Trade and Investment Law Clinic

  Clients:

    Joy Kategekwa (Policy Adviser, Trade and Investment, OXFAM International)
“Oxfam appreciates the opportunity for well thought, structured and brilliant legal opinions on critical issues that continue to remain the focus of our campaign work...we look forward to further collaboration with the trade law clinic next year.”

    Dalindyebo Shabalala (Director, Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development Project, Center for International Environmental Law)
“The Trade Law Clinic provided a strong, enthusiastic team, who provided strong analysis in a very collaborative fashion with us. The result was a strong piece of work, and the generation of new ideas that we would not have raised ourselves, producing real added value to our work.”

  Students:

    Christiane Ahlborn (MIS student from Germany)
“The Trade Law Clinic offered me the opportunity to apply my theoretical knowledge about international trade law to a concrete project related to the on-going review of the WTO Dispute Settlement System. While Prof. Pauwelyn’s seminar on WTO jurisprudence provided very useful background knowledge and academic guidance, I enjoyed working directly with clients and gaining practical skills that will be invaluable for my professional future.”

    Bo-Young Lin (MIS student from Taiwan)
“My experience with the Trade Law Clinic is second to none. Professor Pauwelyn's International Trade Law and Advanced WTO Jurisprudence class provided a unique teaching style with combination of up-to-date cases study, example-approach teaching, and expert-coaching. It enabled me to learn International Trade Law effectively and I was able to successfully apply this knowledge into the Clinic Project. If I have to use one sentence to describe overall experience about The Clinic Project. I would say: ‘Take those classes. I am confident that you will not regret it.”

    Davide Soto Naranjo (PhD student from Italy)
“During the Advanced Seminar on WTO Jurisprudence we had the opportunity to practice our knowledge on the WTO with a law clinic exercise. In my case, it consisted in drafting and presenting a memorandum to UNCTAD on the relationship between WTO law and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This Seminar is a great opportunity for those Master and PhD students who want to expand their academic background in the field of Trade Law and start practicing in a professional way. It can also represent a starting point for further collaborations with the clients. In fact, after the end of the semester we have continued to work on new cases, also commissioned by UNCTAD!”

    Christopher John Enne Hovius (MIS student from Canada)
“The Institute's advanced trade law clinic gave me an exciting hands-on opportunity to put my legal education to work for an international non-governmental organization on a question of trade law. The Clinic was both challenging and enormously rewarding. Carefully framed issues ensured the relevance of the Clinic's work and the opportunity to present to a room of trade law officials from various WTO Members, NGO representatives, lawyers and students demonstrated its usefulness. It was a true HEID highlight.”

    Iris Koberg (MIS student from Austria)
“The Trade Law Clinic has been an excellent opportunity to combine theoretical knowledge with practical experience and provided me with valuable experience in current international trade law issues.”

    Bassant El Attar (MIS student from Egypt)
“Not only was it a valuable networking opportunity, the clinic was a unique approach to learning where we were able to combine the traditional academic approach with a more practical hands-on experience. Trade law no longer remains an isolated branch of international law; it has become part of a large legal and political discourse - the Clinic gave us a great amount of insight into how trade law interacts with many other prevalent actors and subjects within this increasingly growing discourse.”

    Babette Ancery (MIA student from The Netherlands)
“A unique and great experience that goes beyond any other course. It gives students the opportunity to actually apply and practice law, to work closely with fellow students and professionals and to make a valuable contribution to the work of for example the United Nations.”

    Vivian Sooan Choi (Yale University exchange student from Korea)
“You can't get this kind of training anywhere else in the world"

    Alexandra Goossens (MIS student from France)
“The Trade Law Clinic was a very interesting experience: knowing that our research and work would eventually be useful for a real client was indeed very stimulating. There was a lot of work but I had the opportunity to work with a great team, which made the whole project a really good experience and in the end we were proud of what we achieved”

    Ahmed Labnouj (The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy exchange student from Morocco)
“Unlike most of my other courses at IHEID, which were heavily academic and focused solely on theory, the Trade Law Clinic was a different interactive exercise. The Clinic gave me the opportunity to tackle real Trade Law issues outside of the classroom environment through direct work with professionals in the field. The methodology and structure of the course combined between classroom instruction and a case study with a client, thereby allowing the student to think outside the box when considering real life issues and trade disputes. In doing so, the Clinic gives the student a preliminary taste of what to expect once outside academia; a merger between theory and practice, law and politics and the intricate processes of multilateral bargaining and negotiation.”

    Itaru Nitta (PhD student from Japan)
“The experience in the Clinic class helped me to construct a bridge between the knowledge in books to the real activities as an international lawyer dealing with a complicated dispute case. The Clinic, in particular, gave me the opportunity to work together with a wide variety of actual international players, including the client, various governmental and non-governmental institutions and groups in Geneva. Now, all these experiences ingeniously guide me to my own target regarding my Ph.D. studies.”

    Wei Zhuang (MIDS student from China)
“I worked on the UNCTAD project regarding National Incentive Measures to Protect Biodiversity and Compliance with WTO. During this process, I have benefited from a three-month experience in drafting legal documents and working as part of a multi-national team. The presentation and meeting with our clients not only enabled me to hear discussions made by the most respected authorities in the field but also gave me the opportunity to meet practitioners. Indeed, we have acquired real world work experience from the trade law clinic.”