The American College of Greece is proud to announce that three Parallel Studies DEREE students who are studying law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens: Claire Sergaki (BA Hons in Economics), Eirini Kikarea (minor in Finance), and Theodora Koutentaki (Stavros Niarchos Foundation Scholar, minor in Finance), were part of a team that won third place at the Global Rounds of the International Moot Court Competition Foreign Direct Investment (FDI Moot –www.fdimoot.org).

The Greek team was ranked third in the world competing against 79 universities from around the globe, and outranked teams from prestigious institutions, such as Harvard University, Georgetown University, King’s College London, University of Ottawa, Hong Kong University, etc.

This year’s topic presented many similarities with the case “Poštová banka, a.s. and ISTROKAPITAL SE v. Hellenic Republic,” currently pending against Greece before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The case revolved around a state (Dagobah- Respondent) that proceeded to a haircut of its sovereign bonds in order to restructure its sovereign debt and avoid defaulting on its own unsustainable debt and a foreign hedge fund (Calrissian – Claimant), holder of Dagobah’s sovereign bonds, which refused participation in the bond exchange process and commenced arbitral proceedings against the issuer state. Therefore, the students had to face a series of complex legal issues, pertaining to the jurisdiction and admissibility of investment appeal, the question of fair and equitable treatment, as well as the invocation of the continuously disputed upon state of emergency by Respondent.

The American College of Greece congratulates the students and wishes them continued success in their endeavors!