Jola Gjuzi, an Albanian qualified lawyer since 2004 and a Master of Law and Business (MLB) graduate of 2008, successfully concluded her doctoral studies with an oral examination on February 22, 2017.
Jola started her doctoral project at Bucerius Law School under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jörn Axel Kämmerer. She wrote her dissertation in the area of international investment law. More specifically she revisited the so-called ‘stabilization clauses’ which are often used in investment contracts concluded between foreign investors and host states and which constitute an essential tool of foreign investor protection against regulatory changes. Jola analyzed the implications of such clauses on the host states’ paths towards sustainable development. In this regard, she proposed new approaches to designing and interpreting stabilization clauses in order to offer the necessary protection to foreign investors, while not hindering host states in making regulatory changes in areas of environmental protection and human rights.
As to her oral exam, Jola presented a topic on the question of Kosovo’s statehood in public international law, a question that has received divided reactions in academia and state practice, since Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008. Jola looked primarily at the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion of 2010 under which Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia was found not to be in violation of international law. She also assessed the current legal and practical situation in Kosovo, in order to evaluate whether it meets the statehood criteria established under international law. The discussion also involved issues on the right to self-determination and remedial secession, the principle of territorial integrity of existing states, as well as the concept of recognition of new entities as states. The examination commission was composed of Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Veil (Head of the Commission), Prof. Dr. Jörn Axel Kämmerer and Prof. Dr. Hermann Pünder.
Upon the finalization of her doctoral project, and having also gained relevant work experience as a foreign associate in the Hamburg office of the German law firm Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft, Jola has now returned to her home town Tirana, Albania, where she is a partner in a leading Albanian law firm.
