Evaluating 200+ Applications for the Winter Academy on International Arbitration: My Insights

Introduction

Last year, I served on the advisory committee for the Winter Academy on International Arbitration hosted by the Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration. In this role, I reviewed over 200 applications to select 40 participants and 15 reserve candidates for the waitlist. I’ve decided to share my thoughts and key takeaways from this experience. I hope they’ll be helpful for future applicants.

Applicants were required to submit:

• An application form
• A CV
• A motivation letter
• Responses to three arbitration-related questions

Common Grounds for Rejection

The three most frequent reasons for rejection were:

1. The use AI to substitute one’s own writing (rather than to aid or enhance it)
2. Insufficient experience in dispute resolution, which raised concerns about whether the applicant would benefit from the academy
3. Weak motivation letters or poor responses to arbitration-related questions

The Use of AI

The no. 1 issue that stood out was the use of AI in applications. Institutions vary in their policies on AI usage. In my view, in and of itself, the use of AI is not problematic. However, what can be a problem is the resulting quality of writing and how it reflects on your candidacy.

The thing is, ChatGPT can be a good editor, but it’s bad at ideation. If you didn't do the work analyzing your background and uncovering insights, it can’t do it for you.

A motivation letter isn’t just about listing facts - those are already in your CV. Motivation letters are about insights, showing how you’ve processed your experiences. ChatGPT can’t analyze your background for you. It's just not how it works. And it's very easy to spot the letters where the applicant decided to substitute their own work with AI-writing. What does it tell me as a member of the admissions committee? It signals that you didn't take the time to properly write an application and probably don't want it that much.

Motivation, Motivation, Motivation

As a member of the admissions committee, I want to see this opportunity going to someone who's going to benefit from it. I will therefore be looking for tangible signs of your interest in arbitration.

• How did you find out you were interested in arbitration?
• What has your exposure to arbitration been so far?
• What are you hoping to gain from the academy, and why?

These things are important, and I will pay attention to them, because I am making decisions about the distribution of a limited resource.

Your experiences and motivation don’t have to be extraordinary. You don’t need to have had access to the world’s top arbitration practitioners. But you do need to show a sustained interest. Given the resources you had at your disposal, how did your interest begin, and what steps have you taken to pursue it? Why is it important for you to attend the academy?

Essays Matter More Than Achievements

Many times, I was faced with having to choose between applicants with comparable profiles, but different quality of writing. I usually went with the personal who writes better, even if they didn't have that extra line on their CV that made the other applicant look more impressive.

Writing tells me infinitely more about you than a list of accomplishments. If your CV is great but the writing is mediocre, I'm not going to be impressed.

A lot of people who approach me ask if they should wait another year or two to add more lines to their CV, and so they keep chasing these lines but neglect their writing.

Don't do that. Unless the program you are applying to has specific requirements that you don’t meet, like professional experience, or your profile is objectively weak, your time will be spent better learning to write.

Writing is the single most important skill you need to have as a lawyer, and if you want to apply for competitive opportunities and get them, you’ve got to develop it.

Age and Experience

Many applicants worry that their age or, specifically, lack of practical experience might be a problem. My answer is: yes, it matters, but not as much as you think.

For the arbitration academy, we generally gave preference to candidates with some practical experience, because we believed they stood to benefit more than applicants with zero experience. If you’re very young, still a student or recently graduated, it'll help to get some experience and exposure first. You'll get more out of the program and you'll be able to bring more to the table.

However, you don’t need to be seasoned. But there needs to be a gap between the experience you have and the experience you want to gain.

That said, there were quite a few experienced applicants who didn't have compelling applications and were therefore not admitted. Probably, they thought we should just have admitted them based on their CVs; but if we did, it wouldn't be fair to other applicants who spent their time crafting their applications, writing convincing motivation letters and researching the arbitration-specific tasks.

Just being more experienced on its own is not going to be an advantage, similarly to just being younger is not going to automatically put you at a disadvantage. It’ll be assessed in the context of the experience you have and your overall application package.

How to Write Your CV

For specific insights on CV writing, refer to my blog posts on evaluating CVs at the European University Institute and the CV that got me into Harvard. Two key points I'd like to reiterate:

1. List your experiences in reverse chronological order, from the most recent to the oldest.
2. Clearly differentiate between degree and non-degree programs. Avoid inflating your education credentials. You will not be disadvantaged if you don’t have fancy schools on your CV, but it will reflect negatively on you if try to misrepresent information.

What the Most Effective Applications Had In Common

In my observation, applications that tended to succeed met the following criteria:

• they had a clear, well-articulated reason for applying
• they showed a sustained interest in arbitration or other forms of dispute resolution
• they didn't not use AI to substitute their own writing, were genuine, and the experiences they wrote about were clearly something these people experienced and reflected upon. If they did use AI, it was to refine and strengthen their writing.
• they explained what part of the academy attracted them, citing specific workshops and lecturers.
• many of them talked about how they acquired one perspective on arbitration from their local jurisdiction and wanted to learn more about how it's done in another part of the world (I’d call it an interest in the world’s cultural diversity)
• if they were inexperienced, they explained how they could benefit from the academy

Ultimately, the best applications were thoughtful, specific, and demonstrated a genuine interest in the academy.

Hope it helps, and good luck! ☺️