Prestigious arbitration pre-moot celebrated by participants

The Pre-Moot is a mooting competition based on the problem for the 23rd Willem Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, with written submissions in form of memoranda and final oral rounds in Hong Kong and Vienna in March 2016. The competition combines procedural issues of international commercial arbitration (this year based on the Vienna Rules) with substantive law on international sale of goods based on the CISG (The Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods of 1980).

The Edinburgh Pre-Moot was developed to support the team of Edinburgh Law School together with other Scottish teams (currently only Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen) in their preparations for their performance in Vienna.

Students gained invaluable feedback from arbitration practitioners while pleading and testing their case for claimant and respondent against a number of international teams. This year 13 teams from 10 jurisdictions came together in an atmosphere full of excitement and enthusiasm. This year saw students from universities from France, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Japan, England and Scotland participate.

After the opening by the Lord Hamilton, past Lord Justice General of Scotland and Lord President of the Court of Session, and a briefing for the arbitrators by Mr Hew R Dundas, student pleadings ran through all of Saturday and most of Sunday.

All participants also had the opportunity to meet more informally at the reception at the Playfair Library, Old College. Students and arbitrators alike shared a weekend of exciting performances, great learning and enriching feedback.

Dr Simone Lamont-Black, founder of the Edinburgh Vis Moot Project and lecturer in international trade law at the University of Edinburgh said: “It was a great pleasure for Ms Snjólaug Árnadóttir, our Edinburgh team coach and I to welcome a truly international community of students and arbitrators to Edinburgh Law School and to witness the skills displayed, the enthusiasm, inspiring work and great knowledge exchange in which all participants engaged.

“By the end, the teams were buzzing with new ideas and were full of excitement to experiment with new approaches and to fine-tune their presentations even further.

“We wish the very best of luck to all teams for their performances at the finals in Vienna or Hong Kong. At this stage, our congratulations go to the team members of the University of Berne who achieved the highest scores at this year’s Pre-Moot, followed closely by our Edinburgh team and Lucerne University.

“Our cordial thanks go to our arbitrators and sponsors for enabling this event.”

Dr Lamont-Black gave particularly thanks to Lord Hamilton, Iain Aitchison(MDBF FCIArb, Munich), Ross G Anderson (Ampersand Advocates), Prof. Guillermo Argerich (Argentina International Chamber of Commerce, University of Buenos Aires), Murray Armes (Sense Studio Ltd, London), David Bartos (Terra Firma Chambers), Hew R Dundas (International Arbitrator and Mediator), Shona Frame (CMS Cameron McKenna), Robert Howie QC(Ampersand Advocates) and Donny Mackinnon (Chartered Arbitrator).

Sponsorship is essential for the project to continue its work. It was therefore extremely grateful for the generous support given by the Scottish Arbitration Centre, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP, Hogan Lovells, Hill Hofstetter and Edinburgh Law School this year.

For 2016/17 this will be even more important, as funding cuts will also impact on the project.

As such, it welcomes Indications of support for the future in order to enable continued Vis Moot participation by an Edinburgh team.

For further information click here.