The Centre promotes the exchange of ideas among legal scholars and practitioners in the area of international investment law by organizing different events on a regular basis.

On February 6, 2024, the online workshop on the protection of investments in renewable energies under the Energy Charter Treaty took place in collaboration with the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. Following the brief presentations by former doctoral candidates on this topic, the developments were commented upon by the lawyers Patricia Nacimiento (HSF) and Robert Hunter (Osborne Clarke). We look forward to organizing future workshops with HSF and thereby contributing to the networking of legal professionals and academia!

For the 13th time, members of the Krickenbeck Circle met at Schloss Montabaur from June 23 to June 24, 2023, at the invitation of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne and the University of Siegen to discuss recent developments in international investment law. The conference report has recently been published in SchiedsVZ 2024, 50. 

From May 16 to 17, 2023, the Doctoral Network for Investment Law went on an excursion to the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe. After the exciting impressions in the personal conversation with the Federal Constitutional Court Judge Dr. Kessal-Wulf, the participants of the excursion attended the hearing of the Federal Supreme Court on the admissibility of intra-EU investor-state arbitration proceedings at the ICSID based on the Energy Charter Treaty. The ruling on this issue will be announced on July 27, 2023.

On May 10, 2023, the virtual conference on "Admissibility of Intra-EU Investor-State Arbitration Proceedings at ICSID based on the Energy Charter Treaty" of the Doctoral Network on Investment Law took place. After the short presentations of the doctoral students on this topic, the developments were commented by the lawyers Patricia Nacimiento (HSF), Markus Perkams (Addleshaw Goddard) and Sebastian Seelmann-Eggebert (Hanefeld). A successful kick-off event for the excursion to the BGH shortly thereafter, which facilitated the exchange between academia and practice!

The next event of our event series "Praxis im Hörsaal" will take place on 8th December 2022 from 2.00 to 3.30 pm. Alex Dünkelsbühler (Doctoral Stundent, University of Cologne) and Mareike Heesing (Lawyer, Oppenhoff) will talk about international economic sanctions in legal practice. All participants of the lecture "Völkerrecht II" are happily invited; a separate registration is not required. External parties may register by writing an email to: iilcc-info@uni-koeln.de. Further information on the lecture Völkerrecht II can be found here.  

On 28 October 2022, the annual FDI Moot Training Workshop took place via Zoom. In addition to an interactive lecture on "Persuading in Digital Pleadings", the team of Saarland University was prepared for the FDI Moot with simulated pleadings.

Am 29. Juni 2022 hielt Herr Dr. Levent Sabanogullari vom Ständigen Schiedshof in Den Haag (Senior Legal Counsel) im Rahmen der Veranstaltungsreihe „Praxis im Hörsaal“ einen Vortrag zum Thema „Völkerrechtliche Streitbeilegung in der Praxis und Alltag in einer internationalen Organisation".

From January 14-15 and 21-22, 2022, the "Advanced Course on ICSID Arbitration" took place via Zoom. Once again, Francisco Arbriani, Legal Counsel at the International Centre of Dispute Settlement (ICSID), provided exciting practical insights on procedural aspects of investment arbitration conducted under the ICSID Rules. 

On 17 November 2021, Ms. Derya Catakli from the Federal Office for Information Security gave a lecture on the topic of Digitalisation of Administration as part of the series of events called "Praxis im Hörsaal".

On 15 October 2021, the annual FDI Moot Training Workshop took place via Zoom. In addition to an interactive lecture on "Persuading in Digital Pleadings", the team of Saarland University was prepared for the FDI Moot with simulated pleadings.

Together with the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the IILCC hosted an online workshop on commercial and investment arbitration in legal practice on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. This provided a direct insight into the exciting topic area of international arbitration and discussed current developments from the legal practice. 
A report on the event can be found here. 

On 13 January 2021, the IILCC hosted a webinar on 'Reform and Entrenchment in International Investment Law' in cooperation with Kenyatta University School of Law. In his keynote address, Professor James Thuo Gathii (Loyola University Chicago) shared his thoughts on the investor-State dispute settlement reform process. Further information is available here.

On 14 October 2020, the FDI Moot Training Workshop took place via Zoom. In cooperation with Saarland University and Halle-Wittenberg University, the participants were prepared for the FDI Moot with simulated pleadings.

