Ph.D. candidate, University of Cambridge

Email address: em547 (at) cam.ac.uk

Biography

I became interested in international energy law a decade ago during the final year of my undergraduate studies. At the time my home country Lithuania was an energy island and its dependence on energy imports was a much discussed topic in the media. In 2008 I was granted a Fulbright scholarship to study LLM in energy law at the University of Texas at Austin. While at UT I was an editor of the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas and Energy Law. Upon graduation I returned to Lithuania where I joined the biggest Baltic law firm Ellex Valiunas as an associate in the energy law team. During my practice with the law firm I participated in some of the country’s most important energy projects, including the national implementation of the EU’s Third Energy Package, construction of the first LNG terminal in the Baltic States and investment dispute over gas pricing. In 2014 I was awarded an AHRC scholarship to study PhD at Cambridge. My research explores questions of international responsibility of the EU arising out of investment disputes, including those in the energy sector.

Research interests

I am interested in questions of international responsibility of international organizations and their member states, particularly that arising out of regulatory decisions. This question is highly relevant to the topic of global governance of the energy sector. Energy governance is no longer exercised exclusively within state borders but is subject to actions and decisions of multiple subjects of international law, for example the EU and their Member States. My PhD research explores one area of such interactions between multiple actors in the energy governance. With the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, competence in the area of investment protection was transferred from Member States to the EU. The EU subsequently announced that it will play a key role in future investment disputes, including those in the energy sector. I seek to provide insight into to whether the EU or Member States should bear international responsibility in case a breach of an investor’s right is established by an arbitral tribunal.

Selected publications

‘Judicial review v. Regulatory Discretion in Energy Service Price Regulation Disputes: Lithuanian Experience and Lessons to be Learned from Court of Justice of the European Union’ (2011) Oil, Gas & Energy Law Intelligence, vol. 9/2, 17 p.

‘Energy Charter Treaty Transit Protocol: European Gas Market Liberalization and its Effect to European-Russian Gas Trade (2009-2010)’ 5(5) Texas Journal of Oil, Gas and Energy Law, 109-129

‘Recent Developments on Further Creation of Liberalized Electricity Market for the Republic of Lithuania’ (2009) 7 International Energy Law Review, 245 (Co-authored)

‘Conflict of Public and Private Interests in Oil Concessions’ (2008) Students Scientific Association Annual Publication, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius,  45-58

See also Emilija’s academic biography