Moot courts became so important for commercial arbitration that different people and organizations around the world realized that competitions should be held as a way to stimulate students to do their best and improve their skills in this activity. There are different examples of international moot competitions held in different places of the globe. Learn more in this post.

1. HOW TO HAVE A GOOD
MOOT IN COMMERCIAL
ARBITRATION
By Shahram Shirkhani
Image courtesy of
alphis tay at Flickr.com

2. Moot courts have always been an important
pedagogical strategy to prepare students to become
successful lawyers. Moot courts in modern times differ
from similar activities such as mock trials, because the
former have to do directly with appellate courts and arbitral
cases, whereas the latter have to do with jury trials and
bench trials. So, these spaces give students a clear idea of
the sort of environments that they will have to face in real
life, and perhaps that helps to understand why they are
more and more popular nowadays. Likewise, mooting
became so important for commercial arbitration that
different people and organizations around the world
realized that competitions should be held as a way to
stimulate students to do their best and improve their skills
in this activity.

3. There are different examples of international moot competitions
held in different places of the globe. One could mention, for
instance, the LAWASIA International Moot Competition, also known as
the LAWASIA Moot. This moot competition was established in 2005,
and since then it is held annually. The competition is organized by
LAWASIA, which is an international organization that comprises
lawyers, judges, bar associations and academics. Between 30 and 40
law schools from different countries participate in the competition each
year.
However, indeed the most important moot competition in the world,
even known as the Olympics of International Trade Law, is still the
Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, a
competition named in honor of Willem Cornelis Vis (1924 – 1993).
Willem Cornelis Vis was a very respected figure and scholar in the field
of dispute settlements and other related topics having to do with
international commerce. He was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands,
and studied in Leiden University and Nijmegen University, also in the
Netherlands. He later became lecturer of law, economics and
philosophy in Leiden and Nijmegen, but also in other institutions as
prestigious as Strasbourg and Magdalen College in Oxford.

4. The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
was established in 1993, and is annually held in Vienna,
Austria, since 1994. The main purposes behind it are basically
two. On the one hand, it aims to encourage a wider use of
arbitration in the resolution of business disputes. On the other
hand, it aims to promote a deeper study of international
commercial arbitration and arbitration laws among law students
from different countries.
Image courtesy of IU
Robert H. McKinney
School of Law at
Flickr.com

5. The Association for the Organization and Promotion of the Willem
C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is in charge of
organizing the competition every year. But it is also sponsored by
other international organisms and institutions. Some of these
institutions are directly related to the academia. For example, the Pace
University Law School and the University of Vienna Faculty of Law. But
most of the sponsorship comes from other organisms specialized in
commercial arbitration. For example, the Swiss Arbitration Association
(ASA), the Swiss Chambers' Arbitration, the Chinese-European
Arbitration Centre (CEAC), the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS),
the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the
International Chamber of Commerce, the International Centre for
Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the American Arbitration Association (AAA),
the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (CEPANI), the Judicial
Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS), the Singapore International
Arbitration Centre, the United Nations Commission on International
Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian
Federal Economic Chamber, the Australian Centre for International
Commercial Arbitration (ACICA), the Chicago International Dispute
Resolution Association (CIDRA), the London Court of International
Arbitration, and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. It also receives
sponsorship of its own Moot Alumni Association (MAA).

6. Indeed the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration
Moot, or simply the Vis Moot, has become a really successful
phenomenon among the commercial arbitration community
around the world. The list of sponsors just mentioned is a proof of it.
Another proof of such a success is the fact that it attracts many schools
from different countries, with around 333 teams in 2016, for example.
Due to the amount of people involved in the competition, it has become
necessary to create a series of pre-moots, at least twenty per year,
before the final rounds are held in Vienna. And one must add another
fact, not less important than the previous ones. Scholars specialized in
topics such as international sales law and in international arbitration
participate in the competition as arbitrators, which talks very well about
the role that the competition also plays in the academic world.
It is therefore not very surprising that an initiative was promoted to have
another version of the competition in a different part of the world. That
was the origin of the Annual Willem C. Vis (East) International
Commercial Arbitration Moot, which is held in Hong Kong. It is mainly
sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (East Asia Branch),
and its format is basically the same employed in the competition held in
Vienna.