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Dean Philip McConnaughay Serves as Arbitrator at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague

STL Dean Philip McConnaughay served as one of three arbitrators hearing a major investor-state arbitration at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”) in The Hague, The Netherlands.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration, established by treaty in 1899, is an intergovernmental organization providing a variety of dispute resolution services to the international community. It sits in the Peace Palace, one of The Hague’s most august institutions serving the mission of public international law. The Peace Palace also is home to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Peace Palace

International Court of Justice

Dean McConnaughay’s previous experience practicing law and as a law professor has principally involved questions of private commercial and intellectual property law. His service at the PCA focused on issues of public international law, in this case issues arising under a bilateral investment treaty. He served on a panel with two world-leading investor-state arbitrators: Dr. Michael Hwang of Singapore, a long-time partner of Allen & Gledhill who served previously as Chief Justice of the Dubai International Financial Court and as Chair of several leading international arbitration institutions, including the ICC Court of Arbitration in Paris and the Singapore and London International Courts of Arbitration; and Sir David AR Williams of New Zealand, a similarly accomplished barrister and Queen’s Counsel who has served previously as a Justice of New Zealand’s High Court of Justice and as Chief Justice of the Cook Islands.

Dean McConnaughay and Sir David Williams in Hearing Room

Both the PCA and the ICJ offer fellowship positions for recent law school graduates. The PCA positions are described here. The PCA also has a few Legal Counsel positions which are open far less regularly. PCA Legal Counsel positions are described here.

The ICJ Judicial Fellows program and positions are described here. Nominations of ICJ Judicial Fellows must be made only by eligible universities. PKU and STL are eligible to make nominations, but we will need to establish a faculty nominating committee if any of our recent graduates is interested in pursuing appointment.

Dean McConnaughay encourages recent STL graduates to consider the fellowship program at PCA and ICJ. “The PCA Legal Counsel who managed the arbitration I heard is willing to give a remote lecture about her work at PCA, introduce PCA’s fellowship program and answer questions from STL students and graduates. We will undertake to schedule the lecture soon,” Dean McConnaughay said.

The Hague also is home to many other multinational legal institutions, including the International Criminal Court, at which 2020 STL graduate QIN Shinjie (Frank) externed, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, of which STL’s recent guest lecturer (April 24), The Honorable LIU Daqun (invited by Professor Thomas Man), was a judge.

“I hope we are able to place additional STL graduates and students with these important multinational institutions!” Dean McConnaughay said.

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