Fox Williams & CIArb’s Vis Pre-Moot 2021

A few weeks ago the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) held its International Student Open Day: well-known dispute resolution practitioners shared their insights on careers in ADR. Many of them made an emphasis on networking and academic opportunities, which students might get by virtue of participating in legal competitions. Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, the biggest commercial and arbitration law competition in the world, has, for more than 20 years, been one of them. Every year thousands of students from around the world travel to different countries to participate in pre-moots and prepare for final oral hearings in Vienna or Hong Kong.

On 27 and 28 February, thanks to our traditional collaboration with Fox Williams, more than a hundred students were able to get such firsthand experience and take part in the 6^th Fox Williams Vis Pre-Moot.  

The event was a great success: teams from the UK and Ireland, North and South America, Central and Eastern Europe, New Zeeland, India and Malaysia joined us and competed against each other under the supervision of some of the brightest ADR practitioners, in particular, Sir Michael Burton FCIArb, Nichola Warrender, Anthony Connerty FCIArb, Peter Ashford FCIArb, Karina Albers FCIArb, Robert Thomas QC and Edwin Glasgow QC. Professor Stefan Kröll, one of the Directors and author of the Moot case (the Problem) joined the awards ceremony and gave an inspiring speech.

Even though this year all Vis Moot events, including pre-moots and final rounds, are held online, thousands of students from around the world had a brilliant opportunity to practice their academic research, advocacy and legal writing skills and, at the same time, avoid often significant travel expenses.

Provision and support of educational and networking opportunities for aspiring dispute resolution lawyers are some of CIArb's greatest values, therefore every year we do our best to contribute to the event and make it as beneficial for students as possible and sincerely hope that next year we will get the chance to welcome students and arbitrators in-person and make this invaluable experience even more unforgettable. After all, the sense of community is one of CIArb and Vis Moot’s most significant and common traits.

We would like to extend our warm congratulations to Erasmus University (1st Place), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (2nd place), the University of Auckland (3rd place) as well as Ahmad Aiman Farique Bin (the best speaker and best Respondent speaker awards), Karthik Sarma (best Claimant speaker), Alice Horn (1st runner up for the best speaker), Kamilia Zaripova (2nd runner up for the best speaker).

Please see the list of all universities that competed below:

International teams

• Aix-Marseille University (France)
• Cardozo School of Law (USA)
• Erasmus University of Rotterdam (Netherlands)
• Higher School of Economics Moscow (Russia)
• International Islamic University Malaysia
• Jagiellonian University (Poland)
• Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia)
• Moscow State Institute of International Relations (Russia)
• National Law University Delhi (India)
• New York Law School (USA)
• NLIU Bhopal (India)
• NOVA School of Law (Portugal)
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica (Brazil)
• University Cologne (Germany)
• University of Auckland (New Zealand)
• University of Berne (Switzerland)
• University of Bologna (Italy)
• University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)

UK & Ireland teams

• Gray’s Inn
• Middle Temple
• Queen Mary University of London
• University of Cambridge
• UCL
• University College Dublin