ICC today named Denis Mouralis of France the laureate of the second ICC Institute of World Business Law Prize for his thesis Arbitration confronted to Parallel Proceedings.

Mr Mouralis will receive a prize of €10 000 for demonstrating excellent legal writing and making an outstanding new contribution in the field of international commercial law – including arbitration.

The competition jury, made up of a select number of ICC Institute of World Business Law Council members, gave a special mention to Matthieu Maisonneuve, also of France, for his thesis on The Arbitration of Sport Disputes.

“Both studies are perfect examples of deep researches and sound analysis,” said Ecrument Erdem, Senior Partner, Erdem & Erdem and co-Chair of this year’s jury. “We are convinced that they have contributed to their topics of discussions."

Mr Mouralis, the prize laureate, said he will use the prize money to finance further research in the field of international arbitration and to take part in seminars and conferences.

“Writing a thesis means several years of hard work, while you are not sure what you are doing will be useful, or even of good quality,” Mr Mouralis said when asked what the prize meant to him. “To me, the prize has great value as an acknowledgement of my work by eminent specialists in arbitration.”

Mr Maisonneuve, who won the special mention from the jury, said he chose his subject because he was looking for an original and legally relevant topic. “I first focused my research on alternative dispute resolution mechanisms relating to sports before I decided to focus on arbitration.”

The two laureates were chosen from more than 21 entries covering 18 different nationalities and four continents, double the number who participated in the first edition of the prize in 2007.

“The fact that we have so many candidates from a wide variety of countries shows that the Institute Prize has become very well known in a short period of time,” said Georges Affaki, Head of Legal at BNP Paribas and co-Chair of this year’s jury.

“The entries covered a wide range of topics, ranging from international arbitration to banking, trade finance, capital markets and investments. “Some of the theses show the exceptional maturity of the authors,” Mr Affaki added.

The ICC Institute of World Business Law launched the Prize in 2007 to contribute to the understanding and progress of international commercial law around the world and to encourage those engaged in focused research on legal issues affecting international business.

The theses presented showed a remarkable mastery of comparative law and foreign languages, with most thesis citing authorities from three or more different jurisdictions.

“It is interesting to note that a number of the theses dealt with issues arising from multi-party arbitration, which happens to be the Institute’s research theme for this year,” Mr Affaki said.

The prizes were announced at a ceremony in Paris following the annual meeting of the ICC Institute of World Law.

The sponsors for both the 2007 and 2009 prizes were Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, Bredin Prat, Hengeler Mueller, Slaughter and May, and Uria Menendez.