On Tuesday, May 31, the competition of research papers in competition law organized by ZAB PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal SIA, the Competition Council and the Riga Graduate School of Law ended with presentations of research papers. In the presence of five finalists and representatives of the evaluation commission, Linda Lielbriede was recognized as the winner of the competition, receiving a prize of 1,000 euros, an internship at the Competition Council and a ticket to the Summer School organized by the Riga Graduate School of Law.
A total of eight research papers were submitted for the contest. The authors of the five research papers that received the highest rating in the competition presented their research papers to the jury. Young, creative lawyers and the most diligent students of competition law had prepared research papers on topics such as merger control in the digital age, cooperation in sustainable technology research, criminal procedure aspects, state aid in the context of COVID-19 and competition law.
After evaluating all the submitted papers and presentations, the competition’s jury unanimously agreed to award the first place and the main prize to Linda Lielbriede, a first-year student of the Professional Master's study program at the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia. The topic chosen by the student was the use of evidence obtained in antitrust cases in civil and criminal cases. In her work, the author concluded that information resulting from the proceedings of a competition authority can be a valuable source of evidence, however, the disclosure or further use of such evidence should be objectively limited. The lack of legal guarantees may negatively affect the willingness of market participants to provide information and evidence to the competition authority on a voluntary basis in the future. The importance of evidence obtained in a competition case in civil cases is also important, therefore it is permissible insofar as it does not infringe the rights and interests of market participants.
One of the jury’s representatives, Līga Daugaviete, a member of the Competition Council, acknowledged that she was pleased with the participants' great interest in participating in the competition and expressed a pleasant surprise about the wide range of topics chosen, looking at both very practical issues in the daily work of the Competition Council and theoretical aspects of competition law whose solution is still to be found in the future. L. Daugaviete: "I hope that the gift provided by the Competition Council to the winner of the competition - an internship at an institution - will be binding and will provide useful experience in the further application of competition law."
The winner of the competition was awarded with a cash prize of EUR 1,000 from PwC Legal, an internship at the Competition Council and a place at the Summer School of the School of Law. The other contestants received promotional prizes for participating in the contest. Samanta Lidere, a student of the Master's program in International and European Law at the University of Amsterdam, and Patrīcija Bodniece, a graduate of the Master's program in Law at the University of Latvia, also received the Riga Graduate School of Law's sympathy award and a place at the Summer School.
"We are glad that students are interested in competition law, and we thank all participants for participating in the competition," says Riga Graduate School of Law Assistant professor Laura Ratniece.
Māris Butāns, Head of the EU and Competition Law Practice Group at PwC Legal: “Reading all the submitted works, I was very pleasantly surprised by the topics chosen by the students and their topicality. The students had not chosen to look at the easiest questions at all, so I look forward to the new generation of competition law experts.”
The aim of the competition is to develop an understanding of competition law in Latvia among students and young lawyers, therefore the organizers of the competition invited students to submit research papers, including a reasoned vision on the application of competition law, based on legal considerations. The works prepared and submitted by the participants were evaluated from several aspects, including argumentation skills, economic considerations, and novelty.