Announcement of the winner of the 10th edition of the ICC Institute Prize

Daria Levina named 2025 ICC Institute Prize winner

Born in Russia, Ms Levina is the 10th laureate of the prestigious award. She currently resides in Berlin, where she founded Harvard State of Mind, an organisation that helps international law applicants win admission and funding to top LL.M. programmes. Previously, Ms Levina worked as a researcher at the University of Lausanne, the European University Institute, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, UNIDROIT, and Harvard Law School. Ms Levina also holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute, a PhD in Private International Law and International Civil Procedure from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and an LLM from Harvard University.

Commenting on her victory, Ms Levina said: “I am very honoured. For me, it is a huge achievement. To have your work read, acknowledged and recognised by a community of experts is an amazing privilege. It’s more than another line on my CV, it means the world to me.”

Ms Levina’s thesis addresses the rise of international commercial courts, their driving forces and institutional design. The work examines the phenomenon of the proliferation of international commercial courts, which are hybrid institutions, and researches why multiple states establish them and the causes driving this.

Institute Council and Jury member, Cecilia O’Neill de la Fuente, said: “Ms Levina’s thesis is an outstanding doctoral dissertation – ambitious in scope, methodologically sophisticated and deeply relevant to the evolution of international commercial justice. It sets a new benchmark for research on the interaction between arbitration and litigation, and on the global diffusion of judicial models.”

The jury also awarded Honourable Mentions to Julian Juhasz for his thesis “Framework Agreements Regarding the International Supply of Goods and the CISG” and to Loïs Dossios for her thesis “L’arbitre régulateur”.

Mr Juhasz said: “I feel very grateful to receive an honourable mention in the 2025 ICC Institute Prize. It’s very encouraging to share my thesis with such a respected jury and receive feedback on it.”

Ms Dossios said: “It feels unbelievable. It is a tremendous honour to be recognised by such a prestigious institution, widely respected in the field of arbitration. A PhD is a long and demanding journey, and concluding it with recognition from ICC makes every effort truly worthwhile.”

With 28 eligible theses, the ICC Institute Prize saw the second-highest number of applicants to date.  An international jury, comprising eight ICC Institute Council members put forward six theses to a second round, three of which proceeded to unprecedented third and final rounds. An online questionnaire was also conducted to enable the participation of all evaluators in the deliberation and decision-making of the three finalist theses.

Ms Levina was recognised during a special ICC Institute Prize Award ceremony which concluded the 45th ICC Institute of World Business Law Annual Conference in Paris on 14 November. Rewards for her outstanding work include €10,000 in prize money.

The ICC Institute is committed to recognising legal writing excellence to strengthen the ties between academic institutions and practising lawyers. Since 2007, the biennial ICC Institute Prize has honoured legal writing excellence that looks to innovate in international commercial law, including arbitration. The Prize is open to anyone under the age of 40 on the closing date for entries. The next edition of the ICC Institute Prize will be launched in April 2026.