IISTL at the centre of the shipping law world – once again
Last year, working as ever to consolidate its global reputation, the IISTL organised in collaboration with Athens Law School an experimental seminar on advanced shipping law in Athens. The event was a runaway success and clearly called for repetition; and the Second Advanced Seminar in International Maritime Law was duly held in May this year, hosted as before by the high-class Evgenios Evgenides Foundation in Palaio Faliro near Piraeus. The collaborators on this occasion were Athens University Law School, together with the World Maritime University of Oslo and the National University of Singapore.
This year's event focused on developments in ship operation, charters, maritime liabilities, and enforcement and dispute resolution. It attracted a good 200 delegates, including a gratifying number of Swansea LLM alumni. The lengthy debates following each session in the programme, often having to be tactfully terminated by the chair in order to keep to the timetable, were themselves a tribute to the quality of all the presentations. Present from the IISTL were Simon Baughen, Dora Nikaki, Baris Soyer, Andrew Tettenborn and Richard Williams. All top-quality speakers and well-known in the field, their papers ranged from ransom payments and general average, to performance claims, and a number of highly contemporary charterparty issues (including the new NYPE 2015, laytime and demurrage).
From left to right: Dr Loukas Zygouros, Professor Andrew Tettenborn (IISTL), Professor Dionyssia Kallinikou (Dean, Athens Law School), Professor Lia Athanassiou (Athens Law School) and Leonidas Dimitriadis-Eugenides (President of Eugenides Foundation)
Speaking afterwards, a smiling IISTL Director Baris Soyer said: “What's not to like? The seminar was a striking success. The members of the IISTL demonstrated, as they always do, their astonishing versatility and breadth of expertise , and managed to deliver sophisticated and original papers which sparked serious debate. And as if this was not enough, we were also delighted to encounter satisfying numbers of Swansea LLM graduates in the audience now holding prestigious positions in the shipping and related industries in Greece. If you need uncontested evidence of the quality and reputation of the Swansea LLM, what more could you ask?”
From left to right: Associate Professor Theodora Nikaki (IISTL) and Professor Simon Baughen (IISTL) and Professor Lia Athanassiou (Athens Law School)
First published in 2016