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19 April 2018

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot itself is the biggest and most prestigious international commercial law moot court competition in the world.

The Dickson Poon School of Law
The Dickson Poon School of Law

The Dickson Poon School of Law is very pleased to report that its team competing in the 25th Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot advanced to the round of 32 out of 357 teams in the competition's finals in Vienna, placing the team in the top 8% worldwide. The team was made up of Jan Bednarz, Mariangela Bucci, Gaetan De Robillard, Daniel Maglieri, Hannah Tablan, Adela Valkova and Georg Stigelbauer

 Group Photo

In addition to the oral rounds, the team were awarded honourable mentions in all competitive categories for which awards are available at the Vis (except for the party award). These were:

  • Honourable Mention in the Eric E. Bergstein award for Best Team Oral Performance

  • Honourable Mention in the Pieter Sanders Award for Best Memorandum for Claimant 

  • Honourable Mention in the Werner Melis Award for Best Memorandum for Respondent 

  • Honourable Mention in the Martin Domke Award for Best Individual Oralist for Mariangela Bucci

Though the team were ultimately knocked out in the round of 32 by the University of Bonn, they were the only British university to have won awards in all categories.

 Post-Pleading

Prior to their success at the final international rounds, the team won the White & Case London Vis Pre-Moot competition, beating 11 other teams in a highly competitive tournament. This was the second year running that a team from The Dickson Poon School of Law won this competition. Additionally, the team placed second overall in the highly regarded LSE-LCIA London Vis Pre-Moot.

 Photobooth

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot itself is the biggest and most prestigious international commercial law moot court competition in the world. This year a record number of 357 universities participated. In total, over 2000 participants from 80 nationalities were registered and over 1400 arbitrators attended the week-long oral rounds. You can find out more about the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot on their website.

“As coaches, we are delighted to see the team’s hard work be rewarded with this outstanding achievement. We are also very grateful for all the support we have received from the Law School, a number of law firms, the faculty and in particular Professor Martin Hunter. We have had a successful year and hope to build on this experience next year."

Coaches Georg Stigelbauer and Jan Bednarz