THE ANNUAL WILLEM C. VIS (EAST)
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION MOOT

About the Moot

Because of the international business community's marked preference for arbitration as the means for resolving trans-border commercial disputes, the Vis Moot was created as a clinical tool for training law students in crucial aspects of the procedure: research, drafting and advocacy.

The goals of both the Vis (East) Moot and the original Vis Moot in Vienna are the promotion and study of international commercial arbitration and the training of tomorrow's legal leaders in methods of alternate dispute resolution.

Structure of the Moot

Law students participate in two separate but equally important phases: the research and writing of memoranda for both claimant and respondent, and oral arguments based upon the memoranda. Both phases are judged by panels of international arbitration experts. The Moot problem always involves a contract dispute arising out of a transaction relating to the sale and purchase of goods under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The problem involves a different set of arbitration rules each year. Both the Vienna and Hong Kong Moots use the same problem and rules and some law schools send teams to both events.

In the pairings of teams for each general round and in the drafting phase, Moot organisers make every effort to have civil law schools argue against common law schools, so each may learn from approaches taken by those trained in another legal culture. Similarly, the teams of arbitrators judging both the memoranda and the oral rounds are from both common law and civil law backgrounds.

History

World-renowned expert in international commercial transactions and dispute settlement procedures, Willem Vis was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands and graduated from Leyden University and Nijmegen University in the Netherlands. Learn more about the history of the Vis Moot here : For more information