Maltese Law Students win IMLI Competition

Two Maltese law students have won first and second prize in the first edition of the International Maritime Law Institute essay competition, organized by the Maltese branch of the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA Malta).

David Testa was awarded first prize for his essay entitled ‘Liability and Insurance for the Carriage of Passengers by Sea under Regulation 392/2009: Providing a Lifeline to the Cruise Industry and Ensuring Proper Compensation for Passengers in the Event of Accidents’. Kristina Miggiani placed second with her essay entitled ‘Towards Universality and Uniformity: Combating the Jurisdictional Challenges Facing the Prosecution of Somali Pirates in Light of the Legal Void Left by UNCLOS’. The competition was held under the patronage of Prof. David J Attard, Director of IMLI Malta, together with the help of Mr Wilfred Kenely from the RIDT.

An awards ceremony was held at the IMLI premises on the University grounds. Mr Testa won €600, while runner up Ms Miggiani was given a book prize. The prizes were generously offered by Prof Attard personally, and were coordinated by Mr Kenely. All essays were judged by a four-member panel headed by Dr Norman A. Martínez Gutiérrez, a Faculty Board member and senior lecturer at IMLI.

The competition was open to all ELSA members studying law, whether in Malta or overseas. Essays had to be 5000-6000 words long and on any International Maritime Law topic provided it was part of the current IMLI LLM syllabus. Besides the two winning entries, two more essays were received, one from ELSA Helsinki and the other from ELSA Prague.

ELSA Malta organizes social and academic activities for Maltese law students. Representing over 300, 000 law students worldwide, the ELSA network is renowned for its innovative and dynamic initiatives keeping law students up-to-date with legal happenings as well as providing a multicultural forum within which law students from across the globe are able to interact in a variety of ways.

Meanwhile, the ELSA Malta Law Review Board, a sub-committee of ELSA Malta, is responsible for the annual publication of the ELSA Malta Law Review, the third edition of which is currently being compiled. The Editorial Board, in close collaboration with the Academic Activities sector of ELSA Malta, is also responsible for organising a number of essay competitions over the academic year. Since the inception of the ELSA Malta Law Review in August 2010, seven essay competitions have been organised on a vast range of topics, including International Maritime Law, EU Law, Bio Law and Human Rights, as well as Financial Services Law.

More information about ELSA Malta and the ELSA Malta Law Review can be found online at: www.elsa.org.mt and www.elsamaltalawreview.com.