Moot Court: Vis Arbitration Moot

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is the most prestigious annual legal competition among Universities from all over the world in the field of international commercial law and arbitration, with the highest number of challenger teams in its final phase (almost 400 ones from as many Universities). The competition consists in a simulated arbitration proceedings, where each University team pleads during oral hearings before Arbitral Tribunals composed by the most eminent arbitrators (academics, professionals, judges) worldwide.
The competition starts every year at the beginning of October with the publication, online, of a legal problem (the same for all the participating teams and concerning an international sales contract governed by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods - CISG, as well as issues of international civil procedure and arbitration: problems of past editions of the Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot can be found at: https://vismoot.pace.edu/) and provides for the drafting, within the first week of December, of a written memorandum for the Claimant (35 pages) and, within the end of January, of a written memorandum for the Respondent (35 pages). Both memoranda shall be written in English.
After the submission of the Respondent's memorandum, the team will prepare for the oral hearings, carrying out simulations and pleadings also before well known Italian professionals. The final stage of the competition (the official oral hearings - also held in English -, where each team shall plead both for the Claimant and the Respondent, before Arbitration Tribunals composed by real arbitrators, takes place in Vienna, during the week before Easter, where converge more than 4000 people (students, coaches, academics, professionals, judges, officers) from all around the world. In preparation of the final stage in Vienna, each year, during February - March, several pre-moots are organized by different Institutions all around the world, where a limited number of teams meet to train in view of the final stage in Vienna.
The week in Vienna, in addition to the oral hearings, offers an exciting program of conferences, seminars, workshops and social events.
The Statale Moot team, in the ten years of its participation, has competed against teams such as Harvard Law School, Kutafin Moscow State Law University, Universität Heidelberg, University of Cambridge, University of Melbourne Law School, Science Po Law School (Paris), Universidad Carlos III (Madrid), NALSAR University of Law (Secunderabad, India), Fribourg Law (Switzerland), University of São Paolo Law School, University of Tehran Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law, University of Buenos Aires and others. It has always achieved outstanding results: among the first 11 teams in 2014 (http://www.dirittopubblico.unimi.it/ecm/home/aggiornamenti-e-archivi/tutte-le-notizie/content/international-moot-2014-i-nostri-giovani-oralist-crescono.0000.UNIMIDIRE-25554); among the first 16 ones in 2010 (http://www.dirittopubblico.unimi.it/extfiles/unimidire/389501/attachment/estratto-sistema-universita-n-32-06-2010.pdf); 5 times among the best 64, ranking among the best Italian teams in the history of the competition.
For the students who took part to it, the competition has always been a stepping stone for an outstanding career in law (international PH.D and LL.M. programs in top Universities and institutions, in Europe and in the USA, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Cornell Law School, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht, NYU School of Law; in international law firms in Italy and abroad, such as Lalive Geneve, Clifford Chance London, BonelliErede Milan, Shearman & Sterling Paris, in Italy and abroad, in EU Institutions, in International Organizations and in International Courts and Tribunals - such as the ICJ).
The Statale Vis Moot Alumni has also a stunning 85% magna cum laude graduation grades from its participants.