About us

Academia

LALIVE is renowned for its academic activities and prowess. Founding partners Jean-Flavien Lalive and his brother Professor Pierre Lalive are both recognised as trailblazing pioneers who shaped the world of international arbitration and public international law. Find out more about our heritage here.

This tradition continues today, and our academic activities remain a vital strand of the firm’s DNA and culture – something we are very proud of.

The Swiss Arbitration Association’s Bulletin (ASA Bulletin)

The Swiss Arbitration Association’s Bulletin (ASA Bulletin)

Founded by Professor Pierre LALIVE in 1983, the ASA bulletin is one of the leading journals in international arbitration. The quarterly bulletin features articles on topical issues in arbitration, as well as case law, with significant decisions from Swiss courts, selected landmark cases from foreign jurisdictions, redacted arbitral awards and procedural decisions summarised in English.

The firm’s arbitration experts are still actively involved in this prestigious publication, with partners Matthias Scherer as Editor in Chief and Catherine Kunz as member of the Editorial Board respectively.

LALIVE Lecture

LALIVE Lecture

Since 2007, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (HEID) and LALIVE organise and co-host the annual LALIVE Lecture.

The purpose of the lectures is to create a forum for intellectual reflection on recent developments in the interface between public and private international law. The series is named in honour of our founding partners, Me Jean-Flavien Lalive and Professor Pierre Lalive, who dedicated their professional and academic careers to the interaction between these two fields.

Our 2023 lecture was given by Catherine Amirfar and title ‘International adjudication and global crises: the devil in the details’.

Previous lectures can be found here.

LALIVE and the MIDS

LALIVE and the MIDS

Building on our strong relationship with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the University of Geneva, LALIVE is proud to support the Graduate Institute’s MIDS- Geneva LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement.

Since 2019, the firm has provided a full scholarship, covering the full tuition fees and living expenses of one student, for the duration of the one year programme. As part of the curriculum, the firm also runs practical seminars and offers advice to those wishing to pursue a career in arbitration.

LALIVE also offers around five six-month internship positions to MIDS students every year, where they work directly on the firm’s international commercial and investment treaty arbitration cases.

Over the years, a number of MIDS interns have joined the firm as associates. LALIVE currently has nine lawyers, including five partners, who trained at the Graduate Institute.

Read more about those scholarships here.

LALIVE Merryman Fellowship

LALIVE Merryman Fellowship

LALIVE co-sponsors the annual Pierre Lalive and John Henry Merryman Fellowship in Art and Cultural Heritage Law which  honours our co-founder, the late Professor Pierre Lalive’s legacy as a leading academic in art law. This is done in partnership with the Art Law Centre of the University of Geneva and the International Cultural Property Society.

The aim of the Fellowship is to support the work of emerging scholars active in the field of international cultural heritage law and related fields such as art law and museum law. It is awarded each year to a scholar aged under 40 for the best article published in the International Journal of Cultural Property Law (published by Cambridge University Press).

The awardee is invited to conduct a research stay of two to four weeks at the Art Law Centre of the University of Geneva, with the opportunity to carry out further publishable research.

Further information can be found here.