A few weeks ago, her fan crowd threw a surprise farewell party for Alicja Zielinska-Eisen to celebrate her incredible contribution as Academic Coordinator of the International Dispute Resolution (IDR) LL.M. – Berlin program as she hands the baton over to Filippo Furlano.

Alicja has not only turned the program into what it is today: an academic institution for international dispute resolution in the middle of Europe. She has made Berlin visible to the world of arbitration and beyond.

During her tenure, she has made sure that dozens and dozens of students with as many nationalities felt welcomed in Germany and made it their home for a year or even much longer.

She has steered the program and its numerous lecturers through the waters of the German university landscape which are rather challenging to navigate (to say the least).

Not only that: Alicja also organized numerous Vis Pre-Moots and conferences and co-kicked-off what is known today as the Berlin Dispute Resolution Days.

And because she couldn’t just stand by and watch Russia’s war on Ukraine in paralysis, she initiated the Safe Harbor for Ukrainian Students Initiative and activated the German arbitration community to host Ukrainian students during the very first months of the war and thereafter.

She did all that with an open mind and an open heart and – it would seem – an unlimited amount of time and energy next to her role as outstanding arbitration practitioner with an active role in various organizations and as devoted family woman. We frankly don’t know how she dit it, but there are only very few people who do what they do with such great passion and regardless of whether “it pays off”.

We apprehend very well that Alicja’s contribution went far beyond Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and making Berlin visible as a place of arbitration: it is a contribution to the city of Berlin as such. It is thanks to people like Alicja that this place is what many describe as diverse and vibrant. And when you look at all this considering the difficult historic past that links Alicja’s home country Poland to neighboring Germany, her contribution becomes a real gift to reconciliation and peacekeeping.

We will be forever grateful and say “Dziękuję bardzo i do widzenia!” while we are happy to know that Alicja will remain part of the Berlin arbitration family.

Many thanks to Diego Meléndez Hirezi for letting us use this selfie he took at the end of a memorable evening!