This year's Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop on 'Investment Protection, Human Rights, and International Arbitration' took place on 6-7 March 2020 at the Goethe University Frankfurt. The conference programme can be found here.
The organisers of the workshop Rainer Hofmann (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main), Christian Tams (Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security), Stephan Schill (Amsterdam Center for International Law) and Julian Scheu (International Investment Law Centre Cologne) were very pleased about the numerous participations and exciting discussions.

On 22 January 2020 Stefanie Hankiewicz gave a lecture on “Smart Boarders – Kooperation der EU Mitgliedstaaten im Bereich Innere Sicherheit“ as a part of the event series which brings legal practice into the classroom (“Praxis im Hörsaal“).

On Tuesday, January 21, 2020, the IILCC, in cooperation with the law firm of Zeiler Floyd Zadkovich, hosted a panel discussion addressing the substance of ISDS reform and the creation of a Multilateral Investment Court (MIC). A report of the event was published in Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (EuZW 2020, 589 - beckonline).

Following the invitation of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne (IILCC) and the University of Siegen, the members of the Krickenbeck Circle met for the 12th time at Schloss Montabaur from 17 to 18 January 2020 to discuss new developments in international investment law. Once again, the conference report was published in Zeitschrift für Schiedsverfahren (SchiedsVZ 2020, 138 - beckonline / kluwer arbitration). 

On Wednesday, 6 November 2019 a panel discussion on the threat of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union (Brexit) was part of the series of events "Praxis im Hörsaal". Guests from the legal practice attended the lecture "Vertiefung Europarecht" and reported on the consequences of Brexit from a legal, municipal and entrepreneurial perspective.

On 31 October 2019 the FDI Moot Training Workshop 2019 took place in the rooms of the IILCC. In cooperation with Saarland University and University College London, the participants were prepared for the FDI Moot with simulated pleadings.

On 1 October 2019, the Europa-Institut at Saarland University and the IILCC co-organised a workshop on the reform of ISDS and the creation of a Multilateral Investment Court (MIC) in Saarbrücken. The topics included were the institutional structure and the implementation of the MIC, the selection and status of the MIC judges and the recognition and enforcement of MIC decisions. A conference report was published in the Kluwer Arbitration Blog.

On 27 June 2019, the “Workshop on ICSID Convention and EU Law” led by Tim Rusche (EU Commission) and Fransicso Arbrian (ICSID Secretariat) took place. The Workshop focussed on the impact of the Achmea Judgment, which was rendered by the CJ EU on 6 March 2018.

On 16 May 2019, the International Investment Law Centre Cologne (IILCC) celebrated its 10 year anniversary with an academic conference dedicated to the ‘Evolution, Evaluation and Future Developments in International Investment Law’. The conference was held in the premises of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) and provided an overview of the development and current status of international investment law from various perspectives. Further information on the conference are available here.

On 15 May 2019, Dr. Karl Brauner (WTO Deputy Director) gave a speech on “The Future Dispute Settlement in International Trade Law“ in regard to the 10 years anniversary of the IILCC.

On 9 May 2019, lawyers from Busse Disputes reported on their practical experience in the supervision of investment arbitration proceedings during an evening event for students and doctoral candidates under the motto "Practice meets Science". The following discussion and common dinner offered the opportunity for further exchange.

This year the ELSA Summer School on International Investment Law took place for the third time in cooperation with the University of Athens. For seven days, students received a profound training in international investment law, covering both basic and specialised issues. Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julian Scheu gave a guest lecture on "International Investment Law and Human Rights". Please find the program of the Summerschool here.

The doctoral seminar on International Investment Law at the University of Cologne took place on 6 July 2018 at the premises of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne (IILCC). The IILCC welcomed 10 participants who had chosen a great variety of topics related to international investment law. The seminar was led by Jun.-Prof. Julian Scheu (University of Cologne) and Dr. Martins Paparinskis (UCL) who alternately moderated the presentation sessions.

On 5 July 2018, the International Investment Law Centre Cologne (IILCC) invited academics, practitioners and students to participate in the conference "Protection of Foreign Investments in Europe - Perspectives & Solutions". The conference, which launched the new series of events "Santander Roundtable Discussions on International Economic Law", took place on the occasion of the Achmea-Judgment. Please find further information about the conference here.