Week 3 at AIA

This was a very tough week at AIA, primarily because all of the other law trainees had to go to class instead of working in the office, so I was the only person at the office who is not an actual employee. This meant that anything and everything that was needed my Mr. Billiet was immediately thrown on my desk without warning and explanation. Luckily before the madness began I was able to conduct several interviews with arbitrators and mediators from the US include in my Warsaw speech, which I completed on Monday and have since been practicing.

Later in the week I was able to talk to the cheif organizer, Mr. Bertrand, of AIA's upcoming conference in June, titled "UNCITRAL Model Law: 25 years." He gave me a lot of guidance as to what role he want me to play in the planning process. I will be responsible for finding additional speakers from somewhere in Africa, Hungary, and Canada. I will also have to brainstorm ways that we can promote the Conference to our supporters and members. I took initiative on this, and was able to secure a speaker from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, and Mr. Betrand was very pleased.

The week turned stressful when Mr. Billiet came into my office and told me he wants me to do research for him on Belgian arbitration law, and based on some suggestions of his, help write up a speech for him to deliver at UNCITRAL that will explain how Belgian law can change to be come more competitive in international arbitration cases. With no knowledge of law, let alone Belgian law, it has been a grueling process thus far. Then, I had to type up a text for an ongoing arbitration case that Mr. Billiet is consulting on. Finally, I spoke with the woring group on the EMTPJ project, and apparently we are very behind schedule. Therefore, I spent the end of the week trying to redesign the curriculum of the course based on the guidelines we received from the many mediation centers in the EU. I am hoping this will show results in the beginning of next week.