BİLGİ Faculty of Law students has won the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law

İstanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law team, first ever team from Turkey participating in the ELSA emc² Moot Court Competition on WTO Law, has won the European Regional Round, held in Kiev, Ukraine from 17th to 21st March 2017.

The team, consisting of fourth year Law students Türkay Avanaş, Helin Öcal, Çağla Usta, İrem Ergun and Elif Tütüncü and coached by the Director of the Research Center for International Trade Law and Arbitration, WTO Chair Holder and Asst. Prof. Pınar Artıran and Instructor Garrett Gilmore and assisted by Pınar Çağlı competed against 12 other European teams during this European regional round. Following the semi-final against the team of the University of Amsterdam, the team went on to compete against the team from the London School of Economics in the final round. Apart from being the overall winner of the Round, İstanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law Team has also been awarded the prizes for "Best Written Submission for Defendant" and "Best Overall Written Submission".

The team will compete against the other 19 best teams of the world in the Final Oral Round in Geneva, from 6 to 11 June 2017. The Team Coach and the WTO Chair Holder Asst. Prof. Pınar Artıran said “Our team achieved a tremendous victory considering that it is the first time Bilgi Law Faculty, and in general a Turkish university participated in this very important Moot Court Competition that is organized by ELSA International since 2002 and generously supported by the World Trade Organization and major EU and US based law firms and academic institutions.  The Competition is a simulated hearing of the WTO dispute settlement system where teams prepare and analyze a fictive case and present their arguments both for the Complainant and the Respondent in front of a Panel which consists of WTO and trade law experts. The aim is to enhance knowledge of international trade law and WTO dispute settlement procedures as well as to enhance the capacity for meaningful engagement in multilateral trade in the long term. The teams prepare written submissions for the complainant and respondent of a fictitious case written by a WTO professional. Are composed of 5 elimination rounds. They are taking place all over the world: American Round, Asia Pacific Round, two European Rounds and an African Round. The best 22 teams from all over the world, including İstanbul Bilgi University team are qualified to participate in the Final Oral Round, which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland in June 2017! On behalf of our University and in my capacity as the WTO Chair Holder and Team Coach together with Garrett Gilmore, we consider this achievement to be a tremendous one and we are committed to honour the mandate given by the WTO to İstanbul Bilgi University through the WTO Chair title to help building trade related capacity and expertise in Turkey.”