05/10/2024

INVITATION to join the Saarland team for the 32nd Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is an annual competition of teams representing law schools throughout the world. One might call it world championship. In the Thirty-first Annual Moot in 2023/2024, more than 380 law school teams from over 90 jurisdictions participated in the competition. Around 3.000 student team members travelled to Vienna and were judged by 1.500 lawyers and professors from around the world.

Saarland managed to receive an Honorable Mention for both its Memoranda, the one for claimant and the one for respondent. We are now looking for a new team.

Goals: The Moot is intended to stimulate the study of international commercial law, especially the legal texts prepared by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and the use of international commercial arbitration to resolve international commercial disputes. The international nature of the Moot is intended to lead participants to interpret the texts of international commercial law in the light of different legal systems and to develop an expertise in advocating a position before an arbitral tribunal composed of arbitrators from different legal systems. An active social program at the time of the oral hearings in Vienna is organised by the Moot Alumni Association with the aim of promoting friendships that can last long after the Moot itself is over.

The Moot consists of the preparation of a memorandum for claimant (starting in the first week of October), a memorandum for respondent (starting in mid December), and oral hearings (all over Europe and finally in Vienna). The Moot is hard work for half a year and at the same time the most rewarding and challenging educational event in a law student’s life.

Venue: The final oral hearings will be held in Vienna, Austria, at the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna and some international law firms. The general rounds will take place Saturday until Tuesday, April 12-15, 2025. The elimination rounds (the top 64 teams of the general rounds) will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, April 15-17, culminating in the final round on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
Language, Freischuss: The Moot will be conducted in English. For “Freischuss” the Moot is considered to be a term (semester) abroad, extending the time for Freischuss.
For more information see https://www.vismoot.org/ and
https://ruessmann.jura.uni-saarland.de.

The Directors of the Moot have produced video about the Spirit of the Moot, which can be found on both websites. It is highly recommended to watch the video.
Students interested in becoming part of the Saarland Vis Moot Team are kindly asked to express their interest via email not later than May 31, 2024. Opportunities to ask questions will be given in the lecture IPR (Professor Matusche-Beckmann) Tuesday May 28 around 11:15 in HS 0.23.