Three Crowns’ independent charity, the 3C Foundation, recently supported Adilbek Kaziyev, a lawyer from Kazakhstan, through the 3C Foundation Scholarship.
Adilbek will be earning a LL.M. degree at Columbia Law School with a focus on arbitration and dispute resolution. The scholarship was created for law students who have a demonstrated interest in international arbitration, but who come from underrepresented countries and cannot themselves afford an LL.M. It seeks to help address the disparity in many emerging economies where there is a shortfall in the number of trained arbitration practitioners compared to the number required to meet case demands.
Commenting on his scholarship Adilbek said, “when I worked in Kazakhstan, I was gaining experiential knowledge from practice, but now I feel I have the theoretical knowledge that can be turned into innovation”. His LL.M. classes have covered litigation and arbitration strategies that aren’t yet common in Kazakhstan, “and that will be very beneficial for our society” when he returns home to practice. “I’ll be more experienced, and I can spill over this knowledge to my peers there”, he added.
After graduating from Columbia Law, Adilbek plans to return to Kazakhstan to work at the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). The AIFC is a special economic and legal zone with its own judicial system, common law framework, stock exchange, and tech hub. The AIFC also has an arbitration centre, where Adilbek worked before coming to Columbia Law School preparing cases for arbitrators.
Three Crowns partner Gaëtan Verhoosel stated, “several of our attorneys are Columbia Law School alumni, and we know first-hand that an education there opens many doors. We are genuinely proud to support such an opportunity for Adilbek and other promising young lawyers like him”.
Adilbek is the second recipient of the award following the inaugural scholarship going to Turkish national Yusuf Kumtepe in 2019.
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