I just spent a marvelous week in Hong Kong with about 500 of the smartest, most articulate students on the planet. I was serving for the 17th time as an arbitrator in the annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.
There are two Vis Moots each year – in Vienna (where the Moot was founded) and in Hong Kong. Each of the two events draws teams of law students from around the world for a week of mock arbitration hearings, leading up to a grueling elimination round.
Smiles all around after my hearing of excellent teams from Deakin of Australia (rear left) and Eötvös of Hungary (rear right). My co-arbitrators (seated) were from the Philippines and Germany.
Last year I had the pleasure of seeing my two hometowns triumph – the team from Victoria University of Wellington took first place in Vienna and the team from Loyola University of Los Angeles took first place in Hong Kong. I hope to have the opportunity of seeing Vic in action again next year when it returns to the competition after a year’s hiatus.
Others from New Zealand have participated as arbitrators at prior Moots, including my friend Attorney General Chris Finlayson.
The happy Victoria University duo (Katherine Belton & David Hume) who won the final round of last year's Vienna Moot, in the heart of old Vienna.
This year I arbitrated 24 of the 75 teams that competed in Hong Kong, including teams from schools in Indonesia, Denmark, India, Hungary, Vietnam, the U.S., China, Slovenia, and Japan, among others.
As described very well on its website, “The goal of the Vis Arbitral Moot is to foster the study of international commercial law and arbitration for resolution of international business disputes through its application to a concrete problem of a client and to train law leaders of tomorrow in methods of alternative dispute resolution.” continue reading…