and the power of state courts to adjudicate upon the validity of arbitration clauses, and argued that arbitral tribunals should be given the priority in establishing their own jurisdiction.

Evgeniya, who is 23 and originally from Russia, will receive her prize money of US$4000.00 at the Interleges Annual General Meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in early May 2007. 

Special Commendations have been awarded to Daniel Szeszler, of Hungary, and Désirée Roskothen, of Germany, to recognise the exceptional standard of their entries.

To read the three winning essays please click here

The subject of next year’s award will be circulated after the Interleges Annual General Meeting at the start of May 2007.